At least 16 files disappear from the Justice Department’s website of Epstein documents, including a photo of Trump

NEW YORK (AP) — At least 16 files have disappeared from the Justice Department’s public web page of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photo showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, without any explanation from the government or notice to the public.

The missing files, which were available on Friday and were no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of images along a credenza and in drawers. In that photo, inside a drawer among others, was a photo of Trump, along with Epstein, Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime girlfriend.

He watches: The Justice Department’s release of the heavily redacted Epstein dossier has drawn criticism from lawmakers

The Ministry of Justice did not say why the files were removed or whether their disappearance was intentional. A ministry spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Online, the unexplained missing files have sparked speculation about what was deleted and why the public was not notified, exacerbating long-standing machinations around Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to the missing photo of Trump in a post on X, writing: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the sake of the American public.”

This incident deepened concerns that had already emerged following the Justice Department’s release of the long-awaited document. The tens of thousands of pages made public offer little new information about Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years, while omitting some of the most closely monitored material, including FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memos on charging decisions.

Little new insight in initial disclosures

Some of the most crucial records expected about Epstein cannot be found in the Justice Department’s initial disclosures, which span tens of thousands of pages.

There are no FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining the charging decisions — records that could have helped explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein in 2008 was allowed to plead guilty to a relatively minor state prostitution charge.

And the gaps go even further.

The records, required to be made public under a recent law passed by Congress, barely mention several powerful figures long linked to Epstein, including Britain’s former Prince Andrew, renewing questions about who has been scrutinized and who has not, and how much disclosing these records will truly advance public accountability.

Read more: See photos and documents from the latest version of the Epstein profile

Among the new nuggets: insight into the Justice Department’s decision to abandon the investigation into Epstein in the 2000s, which enabled him to plead guilty to that state charge, and the unprecedented 1996 complaint accusing Epstein of stealing photographs of children.

The releases so far have carried heavy photographs of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the US Virgin Islands, along with some photos of celebrities and politicians.

There were a series of never-before-seen photos of former President Bill Clinton, but a few of Trump. Both were linked to Epstein, but both have since disavowed those friendships. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and there has been no suggestion that the photos played a role in the criminal cases against him.

Despite a deadline set by Congress on Friday to make everything public, the Justice Department said it plans to release the records on a rolling basis. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming process of concealing survivors’ names and other identifying information. The administration has provided no notice of when more records will arrive.

This approach angered some of Epstein’s accusers and members of Congress who fought to pass the law that forced the department to act. Rather than marking the end of a years-long battle for transparency, Friday’s release of the document was just the beginning of an indefinite wait for a full picture of Epstein’s crimes and the steps taken to investigate them.

“I feel once again like the Department of Justice is failing us, the justice system is failing us,” said Marina Lacerda, who alleges Epstein began sexually abusing her at his New York City mansion when she was 14.

Many long-awaited records were redacted or lacked context

Federal prosecutors in New York brought sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019, but he committed suicide in prison after his arrest.

The documents just revealed were a potentially multi-million-page piece of records in the administration’s possession. In one example, Deputy District Attorney Todd Blanche said federal prosecutors in Manhattan had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, though the FBI had already turned over many duplicate materials.

Many of the records disclosed so far have been published in court filings, congressional releases or freedom of information requests, though they were all, for the first time, in one place and available to the public to search for free.

New elements often lacked necessary context or were heavily obscured. 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, has been completely redacted.

Trump’s Republican allies exploited photos of Clinton, including photos of the Democratic candidate 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 news anchor Walter Cronkite. But none of the photos had captions and no explanation was given as to why any of them were together.

Read more: New photos from Epstein’s personal collection show Trump, Clinton and much more

The most voluminous records released to date show that federal prosecutors had what appeared to be a strong case against Epstein in 2007, but never charged him.

Transcripts of the grand jury proceedings, which were made public for the first time, included testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they conducted with several girls and young women who described receiving money to perform sexual acts for Epstein. The youngest was 14 years old and in ninth grade.

One of them told investigators that she was sexually assaulted by Epstein when she initially resisted his advances during a massage.

Another, then 21, testified before the grand jury about how Epstein hired her when she was 16 to give an erotic massage and how she recruited other girls to do the same.

“For every girl he brought to the table, he would give me $200,” she said. Most of them were people she had known since high school, she said. “I also told them that if they are underage, just lie about it and tell them you are 18.”

The documents also contain a transcript of an interview Justice Department lawyers conducted more than a decade later with the U.S. attorney who oversaw the case, Alexander Acosta, about his final decision not to bring federal charges.

Acosta, who was Labor Secretary during Trump’s first term, cited concerns about whether jurors would believe Epstein’s accusers.

He also said the Justice Department may have been more reluctant to pursue a federal prosecution in a case that crossed the legal lines between sex trafficking and solicitation of prostitution, something more commonly handled by state prosecutors.

“I’m not saying that was the correct opinion,” Acosta added. He also said that audiences today would likely view survivors differently.

“There have been a lot of changes in victim shaming,” Acosta said.

Jennifer Freeman, the attorney representing Epstein accuser Maria Farmer, said Saturday that her client feels vindicated after the document was released. Farmer has sought for years to obtain documents to support her claim that Epstein and Maxwell were in possession of child sexual abuse images.

“It is a triumph and a tragedy,” she said. “It seems like the government did absolutely nothing. Terrible things happened, and if they had investigated it in even the smallest way, they could have stopped it.”

Associated Press journalists Ali Swenson, Christopher L. Keller, Christine M. Hall, Aaron Kessler and Mike Catalini contributed to this report.