21st December 2025 – (Washington) Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have denounced the United States government after the long‑awaited release of official documents on the disgraced financier emerged heavily censored and apparently incomplete, prompting accusations of a cover‑up and a fresh political row in Washington.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) began publishing the material online on Friday in response to a law, passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in November, requiring public disclosure of government files concerning Epstein. The legislation stipulated that the case records must be posted by the deadline, subject only to legal constraints and the protection of victims’ identities.
However, tens of thousands of pages released so far have offered little new detail about Epstein’s crimes or the internal decision‑making that allowed him to evade serious federal prosecution for years. Some of the most‑anticipated material remains absent, including FBI interviews with victims and confidential DOJ memoranda on charging decisions. One 119‑page file titled “Grand Jury‑NY”, believed to relate to the federal sex‑trafficking case that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment, was published as a completely blacked‑out document.
U.S. media reported on Saturday that at least 16 files from the tranche had quietly disappeared from the public website after initially going online. Among the missing items was a photograph depicting Donald Trump. The unexplained removal fuelled intense speculation about what had been taken down and why, reinforcing long‑standing public suspicion around Epstein’s connections to powerful figures.
The DOJ has said further records will be released on a rolling basis and has attributed delays and redactions to the time‑consuming requirement to strip out survivors’ names and other identifying information. In a statement on X late on Saturday, the department insisted that “photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information”.
For many survivors, those assurances have done little to allay anger. Marina Lacerda, who says Epstein abused her when she was 14 and who played a key role as a witness in the 2019 investigation, described the publication as deeply inadequate. Speaking to MS NOW, she said: “All of us are infuriated by this. It’s another slap in the face. We expected way more.” In a separate interview with The New York Times, Lacerda added that “so many of the photos are irrelevant”, leaving her feeling profoundly let down.
Another survivor, Jess Michaels, told CNN she had spent hours combing through the documents for her victim impact statement and records of her call to an FBI tip line, only to come up empty‑handed. “I can’t find any of those,” she said. “Is this the best that the government can do? Even an act of Congress isn’t getting us justice.”
Marijke Chartouni, who alleges she was abused by Epstein at the age of 20, questioned the value of a release so heavily redacted. “If everything is redacted, where is the transparency?” she asked in comments to The New York Times on Friday.
Epstein died in a New York jail in 2019, his death ruled a suicide, shortly after he was charged with sex trafficking minors. The partial nature of the latest disclosures has reignited longstanding concerns that the full extent of his activities – and the possible complicity or negligence of officials and associates – remains shielded from view.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum have voiced frustration. Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a key backer of the disclosure law, accused the administration of failing to honour “both the spirit and the letter of the law that Donald Trump signed just 30 days ago”, writing on social media that the government had not met its obligations.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee highlighted the vanished image featuring Trump in a post on X, asking: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.” Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer went further, warning: “If they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide. This could be one of the biggest cover‑ups in American history.”
The administration has rejected any suggestion that it is seeking to protect Trump or others. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC that there was no attempt “to hold anything back” for the former president’s benefit and insisted redactions were driven solely by legal and privacy requirements.
Notably, the latest batch contained few direct references to Trump himself, despite his frequent appearance in earlier Epstein‑related releases. Trump and Epstein were socially acquainted during the 1990s and early 2000s before falling out prior to Epstein’s first conviction in 2008. Trump has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s offences and has not been accused of criminal conduct in connection with the case.
By contrast, numerous other public figures appeared in undated photographs released on Friday, many of them long known to have crossed paths with Epstein. The images include former President Bill Clinton, the late broadcaster Walter Cronkite, musicians Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, British businessman Sir Richard Branson and Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York. Actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey are also pictured with Epstein.
One photograph shows Andrew Mountbatten‑Windsor, the former Duke of York, lying across the laps of several women. Andrew has previously been stripped of his royal title over his association with Epstein and has consistently denied any wrongdoing. None of the celebrities appearing in the newly posted photographs has been accused of criminal behaviour in relation to Epstein.
The DOJ appeared keen to divert attention towards Clinton, with two department spokespeople sharing online images they said showed the former president alongside Epstein’s victims. Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, responded by accusing the administration of attempting to deflect scrutiny. In a statement, he argued that officials were trying to “shield themselves” by focusing on Clinton, adding: “They can release as many grainy 20‑plus‑year‑old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton.”
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