Files linked to Jeffrey Epstein, including an image featuring Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell, went missing from the Justice Department’s public webpage.
The DOJ offered no explanation or public notice, fueling online speculation and political backlash.
Democrats flagged the disappearance as a transparency issue amid criticism that the document release revealed little new about Epstein’s case.
Less than a day after being posted, at least 16 files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein—including a picture of President Donald Trump—went missing from the Justice Department's public webpage. The administration did not explain or notify the public.
The lost files, which were accessible on Friday but unavailable on Saturday, including pictures of paintings of naked women and one that displayed a collection of pictures in drawers and along a credenza. A picture of Trump, Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's long-time associate, was found in a drawer with other pictures.
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 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.”
Concerns raised by the Justice Department's eagerly awaited document release were heightened by the incident. While leaving out some of the most closely watched materials, such as FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions, the tens of thousands of pages made public provided little new information about Epstein's crimes or the prosecutorial choices that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years.
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.
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.
With inputs from PBS.
