A newly released batch of documents related to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein took a controversial turn over the weekend when an image featuring former President Donald Trump vanished from the public record. The Justice Department released the files on Friday, but by Saturday, a specific image had disappeared, prompting accusations of a cover-up from Democratic lawmakers.
A Disappearing Act Raises Alarm
The image in question, identified as file EFTA0000468, showed an open drawer of a table containing at least two photographs of Donald Trump. One photo appeared to depict Trump socializing with Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Another showed Trump surrounded by young female models. By Saturday, the file was missing from the Justice Department's online release, with the sequence jumping from file "467" directly to "469."
The House Oversight Committee Democrats publicly called out the removal on social media, directly addressing Attorney General Pam Bondi. "This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release," they stated. "Is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public." A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost regarding the deletion.
Redactions and a Framed Photo Remain
While this specific image was removed, other references to Trump persist in the heavily redacted document trove. One image that survived extensive censorship shows a framed photograph of Epstein with Trump and the current first lady, Melania Trump, displayed prominently on a table. This is believed to be the same table featured in the deleted "468" file, but captured from a different angle with its drawers closed.
The latest document release, while detailing the horrors of Epstein's crimes and his network of powerful associates, contains over 500 pages that are fully redacted. Representative Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee, estimated that the public may be seeing only about 10% of what the Justice Department holds on Epstein. He told CNN that of that small portion, half is already public and the other half is heavily censored.
Political Repercussions and Calls for Action
The handling of the documents has sparked serious political consequences. Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) revealed on Friday that he and Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are considering drafting articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi. The potential charges relate to her oversight of the document release process.
"Thomas Massie and I talked about it," Khanna stated in an interview. "He's working, as am I, on drafting articles of impeachment and inherent contempt. We haven't decided whether to move it forward yet, but we're in the process of doing it." This bipartisan consideration underscores the deepening controversy surrounding the transparency of the Epstein investigation and the accessibility of its findings to the public and Congress.
