His specter haunts Donald Trump’s second term. On Wednesday, November 12, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released several emails in which Jeffrey Epstein implicated Trump. This convicted sex offender, who was found hanged in his cell in 2019, suggested that Trump was aware of his actions and had even “spent hours” with one of his victims. He also made barbs at the man who supposedly didn’t have “one decent cell in his body.”

These revelations fractured the MAGA movement and led the Republican president to reverse course on November 16, ultimately declaring his support for releasing the full Epstein judicial file. On Thursday, November 20, Trump signed into law the measure making the file public, following its passage by Congress.

It took Le Monde some time to focus on the controversial businessman who would become a thorn in the side of both Trump administrations. While the American press had been reporting on the first allegations of sexual assault since 2006, Epstein’s name only appeared for the first time in Le Monde on March 11, 2011, in an article by London correspondent Virginie Malingre.

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