Nearly 3 Minutes Cut From Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Released by Trump Administration: Report
(Screengrab via FBI)
Forensic experts have discovered that nearly three minutes of footage were cut from what the FBI had presented as “full raw” surveillance video of Jeffrey Epstein’s prison wing on the night of his death in August 2019.
The footage was made public by the Trump administration last week in an attempt to debunk the idea that the convicted pedophile was murdered and back the findings of the Justice Department memo that he killed himself. Rather than quell persistent conspiracy theories, however, it has instead reignited them – this time with metadata.
An analysis published by WIRED shows that the file was stitched together using Adobe Premiere Pro from two clips, and one of them – originally 4 hours, 19 minutes long – had nearly 2 minutes and 53 seconds trimmed. The cut occurs at 11:58:58 pm, milliseconds before a one-minute gap in the footage that Attorney General Pam Bondi previously blamed on a “nightly system reset.” The second clip resumes at exactly 12:00:00 am.
Though the timing may suggest overlap, according to WIRED, the metadata shows the file was modified multiple times on May 23, 2025, over a span of more than three hours, contradicting official claims that the “raw” video was untouched. Internal markers within the footage also point to post-processing edits.
When WIRED pressed the Department of Justice for comment on the edit timeline, a spokesperson replied within minutes: “Refer you to the FBI.” The FBI then declined to comment.
The DOJ and FBI released the footage alongside a memo stating that no “incriminating ‘client list'” exists and reaffirming the government’s position that Epstein died by suicide. But pro-Trump media figures, many of whom had built anticipation around an Epstein release, have accused the administration of burying the truth.
While the Department’s 2023 Inspector General report noted the jail’s surveillance system was “outdated” and often malfunctioned, it also claimed anyone accessing Epstein’s tier would have been visible, if not entirely identifiable, on the footage. Epstein’s own cell door, however, is not visible in the video.
