Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump and the case of the missing photograph

New York: More than a dozen photos, including one featuring President Donald Trump, were removed without explanation from the large collection of files connected to the investigations of Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Justice Department.

A total of 16 photos were taken down at some point on Sunday (AEDT) from the website that the department created to house files — among them, one of the few that contained Trump’s image. It was a photo of a cabinet in Epstein’s New York home, with an open drawer containing other photos, including at least one of Trump.

The Justice Department did not explain on the site why the images had been removed, and a department spokesperson did not respond to a message seeking comment.

A photo taken of a cabinet in Jeffrey Epstein’s New York home, containing at least one image of US President Donald Trump (lower left).Credit: Department of Justice

Democrats on the House oversight committee immediately seized on the missing photo of Trump, reposting it on social media and asking Attorney-General Pam Bondi if it was true that the image had been removed.

“What else is being covered up?” the post said. “We need transparency for the American public.”

Twelve of the other missing photos pictured the infamous massage room on the third floor of Epstein’s mansion in New York. The room, which was down the hall from Epstein’s bedroom, was where investigators say that many of his sexual assaults occurred — some of them against teenage victims. The shelves in the room were stocked with lubricants and a silver ball and chain, among other things.

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The massage room images that were removed depicted paintings and photographs of nude women, some with their faces redacted. But other images and artwork featuring nude women remained on the site. And some photos of the massage room, including the nude imagery, also remained.

The missing photos were part of a vast collection of materials that the Trump administration was compelled to release after the passage last month of a law mandating that the Justice Department disclose all files in its possession related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking minors.

Despite mounting expectations, the released files, which included thousands of photographs and investigative documents, were something of an anticlimax. They added little to the public’s understanding of Epstein’s conduct, and also did not provide much additional insight into his connections to wealthy and powerful businessmen and politicians who associated with him.

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Trump has, uncharacteristically, said nothing about the files, which contained far more material about one of his political adversaries, former President Bill Clinton, than about him. Still, the Justice Department has said more disclosures from its files about Epstein would be coming in the next few weeks.

The department released a second tranche of files on Sunday that included transcripts from the closed-door grand jury proceedings in the federal investigations into Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

While those documents had never before been made public, they added little to what has already been known about the cases.

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