US DOJ uploads, then removes Epstein jail video appearing to show a suicide attempt

 

The US Department of Justice triggered fresh controversy after a short video surfaced on its website that appears to show Jeffrey Epstein attempting to take his own life inside a Manhattan jail cell, just hours before his death in 2019.

According to the New York Post, the 12-second clip was quietly uploaded without explanation as part of a larger release of documents and images linked to the Epstein investigative files. The footage later disappeared from the site, with the Justice Department offering no immediate clarification.

The video shows a white-haired man in an orange jail jumpsuit kneeling at the base of a bunk bed and appearing to struggle violently. A timestamp on the footage reads 4:29 am on August 10, 2019, roughly two hours before Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York.

The clip carried the label “J Epstein” in one corner and appeared in the DOJ’s online document dump that began last Friday.

Video, not authentic?

However, the New York Post reported that the video was not authentic and had previously circulated on the online forum 4chan. A Florida-based conspiracy theorist allegedly alerted investigators to the altered footage, after which the Justice Department removed it from public view.

The department has not issued a statement explaining how the clip was included in the release or why it was subsequently removed.

The episode comes a day after the Justice Department briefly removed and then restored a photograph featuring President Donald Trump from the Epstein files. Officials said that the decision was made over victim privacy concerns, not because of the president’s appearance in the image.

US authorities have consistently maintained that Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death, however, has continued to fuel scepticism and conspiracy theories, driven in part by surveillance failures and lapses in jail oversight that were acknowledged in official reviews.

Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, has rejected the suicide finding and alleged that the financier was murdered. The Justice Department has not addressed those claims in connection with the newly surfaced video.

The broader Epstein files contain a large cache of documents, photographs and video material tied to the convicted sex offender. Earlier releases have included images of Epstein with underage girls and footage from properties investigators described as central to his abuse network.