'Very interesting' link flagged between Trump and mysterious bag of cash in Epstein files

Clinical and forensic psychologist John Paul Garrison flagged what he called a “very interesting” find in the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files — an undated photo of President Donald Trump that appeared connected to another image of a mysterious bag of cash.

“I do find it very interesting that Donald Trump is on one page and a big bag of money is on the next,” Garrison said.

Garrison made the observation in a video analysis published Thursday night digging into the House Judiciary Committee’s new 53-page report on Trump and Epstein, titled “The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up.”

Produced by the House Judiciary Committee Democrats and released by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the committee, the report examines Trump’s relationship with Epstein, allegations of sexual misconduct against the two men, and the DOJ’s alleged efforts to suppress evidence implicating Trump.

What caught Garrison’s attention was a particular set of photos he stumbled upon after doing his own independent digging into the DOJ’s trove of millions of Epstein files: “EFTA01249200” and “EFTA01249201.”

The first photo appears to show a younger-looking Trump shaking hands with an unidentified man.

Earlier this year, CBS News identified the man shaking Trump’s hand as Joseph Alvarez, also known as “Gypsy Gita,” a self-described spiritual healer and massage therapist who worked for Epstein from approximately 2001 to 2005. In 2020, Alvarez told the Daily Mail that it was Trump who first introduced him to Epstein.

The second photo depicts a bag stuffed with wads of cash, including $100 bills and foreign currency. As Garrison noted, the two images not only appear in the same data set but also carry consecutive file numbers.

“Typically in the Epstein files, when there are two images, they are related because typically it’s a sequence of pictures,” Garrison said.

“And this, I just thought, was interesting. You have a picture right here of President Trump shaking hands with somebody, and then when you scroll down, the next picture is a huge bag of money. And there’s some denominations of bills that are not American currency.”

While not mentioned by Garrison, a separate photo of a large amount of cash is also included in the same file set, as is a photo of Alvarez’s business card for his spiritual healing practice. And, while he didn’t speculate why the photos would be connected, Garrison suggested the committee’s findings, while extensive, could be missing a key piece of the timeline.

“I think the House Judiciary Committee has done a great job of getting together a lot of very important information, but I also think that there are pieces missing,” he said. “I think the missing pieces may be contacts made between President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein whenever it is that Trump says was the last time they had any contact at all.”