Surveillance footage released by the House Oversight Committee shows the “missing minute” outside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell on the night he died — a gap that for years fueled speculation about his death.The clip is part of more than 33,000 pages of documents and videos tied to Epstein’s sex-trafficking case, made public Tuesday. It shows the camera system switching over at midnight, creating the earlier gap when two clips were combined. Nothing appears to have happened during the missing minute.
Background on missing footage
When the US justice department first released Epstein files, the 11-hour surveillance recording from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019 had a gap between 11:58:59 pm on August 9 and midnight on August 10. Critics claimed the missing time pointed to a political cover-up, reported The New York Post.At the time, attorney General Pam Bondi said the last minute of footage is deleted each night when Bureau of Prisons cameras reset. She has not addressed her earlier explanation since the new video surfaced.
Oversight committee’s release
Most of the newly posted files, uploaded to a Google drive, included court records and other information already public. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a lengthy prison sentence for helping him.Rep Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, criticised the release.“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents James Comer has decided to ‘release’ were already mostly public information. To the American people — don’t let this fool you,” Garcia said, as quoted by The New York Post.The renewed attention has created political headaches for US President Donald Trump, as many of his supporters continue to push conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. Trump said he is baffled by the interest in the files.Meanwhile, Reps Ro Khannaand Thomas Massie have introduced a measure requiring the justice department to release all unclassified Epstein records, including those held by the FBI and federal prosecutors.