At least 16 files disappear from DOJ’s website to retrieve documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – National
At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public web page for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – including a photo showing President Donald Trump – within a day of being posted, with no explanation from the government and no public notice.
The missing files, which were available on Friday and could no longer be found on Saturday, include images of paintings depicting nude women, and another showing a series of paintings near a credenza and cupboards. In that photo, inside a closet among other photos, was a photo of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Justice Department did not say why the files were removed or whether their disappearance was intentional. A spokesperson for the department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Online, the unexplained missing files are fueling speculation about what was taken down and why the public was not informed, including a long-standing conspiracy about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to a missing photo with a picture of Trump written in an X, writing: “What else is hidden? We need the American public to be open.”
The episode deepened concerns that had surfaced in the release of the Justice Department’s much-anticipated document. The tens of thousands of pages made public offer little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or prosecutors’ decisions that have allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years, while leaving behind some of the most scrutinized material, including FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions.
Scan for new information on initial disclosure
Some of the most important records expected of Epstein are not available in the first disclosure of the Department of Justice, which includes ten thousand pages.
There are no FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining charging decisions — records that could help explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a lesser charge of federal prostitution.
Vacancies are moving forward.
The records, which are required to be released under a recent law passed by Congress, do not refer to many powerful figures associated with Epstein, including Britain’s Prince Andrew, fueling questions about who was scrutinized, who was not, and what is revealed that really enhances public accountability.
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Among the new points: insight into the Justice Department’s decision to drop an investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which helped him plead guilty to that federal charge, and an undisclosed 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing images of children.
Releases so far have been limited to photos of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the US Virgin Islands, and some photos of celebrities and politicians.
There have been a series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton but few passing ones of Trump. Both were associated with Epstein, but both have since denied that friendship. No one has been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein and there is no indication that the photos played a role in the criminal charges brought against him.
Despite a Friday deadline set by Congress to make everything public, the Justice Department said it plans to release the records regularly. He blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of hiding the survivors’ names and other identifying information. The department did not give notice if other records may be available.
That approach angered some of Epstein’s accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass legislation forcing the department to act. Rather than marking the end of a years-long battle for transparency, Friday’s release of the document was just the beginning of an endless wait for a full picture of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to investigate.
“I feel like the DOJ, the justice system is failing us,” said Marina Lacerda, who says Epstein began sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.
Many long-awaited records were either reworked or lacked context
Federal prosecutors in New York indicted Epstein in 2019, but he committed suicide in prison after being arrested.
The documents that were recently made public were only a fraction of the probably one million pages of records in the department’s possession. In another example, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors have more than 3.6 million records in the Epstein and Maxwell sex-trafficking investigation, although many duplicates have been turned over by the FBI.
Most of the records released so far have been made public in court filings, congressional releases or freedom of information requests, although, for the first time, they are all in one place and available for the public to search for free.
The new ones often lacked the necessary context or were too blurred. A 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury-NY,” which may have come from one of the sex-trafficking investigations that led to indictments against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was completely dismissed.
Trump’s Republican supporters took pictures of Clinton, including photos of the Democratic Alliance with singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and even Epstein with TV news anchor Walter Cronkite. But none of the photos had captions and no explanation was given as to why they were put together.
The best records released so far show that federal prosecutors had a strong case against Epstein in 2007 but never charged him.
Documents from the grand jury indictment, released publicly for the first time, also include testimony from the FBI detailing interviews they had with several girls and young women who said they were paid to have sex with Epstein. The youngest was 14 years old and in the ninth grade.
Another told investigators about being sexually assaulted by Epstein when she began resisting his compensation during a massage.
Another, who was 21 at the time, testified before a grand jury about how Epstein hired her when she was 16 to perform sex tests and how he went on to hire other girls to do the same.
“For every girl I brought to the table, he would give me $200,” he said. He said most of them were high school acquaintances. “I also told them that if they are under the age, just lie and tell them you are 18.”
The documents also contain a transcript of an interview Justice Department lawyers conducted more than a decade later with the presiding U.S. attorney in the case, Alexander Acosta, about his final decision not to bring federal charges.
Acosta, who served as labor secretary during Trump’s first term, expressed concern about whether a judge would believe Epstein’s accusers.
He also said the Department of Justice may have been more reluctant to prosecute the state in a case that crossed the legal line between sex trafficking and solicitation of prostitution, something that is often handled by federal prosecutors.
“I’m not saying it was a good idea,” Acosta added. He also said that today’s society may look at survivors differently.
“There have been many changes in victim shaming,” Acosta said.
