The long-awaited Epstein files are finally being released.
No one was prepared for this.
And one video released in the Epstein files had all hell breaking loose.
DOJ releases video with Epstein death timestamp
The DOJ missed its deadline to release all documents required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act that President Trump signed into law, but started releasing hundreds of thousands of files on a rolling basis.
Among the files was a 12-second clip showing someone in an orange jumpsuit on the floor of a jail cell in apparent distress.
The video carried a timestamp of 4:29 a.m. on August 10, 2019 — just two hours before Epstein was found dead with a noose around his neck at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in New York.
TMZ and several prominent social media influencers including Benny Johnson and Nick Sortor shared the clip believing it was authentic.
The video was a complete fake.
Investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet discovered the video originated from YouTube in 2020 where the creator indicated in the caption they made it using "rendering 3D graphics."
The clip had been attached to an anonymous email sent to the DOJ in March 2021 from a tipster claiming there were other suicides being covered up by the Bureau of Prisons.
Even that tipster questioned the video's authenticity, writing "Is this real???"
An administration official confirmed to the New York Post the video was bogus and the DOJ removed it from the website.
Democrats run with forged letter written after Epstein's death
Democrats weren't done trying to weaponize the Epstein file dump against Trump.
The DOJ also released a handwritten letter supposedly sent by "J. Epstein" to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor.
The letter, dated August 13, 2019 and postmarked from Manhattan Correctional, read: "Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the 'short route' home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies at the hope they'd reach their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls."
Democrats and their media allies jumped all over it.
Epstein was already dead on August 13.
He died on August 10 — three days before the letter was supposedly written.
Someone forged a letter from a dead man to attack Trump, and Democrats ran with it anyway.
The DOJ confirmed the FBI determined it was a fake because the handwriting didn't match Epstein's.
The letter also had a Virginia postmark instead of New York and listed the wrong jail address.
"This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual," the DOJ stated.
Look at what just happened here.
Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act after Congress passed it 427-1 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate.
That commitment to total transparency meant releasing everything — even garbage like fake videos from conspiracy theorists and forged letters.
Trump could have buried this stuff.
He could have claimed executive privilege or national security or any number of excuses Washington uses to hide embarrassing materials.
Instead he released it all.
And what happened? Democrats immediately tried weaponizing fake evidence against him anyway.
They ran with a forged letter dated three days after Epstein died and didn't bother checking if it was real first.
That tells you everything about their desperation.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the agency is reviewing every document to protect victims' identities while releasing materials on a rolling basis.
Democrats were counting on the file dump damaging Trump.
Instead it exposed their willingness to spread fake evidence and showed Trump following through on transparency even when it could fuel conspiracy theories.
That's the difference between actual leadership and the desperate smear campaign Democrats are running.
¹ Daily Caller News Foundation, "DOJ Includes Clip Of Disputed Epstein Jail Cell Footage In Files — But Quickly Kills Link," December 22, 2025.
² The Daily Beast, "DOJ Releases Gruesome Fake Epstein Video in File Dump," December 22, 2025.
³ NPR, "Justice Department releases more Epstein files and some mention Trump," December 23, 2025.
⁴ The White House, "Congressional Bill H.R. 4405 Signed into Law," November 19, 2025.
⁵ Wikipedia, "Epstein Files Transparency Act," December 23, 2025.
