NEW YORK — No less than 16 recordsdata disappeared from the Justice Division’s public webpage for paperwork associated to Jeffrey Epstein – together with {a photograph} displaying President Donald Trump – lower than a day after they had been posted, with no clarification from the federal government and no discover to the general public.
The lacking recordsdata, which had been obtainable Friday and now not accessible by Saturday, included pictures of work depicting nude ladies, and one displaying a collection of images alongside a credenza and in drawers. In that picture, inside a drawer amongst different images, was {a photograph} of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Justice Division did not reply questions Saturday about why the recordsdata disappeared however mentioned in a submit on X that “images and different supplies will proceed being reviewed and redacted in step with the legislation in an abundance of warning as we obtain extra info.”
On-line, the unexplained lacking recordsdata fueled hypothesis about what was taken down and why the general public was not notified, compounding long-standing intrigue about Epstein and the highly effective figures who surrounded him. Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee pointed to the lacking picture that includes a Trump photograph in a submit on X, writing: “What else is being lined up? We’d like transparency for the American public.”
The episode deepened issues that had already emerged from the Justice Division’s much-anticipated doc launch. The tens of hundreds of pages made public provided little new perception into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial selections that allowed him to keep away from severe federal fees for years, whereas omitting a few of the most intently watched supplies, together with FBI interviews with victims and inner Justice Division memos on charging selections.
Scant new perception within the preliminary disclosures
A few of the most consequential data anticipated about Epstein are nowhere to be discovered within the Justice Division’s preliminary disclosures, which span tens of hundreds of pages.
Lacking are FBI interviews with survivors and inner Justice Division memos inspecting charging selections – data that might have helped clarify how investigators considered the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead responsible to a comparatively minor state-level prostitution cost.
The gaps go additional.
The data, required to be launched underneath a latest legislation handed by Congress, hardly reference a number of highly effective figures lengthy related to Epstein, together with Britain’s former Prince Andrew, renewing questions on who was scrutinized, who was not, and the way a lot the disclosures actually advance public accountability
Among the many recent nuggets: perception into the Justice Division’s resolution to desert an investigation into Epstein within the 2000s, which enabled him to plead responsible to that state-level cost, and a beforehand unseen 1996 criticism accusing Epstein of stealing images of youngsters.
The releases to date have been heavy on pictures of Epstein’s properties in New York Metropolis and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with some images of celebrities and politicians.
There was a collection of never-before-seen images of former President Invoice Clinton however fleetingly few of Trump. Each have been related to Epstein, however each have since disowned these friendships. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in reference to Epstein and there was no indication the images performed a task within the legal circumstances introduced towards him.
Regardless of a Friday deadline set by Congress to make the whole lot public, the Justice Division mentioned it plans to launch data on a rolling foundation. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming technique of obscuring survivors’ names and different figuring out info. The division has not given any discover when extra data may arrive.
That method angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to move the legislation compelled the division to behave. As an alternative of marking the top of a yearslong battle for transparency, the doc launch Friday was merely the start of an indefinite wait for an entire image of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to research them.
“I really feel like once more the DOJ, the justice system is failing us,” mentioned Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein began sexually abusing her at his New York Metropolis mansion when she was 14.
Lots of the long-anticipated data had been redacted or lacked context
Federal prosecutors in New York introduced intercourse trafficking fees towards Epstein in 2019, however he killed himself in jail after his arrest.
The paperwork simply made public had been a sliver of probably thousands and thousands of pages data within the division’s possession. In a single instance, Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche mentioned Manhattan federal prosecutors had greater than 3.6 million data from intercourse trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, although many duplicated materials already turned over by the FBI.
Lots of the data launched to date had been made public in courtroom filings, congressional releases or freedom of knowledge requests, although, for the primary time, they had been multi function place and obtainable for the general public to seek for free.
Ones that had been new had been usually missing obligatory context or closely blacked out. A 119-page doc marked “Grand Jury-NY,” probably from one of many federal intercourse trafficking investigations that led to the costs towards Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was fully blacked out.
Trump’s Republican allies seized on the Clinton pictures, together with images of the Democrat with singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. There have been additionally images of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and even Epstein with TV newscaster Walter Cronkite. However not one of the images had captions and was no clarification given for why any of them had been collectively.
The meatiest data launched to date confirmed that federal prosecutors had what gave the impression to be a robust case towards Epstein in 2007 but by no means charged him.
Transcripts of grand jury proceedings, launched publicly for the primary time, included testimony from FBI brokers who described interviews they’d with a number of women and younger ladies who described being paid to carry out intercourse acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 and in ninth grade.
One had instructed investigators about being sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances throughout a therapeutic massage.
One other, then 21, testified earlier than the grand jury about how Epstein had employed her when she was 16 to carry out a sexual therapeutic massage and the way she had gone on to recruit different women to do the identical.
“For each woman that I delivered to the desk he would give me $200,” she mentioned. They had been principally individuals she knew from highschool, she mentioned. “I additionally instructed them that if they’re underneath age, simply lie about it and inform him that you’re 18.”
The paperwork additionally comprise a transcript of an interview Justice Division legal professionals did greater than a decade later with the U.S. lawyer who oversaw the case, Alexander Acosta, about his final resolution to not convey federal fees.
Acosta, who was labor secretary throughout Trump’s first time period, cited issues about whether or not a jury would imagine Epstein’s accusers.
He additionally mentioned the Justice Division may need been extra reluctant to make a federal prosecution out of a case that straddled the authorized border between intercourse trafficking and soliciting prostitution, one thing extra generally dealt with by state prosecutors.
“I am not saying it was the best view,” Acosta added. He additionally mentioned that the general public immediately would probably view the survivors in a different way.
“There’s been numerous adjustments in sufferer shaming,” Acosta mentioned.
Jennifer Freeman, an lawyer representing Epstein accuser Maria Farmer and different survivors, mentioned Saturday that her consumer feels vindicated after the doc launch. Farmer searched for years paperwork backing up her declare that Epstein and Maxwell had been in possession of kid sexual abuse pictures.
“It is a triumph and a tragedy,” she mentioned. “It appears to be like like the federal government did completely nothing. Horrible issues have occurred and in the event that they investigated in even the smallest method, they may have stopped him.”
___
Related Press journalists Ali Swenson, Christopher L. Keller, Kristin M. Corridor, Aaron Kessler and Mike Catalini contributed to this report.
The video within the participant above is from a earlier report.
Copyright © 2025 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.
