NEWSNew Revelations: Nearly 3 Minutes of Jeffrey Epstein's Prison Footage Scrubbed Before Release
The Department of Justice's 'raw' Jeffrey Epstein video omitted nearly three minutes, according to a report.
July 16 2025, Published 8:49 a.m. ET
Newly uncovered metadata has revealed that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cut nearly three minutes from what they labeled the "full raw" surveillance video of Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell, recorded the night before his death.
The footage, released last week amid ongoing investigations into Epstein's controversial 2019 demise, has raised alarming questions regarding the editing and assembly processes involved.
Jeffrey Epstein footage from the FBI and DOJ was stitched together from two files, data shows.
According to WIRED, the video was stitched together using Adobe Premiere Pro from two separate files, contradicting the Justice Department's claims of providing "raw" footage.
Further investigation shows that one of the source clips runs approximately 2 minutes and 53 seconds longer than the segment included in the final release — indicating significant editing occurred prior to the footage's public unveiling. What the cut minutes contained remains a mystery.
This almost three-minute discrepancy might also relate to a well-publicized one-minute gap — from 11:58:58 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m.—attributed by attorney-general Pam Bondi to a nightly system reset.
Metadata confirms that the first video file from August 9, 2019, extended several minutes beyond what appears in the version the public received, trimmed to end at 11:58:58 p.m., just before midnight. While these edits don't necessarily imply missing or unaccounted time, the second clip resumes at midnight, suggesting an overlap that complicates the narrative.
A 2:53 segment was cut from the first clip of the Jeffrey Epstein video before it was released.
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This revelation arrives during a period of intense political scrutiny, as Donald Trump allies have long speculated about the release of shocking new evidence related to Epstein's death.
Last week, the DOJ and FBI declared no "incriminating 'client list'" exists, reiterating the government's assertion that Epstein — accused of conspiring to s-- traffic minors — committed suicide. This announcement triggered an immediate backlash from pro-Trump influencers and media figures, who suggested the administration was engaged in a cover-up.
In response to specific inquiries regarding the video's assembly, WIRED reached out to the DOJ for comment at 7:40 a.m. Just two minutes later, Natalie Baldassarre, a public affairs officer at the DOJ, provided a terse reply: "Refer you to the FBI." The FBI subsequently declined to comment.
Pam Bondi claimed the change was due to a 'nightly system reset.'
In July, WIRED published a detailed analysis of the metadata embedded in the video, confirmed by independent video forensics experts.
This analysis suggested that the file was compiled from at least two clips, saved multiple times, exported and ultimately uploaded to the DOJ's website, all presented as "raw" footage.
FBI ruled that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in 2019.
Initially, WIRED determined that these saves occurred over a 23-minute span. However, additional scrutiny of the metadata showed that the file underwent several edits and saves over a period exceeding three and a half hours on May 23, created at 4:48 p.m. and last modified at 8:16 p.m. ET.
The metadata also references "MJCOLE~1," likely a shortened username; while it starts with "MJCOLE," the complete name remains undetermined based purely on the metadata.
