"When he's ready, he'll let them out," Ed DeLucca, 72, told the BBC, saying he hoped Trump would bring the documents to light. For Mr DeLucca, the rumoured files would ultimately be delivered much like any other Trump promise, such as closing the border or mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

The Trump administration’s findings run counter to the dominant theory of the online right — that Epstein had a list of public officials and celebrities he passed off underage victims to, that the purpose was to gather kompromat on some of the world’s most powerful people,