Release of ‘missing minute’ of Epstein video contradicts Bondi claim cameras stopped recording

A so-called “missing minute” of CCTV footage, a key ingredient of conspiracy theories surrounding the prison death of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been found, contradicting the assertion of Pam Bondi, the attorney general, that it was recorded over.

The video was in a cache of material, including 33,000 pages of records relating to the disgraced financier and former Donald Trump associate, released late on Tuesday by the US House oversight committee. The panel has been looking into Epstein’s August 2019 death at Manhattan’s Metropolitan correctional center.

In July, the same month as a government review confirmed Epstein died by suicide, the FBI released hours of surveillance footage taken from outside Epstein’s jail cell on the night he died. Observers quickly realized from time stamps that a block of one minute, from 11.59pm to midnight on 10 August, was not there.

Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at 6.30am.

Conspiracy theorists leapt on the development as “proof” there was something suspicious about Epstein’s death, fuelled by Bondi’s insistence at the time that the prison’s CCTV system was routinely reset every 24 hours. That, she told a cabinet meeting on 8 July, meant every night’s footage would feature a “missing” minute.

But CBS reported later that month that there was no blackout in the recording, and that the justice department, bureau of prisons, and the FBI had a full version including the previously unaccounted for 60 seconds.

The revelation was supported by Tuesday night’s congressional release that included the footage among two hours of previously unseen video. It reveals nothing out of the ordinary, with a handful of guards working outside the cell.

Other images not seen before, according to CBS, include Epstein being escorted by guards through the facility to make a phone call.

There was no immediate response on Wednesday from Bondi’s office or the FBI.

Most of the files released on Tuesday and posted online to Google Drive contain information already publicly known or available. Many are image files of court documents relating to Epstein and his former girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to a 20-year prison term in 2022 for sex-trafficking crimes.

Maxwell met with justice department officials at least twice in recent weeks and is, according to critics, pressing the Trump administration for a pardon.

Also featured in Tuesday’s release are what appears to be body-cam footage from police searches and police interviews. An estimated 97% of the material is not new.

The release came as Trump faces renewed scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein, a longtime friend who was part of the president’s wealthy network of associates in Palm Beach, Florida, and New York.

A number of Republicans joined Democrats in demanding more transparency from the Trump administration over the case, and the release of all documents related to it, amplified by this week’s return of lawmakers to Washington DC after the summer recess.

The controversy has caused a rare split in Republican ranks with many still fiercely loyal to Trump, and others critical of what they see as the administration’s secretive approach.

Congressman Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, joined Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, in filing a discharge petition in the House this week that would force the release of all of the Epstein files.

The House speaker, Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has insisted his party is committed to transparency and justice, but has called Massie’s efforts to secure the records “meaningless” and urged colleagues not to support them.

Massie hit back on Tuesday, telling Fox News Digital: “He is afraid of President Donald Trump. Mike Johnson’s speakership just hangs on that thread.”

A number of Epstein’s victims were joining other survivors of sexual abuse at a rally and press conference in Washington DC on Wednesday to demand justice, some speaking publicly for the first time.