In a startling turn, 16 documents that the Justice Department made public Friday disappeared by Saturday, including a photo of President Donald Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein.
Missing Files and the Trump Photo
The files were accessible on Friday but were no longer reachable by Saturday. They included images of paintings depicting nude women and a collage of photographs displayed on a credenza and in drawers. Inside a drawer, among other photos, a picture showed Trump, Epstein, Melania Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell together.
The Justice Department has not explained why the files were removed or whether the disappearance was intentional. A spokesperson for the department did not respond to a request for comment.
DOJ’s Silence and Congressional Reaction
The disappearance sparked online speculation about what was taken down and why the public was not notified. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee posted on X: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
The episode deepened concerns that had already surfaced from the Justice Department’s much-anticipated document release. Tens of thousands of pages offered little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years, while omitting some of the most closely watched materials, including FBI interviews with victims and internal DOJ memos on charging decisions.
Missing records also included FBI interviews with survivors and internal DOJ memos examining charging decisions-records that could have explained how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge.
Broader Context of Epstein Documents
The releases so far have been heavy on images of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with some photos of celebrities and politicians. A series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton appeared, but there were only a few of Trump. Both men have been associated with Epstein but have since disowned those friendships. Neither has been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and there was no indication the photos played a role in the criminal cases brought against him.
Despite a Friday deadline set by Congress to make everything public, the Justice Department said it plans to release records on a rolling basis. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information. The department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.
The approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law. Instead of marking the end of a years-long battle for transparency, the document release Friday was merely the beginning of an indefinite wait for a complete picture of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to investigate them.
Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14, said, “I feel like again the DOJ, the justice system is failing us.”
What the Released Records Reveal
Many long-anticipated records were redacted or lacked context. Federal prosecutors in New York brought sex-trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, but he killed himself in jail after his arrest.
The documents just made public were a sliver of potentially millions of pages. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “Manhattan federal prosecutors had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, though many duplicated material already turned over by the FBI.”
The records released so far had been made public in court filings, congressional releases or FOIA requests, but for the first time they were all in one place and available for the public to search for free. New ones often lacked necessary context or were heavily blacked out. A 119-page document marked “Grand Jury-NY,” likely from one of the federal sex-trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was entirely blacked out.
Trump’s Republican allies seized on the Clinton images, including photos of the Democrat 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 newscaster Walter Cronkite. None of the photos had captions and no explanation was given for why any of them were together.
The most substantial records released so far showed that federal prosecutors had what appeared to be a strong case against Epstein in 2007 yet never charged him. Transcripts of grand jury proceedings, released publicly for the first time, included testimony from FBI agents who described interviews with several girls and young women who described being paid to perform sex acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 and in ninth grade.
One survivor told investigators she was sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances during a massage. Another, then 21, testified before the grand jury about how Epstein had hired her when she was 16 to perform a sexual massage and how she had gone on to recruit other girls to do the same.
For every girl that I brought to the table he would give me $200,” she said. She said they were mostly people she knew from high school. “I also told them that if they are under age, just lie about it and tell him that you are 18.”
Documents also contain a transcript of an interview Justice Department lawyers did more than a decade later with U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta, who oversaw the case, about his ultimate decision not to bring federal charges. Acosta, who was labor secretary during Trump’s first term, cited concerns about whether a jury would believe Epstein’s accusers. He also said the DOJ might have been more reluctant to make a federal prosecution out of a case that straddled the legal border between sex trafficking and soliciting prostitution, something more commonly handled by state prosecutors.
“I’m not saying it was the right view,” Acosta added. “I also said that the public today would likely view the survivors differently.”
“There’s been a lot of changes in victim shaming,” Acosta said.
Key Takeaways
- Sixteen DOJ files, including a Trump photo, vanished within 24 hours of posting.
- The missing records include FBI interviews with survivors and DOJ memos on charging decisions.
- The Justice Department plans to release records on a rolling basis, citing the need to obscure identifying information.
- The released documents reveal a strong case against Epstein in 2007 that was never pursued.
- Congressional and public scrutiny continues as more records remain redacted or unavailable.
The disappearance of the files and the ongoing gaps in the released material underscore the challenges of achieving full transparency in the Epstein case. As the Justice Department continues its rolling releases, observers and stakeholders await the next tranche of documents to assess whether the missing evidence will finally surface.
