At least 16 files have disappeared from the Justice Department's public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein—including a photograph showing President Trump—less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public. The missing files, which were available Friday and no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers, the AP reports. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside sex offender Epstein, Melania Trump, and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. CNN documents the gap here.
The Justice Department did not say why the files were removed or whether their disappearance was intentional. Online, the unexplained missing files fueled speculation about what was taken down and why the public was not notified, compounding long-standing intrigue about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo in a post on X, writing: "What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public." Some of the most consequential records expected about Epstein are nowhere to be found in the Justice Department's initial disclosures, which span tens of thousands of pages. NBC News counted more than 680 pages of documents that were entirely redacted. Also:
- Absent: Missing are FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining charging decisions—records that could have helped explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge. The gaps go further. The records, required to be released under a recent law passed by Congress, hardly reference several powerful figures long associated with Epstein, including Britain's former Prince Andrew, renewing questions about who was scrutinized, who was not, and how much the disclosures truly advance public accountability.
- Present: Among the fresh nuggets are insight into the Justice Department's decision to abandon an investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which enabled him to plead guilty to that state-level charge, and a previously unseen 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children.
- Saturday release: More files were posted Saturday. A search found no mentions of Trump or Bill Clinton, though there were redactions, per NBC.
- Compliance: 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, per the AP. The department has not given any notice about when more records might arrive.
- Response: That approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law that forced the department to act. Instead of marking the end of a yearslong 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. Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, promised an investigation on Saturday. "I feel like again the DOJ, the justice system is failing us," said Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein started sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.
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