Released last Friday and comprising over three million pages, the archive accidentally exposed nude photographs of young women and minors. Upon being alerted by the Times, the DOJ immediately took the documents offline to prevent further distribution of the sensitive imagery.
The breach drew sharp condemnation from survivors, including Maria Farmer, who described the government’s failure to protect victims as “heinous.” In response, a DOJ spokesperson pledged to work through the night to scrub all personally identifiable information and sensitive images before restoring the files to the public domain.
Beyond the privacy breach, the declassified files triggered international political fallout. India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi once “sang and danced” for Donald Trump as “vile speculation.”
Read more: Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify before Congress in Epstein probe
In the UK, former Ambassador Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party and apologized to victims after revelations surfaced that he had accepted $75,000 from Epstein.
Similarly, Slovakia’s National Security Advisor, Miroslav Lajčák, resigned following allegations of inappropriate correspondence with Epstein regarding young women, though he maintained the messages were jokes.
The release also prompted reaction from the business sector, with Elon Musk suggesting on social media that the silence of implicated figures like Bill Gates and Bill Clinton implies guilt.
