Overview
- A 12-second clip in the latest Justice Department release briefly appeared to show Jeffrey Epstein attempting suicide, with a 4:29 a.m. Aug. 10, 2019 timestamp and a “J Epstein” label.
- The video is not prison surveillance but a computer-generated recreation that had circulated online and was included as an attachment from a 2021 tipster email.
- The DOJ-hosted link was quickly removed after the clip spread, with the file page later returning an access error.
- Official findings remain unchanged: the New York City medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide, and a 2023 DOJ inspector general report found no camera inside his cell.
- The episode deepened bipartisan and survivor criticism of the rolling, heavily redacted releases for missing metadata and context, prompting fresh calls for a clearer, more comprehensive disclosure process.