“Lawmakers said they had received 95,000 images from Epstein’s estate, but Democrats only released 19 in an apparent attempt to cherry-pick the most salacious and headline-grabbing images,” said the New York Post’s Samuel Chamberlain.
Last week, nineteen previously unseen photographs from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate were made public as part of an ongoing disclosure effort ahead of a mandated Department of Justice release. Among the images were several that included President Donald Trump standing or sitting near Epstein, the prolific convicted sex offender and pedophile who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
One such photo sees Trump standing beside several women on each side of him, their faces hidden behind black bars. This form of redaction is a common method of protecting the anonymity of potential victims—especially minors, a favored target of Epstein. It’s a dramatic image—at least if taken completely out of context.
The problem with this “newly released” image is that it’s not new at all. It’s actually been known to the public for years. The five women standing beside Trump are Hawaiian Tropic models, not minors or victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. One of the women has even come forward with a statement.
“I was 22 years old and remember [Trump] being very nice,” she said. “He was very gentlemanly, that’s the word to describe him.”
She also told Telegraph that President Trump went out of his way to ensure the group enjoyed their evening at Mar-a-Lago.
Something similar was done for another photo that was known to the public. It features Trump next to a smiling blonde woman on what appears to be a private jet. There is now a “redacted” version of the image in which her face is covered.
This begs the question: why did the House Oversight Committee go out of their way to redact these women’s faces?
“They blurred out the faces to make it seem as if they were underage,” posits one commenter. “The mainstream media is cancer.”
That’s the obvious, if somewhat cynical take. Trump’s opponents in both the media and in Congress often try at great length to tie the President at the hip to Epstein, using photos such as these to insinuate guilt by association. In reality, the batch released to date shows Trump, Epstein and various figures in social settings from decades ago—long before Epstein’s criminal downfall and at a time when Trump was a real-estate developer, TV show host, and public figure.
To that point, many outlets covering this story make little mention of the fact that the newest batch also includes photos with Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Prince Andrew, and Woody Allen.
Trump has repeatedly attested that his relationship with Epstein was not unique among elites at the time. Epstein’s circle included business leaders, politicians, and celebrities across the political spectrum, as reflected in the tens of thousands of archived images that show a wide range of public figures with him or at his events. In fact, Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2004—15 years before he was arrested with sex trafficking charges.
To single out Trump every single time there’s an opportunity to release information to the public is selective framing at best, and bias at worst. Critics argue the inordinate focus on the President and the constant attempts to one-up political opponents, as if it were a game, trivializes the real victims and their suffering.
“Lawmakers said they had received 95,000 images from Epstein’s estate, but Democrats only released 19 in an apparent attempt to cherry-pick the most salacious and headline-grabbing images,” said the New York Post’s Samuel Chamberlain.
When asked by a reporter about this photo in particular, Trump responded by saying: “I haven’t seen it, but I mean, everybody knew this man. He was all over Palm Beach, he has photos with everybody. I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him, so that’s no big deal. I know nothing about it.”
More brazen attempts by Trump’s opponents have included bogus lawsuits and the circulation of doctored images. Notably, one fact-checked photo widely circulated online that alleged Trump inappropriately touching a minor was debunked as a composite of unrelated images several years ago.
With these unnecessarily-redacted photos, it seems clear the mainstream media was hoping for a huge bombshell reaction from the public. If comments left on posts about this story are anything to go by, that outcome couldn’t be farther from reality.
“Of course there are pictures of him around beautiful girls,” comments one Instagram user. “He owned Trump Model Management. I worked with several girls back then that were represented by Trump. Trump Models was huge and represented some top A-list models.”
“He ran Miss Universe didn’t he? Of course there were always beautiful young women around,” comments another. “Is anyone questioning the women’s motives? We’re they hoping to get a helping hand? Two sides to every story. Maybe both sides [are] completely innocent. Why does it have to mean anything?”
“I believe our President then owned a modeling agency,” comments another. “So this picture is truly irrelevant.”
