How we identified missing documents from the Epstein filesPublished at 11:53 GMT
Alison Benjamin and Benedict Garman
BBC verification
On Sunday, BBC Verify investigated the reported deletion of at least 13 documents from files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). One of the photos reportedly included a photo featuring Donald Trump.
To determine which images were missing, we compared the filenames of documents released on December 19th, the publication date, with the filenames of documents still available on the Department of Justice's website on December 21st. This highlighted 14 files that were present in the earlier release but not in the later release.
We then tested the web addresses for each of these documents on the Department of Justice website and found that 13 were inaccessible at the time of our checks. Ten of the files were images of massage parlors. Most of the faces in the image are edited, but one woman's face is not edited consistently throughout the file, and another woman's face is not edited throughout.
To see if the photo featuring President Trump had been temporarily removed, we searched the file's web address on the Wayback Machine. Wayback machines record snapshots of web pages over time, allowing users to see what they looked like at a specific point in the past.
image source, US Department of JusticeIt said one file – a photo of a desk with an open drawer showing two photos of President Trump – was made available on December 19th, but was no longer accessible during December 20th.
The Justice Department said in a post to X on Sunday:, external It said the images had been temporarily removed “due to the possibility of further action to protect the victim” and that it had acted “out of an abundance of caution.”
The Justice Department said the files were restored unedited after determining the photos did not show Epstein's victims.
Mr. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to Mr. Epstein, and Mr. Epstein's victims have not accused him of any crimes. There is no suggestion that these photos suggest any wrongdoing.
