(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Tech publication Wired reported Friday that the video of Jeffrey Epstein’s prison wing released by the Justice Department earlier this week may have been “modified.”
“Metadata embedded in the video and analyzed by WIRED and independent video forensics experts shows that rather than being a direct export from the prison’s surveillance system, the footage was modified, likely using the professional editing tool Adobe Premiere Pro. The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was presented as ‘raw’ footage,” Wired reported.
“Experts caution that it’s unclear what exactly was changed, and that the metadata does not prove deceptive manipulation. The video may have simply been processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips. But the absence of a clear explanation for the processing of the file using professional editing software complicates the Justice Department’s narrative,” the publication added.
BREAKING: Metadata shows the FBI’s ‘raw’ Jeffrey Epstein prison video was likely modified. https://t.co/kT890Zoc1o
— WIRED (@WIRED) July 11, 2025
Wired’s story comes amidst a reported fallout between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino over how the Epstein disclosures have been handled. Axios reported Friday that Bongino is “furious” with Bondi and skipped work on Friday.
The controversy stems from a DOJ memo obtained by Axios on Sunday, which said that the FBI reviewed more than 300 gigabytes of Epstein evidence—and that there isn’t any evidence of a vast human trafficking or sexual blackmail operation.
The memo, which included links to the prison footage, also said that Epstein killed himself.
The purpose of releasing the prison footage was ostensibly to show the public that no one had access to Epstein’s cell the night before he was found dead in his cell on Aug. 10, 2019. However, as Headline USA has explained, the footage does not provide evidence that Epstein killed himself. The camera only showed a tiny sliver of a staircase leading to Epstein’s cell. The camera in Epstein’s cell block, which had at least three other inmates, wasn’t recording. Nor was the camera covering one of the elevator bays that led to Epstein’s floor.
And now, it turns out that not even the limited footage released by the Justice Department can be trusted. Along with Wired’s post about the modified footage, online sleuths noted that at least a minute of the roughly 11-hour video is missing. The video cuts out at 11:58:59, and restarts right at midnight on August 10—an occurrence that Bondi blamed on the prison’s antiquated video system.
Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging after he was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. But his lawyers contested that claim. Skeptics point to malfunctioning surveillance cameras, sleeping guards, and broken bones in Epstein’s neck as indications that his death was something other than suicide.
Because of Epstein’s extensive fraternization with high-profile politicians and celebrities such as Bill Clinton, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Prince Andrew and Bill Gates and many more, some claim that Epstein’s death was actually a hit job to silence him. Proponents of that theory include Epstein’s former partner, Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
“I believe that he was murdered. I was shocked, and I wondered, ‘How did this happen?’ Because I was sure he was going to appeal, and I was sure he was covered by the non-prosecution agreement,” Maxwell told British reporter Jeremy Kyle of TalkTV in 2023.
The non-prosecution agreement referenced by Maxwell was a sweetheart deal Epstein signed with the Department of Justice in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18. Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, and was reportedly allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12 hours a day.
After the Miami Herald published an expose on Epstein and his non-prosecution agreement in late 2018, Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
