At least 16 files linked to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein vanished from the US Justice Department’s public website within a day of being posted, triggering fresh scrutiny over transparency in the long-running Epstein case.
The missing material included a photograph showing Donald Trump alongside Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The records were uploaded on Friday but were inaccessible by Saturday. Among the missing files were images of artwork depicting nude women and a photograph that appeared as part of a larger image showing pictures displayed on furniture and inside drawers. One of those images showed Trump standing with Epstein, Melania Trump, and Maxwell.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee flagged the disappearance publicly, drawing attention to the missing Trump photograph. In a post on X, they asked, "What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public."
The documents were part of a broader release of thousands of Epstein-related records that referenced several high-profile figures, including former US President Bill Clinton. Notably, Trump’s name was largely absent from the written records, despite his previously documented connections to Epstein.
That absence stood out because Trump’s name had appeared in earlier disclosures, including flight logs from Epstein’s private jet that were released by the Justice Department in February. Trump has consistently denied any involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities and has not been accused of wrongdoing.
The release also omitted some of the most closely watched material, including FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memoranda explaining charging decisions. Those gaps revived questions about how federal prosecutors handled the case in the mid-2000s, when Epstein secured a plea deal that allowed him to plead guilty to a minor state prostitution offence rather than face federal sex trafficking charges.
Several other prominent figures associated with Epstein received minimal attention in the newly released material, including the United Kingdom’s former Prince Andrew, raising further questions about who was examined closely and who was not.
While the disclosure included some previously unseen elements-such as a 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children and indications of how the Justice Department stepped back from a federal prosecution in the 2000s-the bulk of the release was dominated by photographs of Epstein's properties in New York and the US Virgin Islands, along with scattered images of celebrities and politicians.
