At the very least 15 recordsdata that had been launched by the Justice Division Friday in relation to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein had been not obtainable on the division’s web site on Saturday, CBS Information has decided.
CBS Information downloaded the entire set of paperwork on Friday and in contrast it to what’s obtainable Saturday.
It was unclear why the recordsdata are lacking. CBS Information has reached out to the Justice Division for remark.
In a social media put up to its X account Saturday evening that appeared to the touch on the problem, the DOJ wrote: “Photographs and different supplies will proceed being reviewed and redacted in step with the regulation in an abundance of warning as we obtain further data.”
One of many lacking recordsdata confirmed a mass of framed pictures on a credenza desk. The pictures confirmed former President Invoice Clinton, and one other was of the pope. In an open drawer, there was a photograph of President Trump, Epstein, and Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell.
On Sunday, the Justice Division stated the Southern District of New York had flagged the picture of the framed pictures for potential additional motion to guard victims and it had been put again on-line.
“Out of an abundance of warning, the Division of Justice quickly eliminated the picture for additional evaluate,” the Justice Division stated in an announcement. “After the evaluate, it was decided there isn’t a proof that any Epstein victims are depicted within the {photograph}, and it has been reposted with none alteration or redaction.”
Different lacking recordsdata included pictures of a room with what gave the impression to be a therapeutic massage desk and nude pictures and nude work.
The episode has deepened issues that had already emerged from the Justice Division’s much-anticipated doc launch. The tens of 1000’s of pages made public supplied little new perception into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial choices that allowed him to keep away from severe federal fees for years, whereas omitting among the most intently watched supplies, together with FBI interviews with victims and inside Justice Division memos on charging choices.
Among the most consequential information anticipated about Epstein are nowhere to be discovered within the Justice Division’s preliminary disclosures, which span tens of 1000’s of pages.
Lacking are FBI interviews with survivors and inside Justice Division memos inspecting charging choices — information that might have helped clarify how investigators considered the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead responsible to a comparatively minor state-level prostitution cost.
The information, required to be launched below a latest regulation handed by Congress, hardly reference a number of highly effective figures lengthy related to Epstein, together with Britain’s former Prince Andrew, renewing questions on who was scrutinized, who was not, and the way a lot the disclosures really advance public accountability
Among the many contemporary nuggets: perception into the Justice Division’s choice to desert an investigation into Epstein within the 2000s, which enabled him to plead responsible to that state-level cost, and a beforehand unseen 1996 criticism accusing Epstein of stealing pictures of kids.
The releases to this point have been heavy on pictures of Epstein’s houses in New York Metropolis and the U.S. Virgin Islands, with some pictures of celebrities and politicians.
There was a sequence of never-before-seen pictures of Clinton however fleetingly few of Mr. Trump. Each have been related to Epstein, however each have since disowned these friendships. Neither has been accused of any wrongdoing in reference to Epstein and there was no indication the pictures performed a task within the felony circumstances introduced towards him.
Regardless of a Friday deadline set by Congress to make every little thing public, the Justice Division stated it plans to launch information on a rolling foundation. It blamed the delay on the time-consuming strategy of obscuring survivors’ names and different figuring out data. The division has not given any discover when extra information would possibly arrive.
