The clip was part of the latest batch of files the Trump Administration released related to Epstein, but was later taken down without an explanation from the department.
The fake video apparently made it into the FBI’s Epstein files because someone had emailed it to the bureau with a query asking if it was real. According to analysis by Wired magazine, the 12-second video appeared to match footage uploaded to YouTube in 2019 with a description that read “rendering 3D graphics”; other outlets, including the BBC, said they had traced the video back to footage posted on the platform in 2020. A document that was posted just before the video in the Department of Justice’s initial release includes a message from outside the government asking if the video is real, Wired wrote.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request from TIME on Tuesday about why the footage was removed, or why it was released in the first place.
The fake footage was shared widely on social media Monday and has been cited as an example of the challenges the Department of Justice has faced as it works to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law on Nov. 19, giving the department 30 days to make public all of its case files about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the chaos of everything I totally missed this happening last week, but seems like kind of a big deal.
How is it a big deal? We know that it’s not real, that it wasn’t claimed to be real by its creators, and that the FBI has it because it was emailed to them by someone with an innocent question about it. I can see either including it in the release because it’s technically in the FBI’s Epstein file, or omitting it from the release because it actually isn’t relevant information. It looks like the FBI chose the latter policy once they became aware that they had released the video (presumably as part of a bulk upload) and they Streisand-Effected themselves by removing it. I’m not familiar with the specific text of the law so I don’t know which option is more in accordance with it, but either way I don’t see any substantive issue at all.
The DOJ shouldn’t be posting anything (especially regarding this case) without first verifying the authenticity of the contents of the post. It’s a big deal because their quality control is optically terrible, and that’s a very bad look for what’s supposed to be the top of the justice ladder.
It’s not an authentic video of Epstein, but it is an authentic part of their file on Epstein. You seem to be saying that they should not have posted it but my understanding of the law is that they should have posted it and not removed it.
It’s fake, they shouldn’t post it at all.
You want to give the FBI a lot more power to choose, unilaterally and without oversight, which parts of the Epstein files to keep from the public than I do.
It wasn’t part of any files, it was fucking fake.
It was both in the files and fucking fake.