At least 16 files have disappeared from the US Department of Justice's public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
According to ABC News, several files including a photograph showing President Donald Trump have been removed from the DOJ website less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public.
The missing files, which were available on Friday, December 19, were no longer accessible the following day, included images of paintings depicting nude women and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers.
In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Similar images of the credenza with the drawer closed are still online.
The unexplained removal of files fuelled speculation about what was taken down and why the public was not notified, compounding long-standing intrigue about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo in a post on X, writing, "What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public."
There is growing anger among survivors of Epstein’s sexual abuse over the files released Friday as they pushed for more transparency after hundreds of pages of documents were completely redacted.
The Justice Department acknowledged that it would not be releasing all of the documents on the December 19 deadline as set out by law in the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but that it would release more in the next two weeks.
