Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein are seen on this picture launched by the Division of Justice in Washington, Dec. 19, as a part of a brand new trove of paperwork from its investigations into the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein. Reuters-Yonhap
NEW YORK — A minimum of 16 information disappeared from the Justice Division’s public webpage for paperwork associated to Jeffrey Epstein — together with {a photograph} exhibiting President Donald Trump — lower than a day after they had been posted, with no rationalization from the federal government and no discover to the general public.
The lacking information, which had been out there Friday and now not accessible by Saturday, included pictures of work depicting nude girls, and one exhibiting a sequence of pictures alongside a credenza and in drawers. In that picture, inside a drawer amongst different pictures, was {a photograph} of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Justice Division didn’t reply questions Saturday about why the information disappeared however stated in a submit on X that “pictures and different supplies will proceed being reviewed and redacted in keeping with the legislation in an abundance of warning as we obtain further info.”
On-line, the unexplained lacking information fueled hypothesis about what was taken down and why the general public was not notified, compounding long-standing intrigue about Epstein and the highly effective figures who surrounded him. Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee pointed to the lacking picture that includes a Trump picture in a submit on X, writing: “What else is being lined up? We’d like transparency for the American public.”
The episode deepened issues that had already emerged from the Justice Division’s much-anticipated doc launch. The tens of 1000’s of pages made public supplied little new perception into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial selections that allowed him to keep away from critical federal prices for years, whereas omitting a few of the most intently watched supplies, together with FBI interviews with victims and inside Justice Division memos on charging selections.
This picture launched by the U.S. Division of Justice exhibits a hallway throughout a search of Jeffrey Epstein’s dwelling on July 6, 2019, in New York. AP-Yonhap
A number of the most consequential information anticipated about Epstein are nowhere to be discovered within the Justice Division’s preliminary disclosures, which span tens of 1000’s of pages.
Lacking are FBI interviews with survivors and inside Justice Division memos inspecting charging selections — information that might have helped clarify how investigators seen the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead responsible to a comparatively minor state-level prostitution cost.
The gaps go additional.
The information, required to be launched beneath a latest legislation handed by Congress, hardly reference a number of highly effective figures lengthy related to Epstein, together with Britain’s former Prince Andrew, renewing questions on who was scrutinized, who was not, and the way a lot the disclosures actually advance public accountability
Among the many contemporary nuggets: perception into the Justice Division’s choice to desert an investigation into Epstein within the 2000s, which enabled him to plead responsible to that state-level cost, and a beforehand unseen 1996 criticism accusing Epstein of stealing pictures of kids.
The releases thus far have been heavy on pictures of Epstein’s properties in New York Metropolis and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with some pictures of celebrities and politicians.
There was a sequence of never-before-seen pictures of former President Invoice Clinton however fleetingly few of Trump. Each have been related to Epstein, however each have since disowned these friendships. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in reference to Epstein and there was no indication the pictures performed a task within the legal circumstances introduced towards him.
Regardless of a Friday deadline set by Congress to make every thing public, the Justice Division stated it plans to launch information on a rolling foundation. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming technique of obscuring survivors’ names and different figuring out info. The division has not given any discover when extra information would possibly arrive.
That method angered some Epstein accusers and members of Congress who fought to move the legislation pressured the division to behave. As a substitute of marking the top of a yearslong battle for transparency, the doc launch Friday was merely the start of an indefinite wait for an entire image of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to analyze them.
“I really feel like once more the DOJ, the justice system is failing us,” stated Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein began sexually abusing her at his New York Metropolis mansion when she was 14.
Federal prosecutors in New York introduced intercourse trafficking prices towards Epstein in 2019, however he killed himself in jail after his arrest.
The paperwork simply made public had been a sliver of probably tens of millions of pages information within the division’s possession. In a single instance, Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche stated Manhattan federal prosecutors had greater than 3.6 million information from intercourse trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, although many duplicated materials already turned over by the FBI.
Most of the information launched thus far had been made public in court docket filings, congressional releases or freedom of knowledge requests, although, for the primary time, they had been multi functional place and out there for the general public to seek for free.
Ones that had been new had been usually missing needed context or closely blacked out. A 119-page doc marked “Grand Jury-NY,” probably from one of many federal intercourse trafficking investigations that led to the costs towards Epstein in 2019 or Maxwell in 2021, was totally blacked out.
Trump’s Republican allies seized on the Clinton pictures, together with pictures of the Democrat with singers Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. There have been additionally pictures of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and even Epstein with TV newscaster Walter Cronkite. However not one of the pictures had captions and was no rationalization given for why any of them had been collectively.
The meatiest information launched thus far confirmed that federal prosecutors had what gave the impression to be a robust case towards Epstein in 2007 but by no means charged him.
Transcripts of grand jury proceedings, launched publicly for the primary time, included testimony from FBI brokers who described interviews that they had with a number of ladies and younger girls who described being paid to carry out intercourse acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 and in ninth grade.
One had informed investigators about being sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances throughout a therapeutic massage.
One other, then 21, testified earlier than the grand jury about how Epstein had employed her when she was 16 to carry out a sexual therapeutic massage and the way she had gone on to recruit different ladies to do the identical.
“For each lady that I dropped at the desk he would give me $200,” she stated. They had been principally individuals she knew from highschool, she stated. “I additionally informed them that if they’re beneath age, simply lie about it and inform him that you’re 18.”
The paperwork additionally include a transcript of an interview Justice Division attorneys did greater than a decade later with the U.S. lawyer who oversaw the case, Alexander Acosta, about his final choice to not deliver federal prices.
Acosta, who was labor secretary throughout Trump’s first time period, cited issues about whether or not a jury would imagine Epstein’s accusers.
He additionally stated the Justice Division may need been extra reluctant to make a federal prosecution out of a case that straddled the authorized border between intercourse trafficking and soliciting prostitution, one thing extra generally dealt with by state prosecutors.
“I’m not saying it was the correct view,” Acosta added. He additionally stated that the general public right this moment would probably view the survivors in a different way.
“There’s been a variety of adjustments in sufferer shaming,” Acosta stated.
Jennifer Freeman, an lawyer representing Epstein accuser Maria Farmer and different survivors, stated Saturday that her shopper feels vindicated after the doc launch. Farmer searched for years paperwork backing up her declare that Epstein and Maxwell had been in possession of kid sexual abuse pictures.
“It’s a triumph and a tragedy,” she stated. “It seems like the federal government did completely nothing. Horrible issues have occurred and in the event that they investigated in even the smallest approach, they might have stopped him.”
