The Justice Department is under fire after newly released Jeffrey Epstein case materials reportedly included unredacted nude images and photos involving minors.
Analysis by CNN uncovered nearly 100 explicit pictures of two naked young women on a beach, the news outlet reported. The materials also included photos showing a young girl kissing Epstein on the cheek. At least one unredacted image depicted Epstein alongside a nude female, and additional selfie-style nude photos of at least two other unidentified females were also published, with their ages unclear, according to CNN.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed in late November, the DOJ is obligated to omit sexually explicit imagery and anything that might identify victims.
The images have now been redacted. “Our team is working around the clock to address any victim concerns, additional redactions of personally identifiable information, as well as any files that require further redactions under the Act, to include images of a sexual nature,” DOJ said in a statement.
Even though the material has now been removed, there are concerns that the images may continue to spread in hidden online forums or illicit networks where child exploitation material is trafficked and shared, Lauren Frey, a former State Department official who worked on anti-trafficking programs, told CNN.
The release also included personal identifying details from the passports and driver’s licenses of seven individuals, according to CNN. Some of the seven individuals were associates of Epstein who have not been charged with any crime.
Meanwhile, the review found inconsistent redactions across duplicate images posted on the DOJ website. In some cases, multiple versions of the same photo appeared with different information blacked out.
For example, three versions of a prescription vial were published: one hid the patient’s name but revealed the antidepressant listed, while another concealed the drug but left the patient’s name visible. Similarly, two versions of a photo showing a baby being bathed were posted—one fully unredacted and another with the child’s face and body obscured. The unredacted image was removed Tuesday.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Justice Department for comment.
The newest revelations deepen scrutiny of the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, adding to a growing list of errors tied to the release.
Earlier disclosures included videos in which women’s faces were left unblurred, dozens of unredacted nude images and photographs of young women’s faces, and documents that identified a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, along with a court filing where redacted material could reportedly be revealed simply by copying and pasting the text. The files also contained a 2009 undercover FBI video related to efforts to obtain Epstein’s so-called “black book” of contacts, with the agent’s face visible.
At the same time, the department has drawn criticism for extensively blacking out information connected to individuals who may have assisted Epstein, fueling claims that its redaction process has been uneven and inconsistent.
A Justice Department spokesperson has said that fully blacked-out names belong to victims, FBI personnel, or other law enforcement officials.
“In many instances, as it has been well documented publicly, those who were originally victims became participants and co-conspirators,” the official said. “We did not redact any names of men, only female victims.”
Justice Department leaders acknowledged mistakes in the massive Epstein document release but said errors were quickly corrected.
“Mistakes were made by – you have really hard-working lawyers that worked for the past 60 days. Think about this though: you’re talking about pieces of paper that stack from the ground to two Eiffel Towers,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said earlier this month on Fox News.
Attorney General Pam Bondi added during a congressional hearing this month: “If any man’s name was redacted, that should not have been, we will, of course, unredact it. If a victim’s name was unredacted, please bring it to us and we will redact it.”
She continued: “We were given 30 days to review and redact and unredact millions of pages of documents, our error rate is very low.”
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