The death of Jeffrey Epstein in a Manhattan federal jail cell in August 2019 was a moment that instantly became a crucible for conspiracy theories. Officially ruled a suicide, the circumstances surrounding the wealthy financier’s death have always felt unresolved. Now, thanks to the massive, ongoing release of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a clearer—and more troubling—picture is emerging. It’s a story not of a single smoking gun, but of systemic failure, alleged deception, and the enduring power of dark speculation involving former President Donald Trump and the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.
The nearly 3.2 million pages of documents, thousands of videos, and hundreds of thousands of images released so far have provided new fodder for every corner of the Epstein saga . While they haven’t revealed a secret “client list” of the powerful that conspiracy theorists hoped for, they have exposed a stunning sequence of events within the FBI and Justice Department that began long before the recent transparency push.
The Case of the Missing Minute: Incompetence or Cover-Up?
The most concrete revelation from the new files is the definitive answer to what happened to a crucial piece of evidence: the surveillance footage from outside Epstein’s cell on the night he died. The public version released by the Justice Department in July 2025 contained a glaring 62-second gap, jumping from 11:58:58 p.m. to midnight . This missing minute became a flashpoint for theories that it showed Epstein’s murder, not a suicide.
Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi initially explained the discrepancy as a routine technical glitch. “There was a minute that was off that counter, and what we learned from Bureau of Prisons was every year, every night, they redo that video,” Bondi stated in July. “Every night is reset, so every night should have that same missing minute” . This explanation, however, quickly unraveled.
Internal documents now show that the “missing minute” was not the result of a system reset, but of a bizarre and seemingly incompetent chain of events within the FBI . According to records cited by CBS News, in June 2024—nearly five years after Epstein’s death and with the case closed—an FBI agent received authorization to destroy the master copy of the surveillance footage, an evidence item labeled 1B60 . The justification was bureaucratic: the case was closed, and under FBI policy, the file must remain open if evidence is retained. Destroying the master allowed them to close the loop .
By mid-2025, as public demand for Epstein records intensified, the Justice Department realized it needed that footage. With the master gone, they scrambled to reconstruct it from a secondary copy stored on the jail’s digital video recorder system . On May 21, 2025, an agent used a screen-capture tool to re-record the footage. The process was clumsy, resulting in two separate video files and the infamous 62-second gap that screen capture software couldn’t bridge . Further technical fumblings, including format conversions and trimming of “padding,” led to additional discrepancies noticed by outlets like Wired, such as changes in the video’s aspect ratio .
When Congress released the complete, unaltered footage in September 2025, it showed nothing unusual during that missing minute . The controversy, it seems, was born not from a nefarious plot, but from the FBI’s destruction of evidence and the Justice Department’s subsequent, ham-fisted attempt to cover it up with an unverified theory. As one FBI specialist admitted in a summary, his theory about the system reset was just that—a theory that he was “unable to test” .
The Trump Allegations: Informant, Friend, or Target of a “Hoax”?
The newly released files are awash with mentions of Donald Trump, casting him in a complex and contradictory light. The documents contain a note from federal prosecutors in 2020 indicating that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane far more times than previously reported . More salaciously, they include a hand-written letter, allegedly from Epstein in jail, making lewd and unverified claims about Trump’s behavior toward young women . The Justice Department was quick to dismiss these specific allegations as “false and salacious,” pointing out that they were submitted to the FBI on the eve of the 2020 election . Trump himself has downplayed his connection to Epstein, stating, “At the time, everybody was friendly with this guy” .
Perhaps the most startling claim to emerge recently came not from the files themselves, but from a high-profile political figure. In September 2025, House Speaker Mike Johnson asserted on CNN that Trump was an FBI informant against Epstein . Johnson claimed that after Trump learned of Epstein’s alleged crimes, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago” and subsequently worked with the FBI to expose him . This claim has not been corroborated by the FBI or the Justice Department, and it stands in stark contrast to Trump’s own repeated insistence that the entire Epstein scandal is a “Democrat hoax” designed to distract from his administration’s successes .
Trump has aggressively pushed this narrative, posting on his Truth Social platform that Democrats only revived interest in Epstein for political gain, having “befriend[ed] him, socialize[d] with him, travel[ed] to his Island, and [taken] his money” while he was alive . This attempt to frame the issue as a partisan attack clashes with the documentary evidence of his own associations with Epstein and the bipartisan fascination with the case.
The Israel Question: Spy or Sucker?
For years, a persistent theory has held that Jeffrey Epstein was more than just a sex offender; he was an intelligence asset, specifically for Israel’s Mossad. The newly released documents have provided a treasure trove of material for proponents of this theory, even if they fall short of definitive proof.
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is a government record detailing the account of an undercover FBI informant. According to the document, the informant “became convinced that Epstein was a co-opted Mossad Agent” . The informant’s belief was based on a series of observations: Epstein’s close relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whom the informant claimed Epstein “trained as a spy under”; and phone calls between Epstein and his attorney Alan Dershowitz, after which, the informant alleged, “Mossad would then call Dershowitz to debrief” .
The files are replete with evidence of Epstein’s deep ties to Israeli power brokers. Emails show that Barak was a frequent and extended guest at Epstein’s New York townhouse, with staff referring to a dwelling there as “Ehud’s apartment” . Barak’s wife would correspond with Epstein’s staff to arrange their lengthy stays, including a three-month visit in 2015, years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor . This relationship was so significant that current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed in, claiming on social media that it actually proved “the opposite” of the spy allegation. He argued that Barak, a political rival, “obsessively attempted to undermine Israeli democracy” and that his partnership with Epstein was part of that effort, not a state-sanctioned intelligence operation .
Beyond Barak, the files show Epstein maneuvering in circles thick with Israeli connections. He coordinated a meeting involving Netanyahu and a Barclays CEO . He corresponded about representing the Rothschilds, the famed European banking dynasty, in tech investments . The ghost of Robert Maxwell, the disgraced media tycoon and father of Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell, also looms large. Maxwell, buried with honors in Israel, is widely believed to have been a Mossad asset, and an associate quoted in an FBI memo speculated that “Robert, Ghislaine, and Jeffery were all Mossad agents trying to blackmail leaders in the political and financial world” .
For now, the question of whether Epstein was a Mossad agent remains unanswered. The files provide a compelling mosaic of associations and circumstantial evidence, but the “smoking gun”—if it exists—remains buried. What is clear is that Epstein navigated the highest echelons of Israeli political and financial life with the same ease he did in the United States.
Conclusion
The latest dump of Epstein files has demystified some aspects of the saga while deepening the intrigue surrounding others. The “missing minute” appears to be less a sign of murder and more a monument to government incompetence and a subsequent effort to manage the narrative. The allegations surrounding Trump paint a picture of a man struggling to distance himself from a past association while simultaneously being held up by his allies as a secret weapon against Epstein. And the question of Israel’s involvement lingers, supported by a web of undeniable connections but lacking a definitive conclusion.
What remains is a story of a man who operated at the intersection of wealth, power, and intelligence, and a justice system that, through a combination of destroyed evidence and bureaucratic bungling, has ensured that the full truth of his life and death may never be known. The files are out, but the final chapter remains unwritten.