The White House has ignited a social media firestorm after a senior official shared a misleading image from the recently released Jeffrey Epstein documents, falsely implying it showed the late financier with victims.
Misleading Photo Sparks Outrage
On Friday, White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson posted a photo on the social media platform X. The image showed former President Bill Clinton with his arm around the late pop star Michael Jackson, alongside singer Diana Ross. The faces of several other individuals in the photo were redacted. Jackson captioned the post, "Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors. Here is a picture of Bill Clinton with his arm around Michael Jackson, and redacted individuals."
The implication was quickly challenged. The progressive media company MeidasTouch Network called out the post, revealing the redacted individuals were not Epstein's victims but Michael Jackson's sons and Diana Ross's son. The photo was a publicly available image from a fundraiser event. "How dare you. Those are Michael Jackson's sons and Diana Ross's son — not victims — as you are implying," the company wrote.
Release of Epstein Documents and Controversy
This incident occurred amid the controversial release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The U.S. Justice Department released a trove of files on Friday following bipartisan legislation passed by Congress last month. The newly released documents contained significant redactions.
Further controversy erupted when multiple news outlets, including The Associated Press and CBS, reported that dozens of files that were initially available vanished from the online portal by Saturday with no explanation. This sparked accusations that President Donald Trump's Department of Justice was selectively withholding information.
Political Finger-Pointing and Denials
In response to the photo controversy, Clinton's spokesman, Angel Ureña, accused the White House of trying to deflect blame onto the former president, who appears in other images within the files. Ureña claimed the Trump administration is "shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever."
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has also faced criticism over allegations that photos of Trump himself were removed from the released files. On Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied these rumors on NBC's "Meet the Press," calling the speculation "laughable." Blanche told moderator Kristen Welker that the DOJ removed a particular photo due to the women pictured in it, not because of Trump. "It has nothing to do with President Trump," he stated.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost regarding the misleading photo post. The episode highlights the intense political scrutiny and misinformation surrounding the sensitive release of the Epstein documents.
