Victims of Jeffrey Epstein are criticizing the US government after it released partial documents in the case against the late convicted sex offender, including heavily redacted pages and blacked-out photos.
Outcry grew on Saturday after US media reported that at least 16 files of the tranche that had been published online had disappeared from public web pages.
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The deleted files included a photo of President Donald Trump.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) began releasing the files on Friday to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November mandating the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite President Trump’s months-long efforts to keep them all sealed.
The agency said it plans to release more records over time, blaming the delay on the lengthy process of concealing survivors’ names and other identifying information.
But the tens of thousands of pages released offered little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges over the years. It also omitted some of the most high-profile documents, including FBI interviews with victims and internal Justice Department memos about charging decisions.
Meanwhile, a 119-page document titled “Grand Jury – State of New York,” which appears to be part of the federal sex trafficking investigation that led to Epstein’s indictment in 2019, was completely blacked out.
Marina Lacerda, one of Epstein’s victims, was outraged by the large amount of redacted and unpublished documents.
“We are all outraged by this,” she told news outlet MS NOW on Saturday. “This is another slap in the face. We expected more.”
Lacerda, who said she was abused by Epstein when she was 14, was a key witness in the 2019 investigation that led to sex trafficking charges against the late financier.
Epstein committed suicide in prison shortly after his arrest that same year.
Lacerda told The New York Times in a separate interview that she was disappointed.
“Too many photos are irrelevant,” she said.
Another survivor, Jess Michaels, told CNN she spent hours searching the public files for the victim’s statement and the FBI report, but couldn’t find either.
“I can’t find any of them,” she said. “Is this the best the government can do? Even a parliamentary resolution cannot bring us justice.”
Marieke Chartouni, who said she was abused by Epstein when she was 20, criticized the lack of openness.
“If everything is redacted, where’s the transparency?” she said in an interview with The New York Times on Friday.
Some lawmakers also expressed dissatisfaction.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who spearheaded the legislative push, accused the White House in a social media post Friday of not adhering to “both the spirit and letter of the law that Donald Trump signed just 30 days ago.”
The law required the government’s case files to be released by Friday, limited only by legal and victim privacy concerns.
Meanwhile, the 16 files missing have sparked online speculation about what was deleted and why the public was not notified, further complicating a long-running conspiracy about Epstein and the powerful people around him.
“What else is being hidden? We need transparency from the American people,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote, pointing to the missing image of Trump’s photo in X’s post.
“If they remove this, imagine how much more they are trying to hide,” said Democratic Party official Chuck Schumer. “This may be one of the greatest cover-ups in American history.”
However, the Trump administration denied that the documents had been made public. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a television interview with ABC that there was no attempt “to resist anything” to protect President Trump.
The Department of Justice also released a statement regarding X late Saturday. “As additional information becomes available, photos and other materials will continue to be reviewed and edited with the utmost care and in accordance with the law.”
Separate celebrities who appeared in photos released as part of Friday’s release include former President Bill Clinton, the late newscaster Walter Cronkite, singers Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, British entrepreneur Richard Branson and former Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.
There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey.
Many of the photos are undated and provided without context, and none of these individuals have been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is also seen in one photo lying on the laps of several women. The former Duke of York, who was stripped of his royal titles over his relationship with Epstein, denies any wrongdoing.
Despite Trump’s frequent inclusion in previous releases of Epstein-related documents, there was a notable lack of mention of Trump himself. Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s, but had a falling out before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.
Amid the outcry, the Justice Department sought to draw attention to Clinton, posting images on social media that two Justice Department spokespeople said appeared to show her with Epstein’s victims.
Angel Urena, Mr. Clinton’s chief of staff, said in a statement that the White House was “trying to protect itself” from scrutiny by focusing on the former president.
“They can publish all they like with grainy photos from over 20 years ago, but this is not about Bill Clinton,” he wrote.
