Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has offered a questionable explanation for the removal of a photo of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick from its public library of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The photo, which was found in a downloaded cache of Epstein files but was later removed from the DOJ’s dedicated site, appears to show Epstein and Lutnick walking on Little St. James, the Caribbean island where many of Epstein’s crimes took place.
It also shows three other unidentified men, all wearing baggy shorts and T-shirts or button-down shirts, while Epstein is dressed in a white T-shirt and pants.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, a DOJ official said the image was “part of a batch of files that had been flagged for nudity.”
“The batch of thousands of images was pulled for review and is being uploaded with necessary redactions on a rolling basis,” the official said. “No files are being deleted.”
All of the men in the photo are fully clothed.
The picture was located by “jmail,” a site run by two tech workers who have created a searchable version of Epstein’s Gmail inbox by downloading all of the latest releases.
The DOJ’s explanation for its removal was particularly shameless, given that more than 100 explicit photos of Epstein’s victims were accidentally uploaded to the portal before being removed and redacted.
Lutnick’s trip to the island had previously been revealed by other documents in the Epstein files, which showed the 64-year-old father of four had lied about his contacts with the disgraced financier.
During an October appearance on the MAGA-friendly podcast Pod Force One, he said he had met Epstein only once, in 2005, after he and his wife moved in next door, and claimed that he ended all contact the following year.
The DOJ files, however, revealed that Epstein and Lutnick traded emails for years, even after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
The messages showed them arranging calls and lunches, along with a 2012 trip to Little St. James, which Lutnick told Congress he visited with his wife, their children, and the kids’ nannies for lunch.
As recently as 2018, Lutnick and Epstein discussed a joint business venture.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking and found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department told CBS News earlier this month, “Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”
The commerce secretary has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
But even some MAGA diehards have blasted him for being “reckless” and for failing to apologize for his association with Epstein.
President Donald Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for years, told reporters on Thursday that he hadn’t spoken to Lutnick about his visit to Little St. James, and made a point of insisting that he personally had never visited the pedophile’s island.
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