On Saturday, a sudden disappearance of 16 files from the Justice Department’s public archive shocked observers, including a photograph that linked former President Donald Trump to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Vanishing Documents
The files were available Friday and were no longer accessible by Saturday. They included images of paintings depicting nude women and a set of photographs arranged along a credenza and in drawers. Inside one drawer, among other photos, a picture showed Trump alongside Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Department’s Response
When asked why the files vanished, the Justice Department did not provide an explanation. In a post on X, it said “photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information.”
Political Backlash
The unexplained disappearance fueled speculation about what was removed and why the public was not notified. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee highlighted the missing Trump photo in a post on X, writing “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
Existing Releases and Missing Records
The DOJ’s recent release of 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. It omitted some of the most closely watched materials, including FBI interviews with survivors and internal DOJ memos on charging decisions.
Key Gaps
FBI interviews with survivors and internal DOJ memos examining charging decisions are absent from the initial disclosures. These records could explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge.
Limited Reference to Powerful Figures
The documents required by a recent law passed by Congress barely mention several powerful figures long associated with Epstein, such as Britain’s former Prince Andrew. This raises questions about who was scrutinized and how much the disclosures advance public accountability.
New Revelations
Among the new material, the DOJ disclosed its decision to abandon an investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which enabled him to plead guilty to the state-level charge. It also revealed a previously unseen 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children.
Celebrity and Politician Images
The releases are 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, while only a few of Trump were included. Both men have since disowned those friendships and have not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Rolling Release Plan
Despite a Friday deadline set by Congress to make everything public, the DOJ 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 announced when more records might arrive.
Accusers’ Reaction
The approach angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law that forced the department to act. Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein began 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.”
Redactions and Context
Many of the 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 released so far are a sliver of potentially millions of pages in the department’s possession.
Scale of Records
In one example, 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.
First-Time Consolidation
Many records released so far had been made public in court filings, congressional releases or freedom-of-information requests. For the first time, they were all in one place and available for the public to search for free.
Blacked-Out Documents
New documents often lack necessary context or are heavily blacked out. A 119-page document marked “Grand Jury-NY”, likely from one of the federal sex trafficking investigations that led to charges against Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was entirely blacked out.
Photo Collages
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.
Grand Jury Transcripts
The meatiest 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.
Survivor Testimonies
One survivor told investigators she had been sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances during a massage. Another, then 21, testified before the grand jury that Epstein had hired her when she was 16 to perform a sexual massage and that she had recruited other girls to do the same. She said, “For every girl that I brought to the table he would give me $200.” She added that they were mostly people she knew from high school and that she had told them to lie about their age if they were under 18.
Acosta Interview
The 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.
Acosta’s Reflections
“I’m not saying it was the right view,” Acosta added. He also said that the public today would likely view the survivors differently. “There’s been a lot of changes in victim shaming,” Acosta said.
Survivor Attorney’s Reaction
Jennifer Freeman, attorney representing Epstein accuser Maria Farmer and other survivors, said Saturday that her client feels vindicated after the document release. Farmer sought for years documents backing up her claim that Epstein and Maxwell were in possession of child sexual abuse images. Freeman said, “It looks like the government did absolutely nothing. Horrible things have happened and if they investigated in even the smallest way, they could have stopped him.”
Conclusion
The DOJ’s release of Epstein documents has opened a new chapter in the long-running quest for transparency. Yet the disappearance of files, the gaps in the released material, and the extensive redactions leave many questions unanswered. As the department continues to roll out records, observers will watch closely to see whether the missing documents reappear and what new insights they may bring.
