No 'Missing Minute' in Epstein Detention Video, Says Government Source
CBS News has discovered that the so-called 'missing minute' from the security footage at the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center, where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019, might not actually be gone as previously thought.
Earlier this month, nearly 11 hours of video footage was released, but observers noticed a one-minute time jump to midnight just before the hour changed, leading to questions about a potential gap. This footage captures part of the vicinity where Epstein was held during the night of his alleged suicide, according to reports.
A source knowledgeable about the probe indicates that the FBI, Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice's inspector general possess a version of the video that does not skip from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on the night of Epstein's death by suicide.
The reason this segment was absent when the FBI distributed what it claimed was raw footage from the Special Housing Unit on August 9-10, 2019, remains unexplained. Officials acknowledged the footage as fundamental in concluding Epstein's death as a suicide.
Epstein’s death fuelled numerous conspiracy theories, and the apparent missing minute further fueled speculation after the video release. News bodies and amateur investigators swiftly noticed the time jump, adding to the conjecture.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned during a meeting on July 8 about the recording gap. She defined the missing minute as a consequence of nightly system resets that led the recording device to skip a minute nightly, citing the Bureau of Prisons for this information.
"A minute was skipped due to the counter, and from what the Bureau of Prisons explained, the video is reset every single night," Bondi commented, alluding to decades-old equipment. "This reset is consistent, showing the same minute lapse nightly," she added.
Bondi mentioned that additional video footage, demonstrating the nightly process, would be made available. However, this video evidence has yet to emerge publicly.
Surveillance video experts and forensic specialists indicated to CBS News that an automatic reset like the one described is uncommon and not generally observed in contemporary video systems.
Forensic analysts underscore that the FBI's released video was in fact edited, contradicting claims of it being unaltered. Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, among others, had publicly declared that the footage would be issued in its original form.
The DOJ and FBI, during public release, asserted the video to be a 'complete raw' capture, ensuring every instance of access or attempted access near Epstein's cell led to documentation by this footage.
Jim Stafford, a forensic analyst among many reviewing the video for CBS News, utilized special software to examine metadata. The data revealed that the original file creation was on May 23 of the current year, suggesting a screen-captured rather than directly exported video.
Stafford went on to indicate the video was a composite, where two separate videos were merged. Moreover, the entire recording duration was slightly accelerated, presenting an 11-hour timeframe in about 10 hours and 53 minutes.
When the FBI and the Justice Department were approached for comments, they chose not to respond. The Bureau of Prisons stated it had no further information to convey.
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