“MAJOR BREAKING: Massive bombshell drops in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as metadata analysis reveals that the footage released by the Trump administration of Epstein's prison cell was likely "modified" with software.
And it gets so much stranger...
According to analysis by WIRED and independent video forensics experts, the 11 hours of footage released by the MAGA Justice Department does not appear to be a "direct export from the prison’s surveillance system." They reached this conclusion by reviewing metadata embedded in the footage.
The video footage was likely "modified" using Adobe Premiere Pro, which is a popular professional editing tool that is often used on big budget Hollywood blockbusters.
"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," data reporter Dhruv Mehrotra wrote in WIRED.
Not only that, but 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."
While this evidence doesn't tell us what if anything was changed, it is deeply suspicious when considered alongside the erratic behavior of the Trump administration and the flustered manner in which Trump himself responded to an Epstein question earlier this week.
When Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked about a missing minute from the footage between 11:58 PM to midnight, she gave a difficult-to-believe explanation.
"The video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide," she claimed.
"And what was on that, there was a minute that was off the counter and what we learned from the Bureau of Prisons is every year, uh every night, they redo that video," she continued. "It's old from like 1999. So, every night the video is reset and every night should have the same minute missing."
"So we’re looking for that video to release that as well, showing that a minute is missing every night. And that’s it on Epstein," she added.
WIRED explained that their metadata analysis could be explained by the footage having been "processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips." At this point though, only a fool would grant the benefit of the doubt to Trump and Bondi.
Trump himself was close friends with Epstein at one point and Elon Musk has alleged that Trump is in the Epstein files.
For those interested in the specific technical details of the analysis, WIRED provided great transparency—
"Working with two independent video forensics experts, WIRED examined the 21-gigabyte files released by the DOJ. Using a metadata tool, reporters analyzed both Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) and Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data to identify signs of postprocessing," wrote Mehrotra. Adobe software embeds traces in exported files, meaning that the analysis was relatively point A to point B once the experts got under the hood.
The conclusion drawn by the analysts is that the footage is "not a continuous, unaltered export from a surveillance system" which was what the DOJ implied by calling it "raw" footage.
"If a lawyer brought me this file and asked if it was suitable for court, I’d say no. Go back to the source. Do it right. Do a direct export from the original system—no monkey business," Hany Farid, a UC Berkeley professor who researches digital forensics and misinformation, told WIRED. He also questioned why the video's aspect ratio seems to randomly change throughout the footage.
The Epstein scandal surged back into headlines this week after a Justice Department memo leaked which claimed that the Epstein client list does not exist, that there is no evidence that the billionaire pedophile blackmailed powerful people, and that there is no reason to believe that he was murdered. Previously, Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that the Epstein client list was waiting on her desk to be reviewed.
At this point, only complete transparency will do. The Trump administration must immediately release everything it knows about Jeffrey Epstein.”
www.nbcnewyork.com
