The US Department of Justice is facing intense scrutiny after more than a dozen files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation mysteriously disappeared from its public website. The documents were removed less than a day after being posted, with no official explanation provided.
Documents Vanish Without Explanation
The files were accessible to the public on Friday, 20 December 2025, but had become unavailable by Saturday. The Justice Department offered no immediate public notification or rationale for their removal. An Associated Press review confirmed that at least 16 files were missing from the site.
Among the vanished materials were images of paintings featuring nude women and a photograph showing a drawer containing a series of pictures. Notably, one picture in that drawer featured Donald Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein, Melania Trump, and Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Political Outcry and Online Speculation
The unexplained disappearance has ignited widespread speculation online about the government's motives and its lack of transparency. This controversy was further fuelled by the DOJ's failure to meet a court-ordered Friday deadline to release all files, opting instead for a piecemeal, rolling disclosure.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee quickly seized on the issue, specifically highlighting the missing photo of the former president. In a pointed statement, they wrote: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
A Pattern of Delays and Secrecy
This incident is the latest in a series of events that have eroded public confidence in the handling of the Epstein case documents. The failure to release the full cache on time, followed by the selective removal of files, has led to accusations of obfuscation.
Lawyers representing survivors of Epstein's abuse have also criticised the extensive redactions found in the documents that were released, arguing they impede a full understanding of the network surrounding the convicted sex offender. The combination of delays, heavy redactions, and now disappearing files presents a significant challenge to the promised transparency of the investigation.
