Image of Bondi with Trump, Epstein is altered
- Published on December 22, 2025 at 23:01
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
An image purporting to show a young Pam Bondi with US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is spreading widely across platforms as the US attorney general faces mounting criticism over the Justice Department's partial release of files related to the late convicted sex offender. But the photo is altered, with Bondi's face edited in; the 1997 original shows Trump posing alongside Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve.
"From the latest release of documents and photos from the files of Jeffrey Epstein," says a December 20, 2025 post on Threads.
"So she was there and is editing the files," another post adds. "Conflict of interest."
The posts -- and others like them shared on Facebook and X -- appear to show an old picture of Trump and a young woman that resembles Bondi posing for a camera. Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, is seen standing behind them.
They spread as Bondi's Justice Department on December 19 released a highly anticipated and politically sensitive tranche of records from investigations into the late sex offender, to meet a deadline set by Congress as part of a law forcing the files' publication.
Victims of Epstein's abuse and backers of the law ordering the materials' release expressed anger over the heavy redactions in the documents, which arrived with many pages blacked out and photos censored. Two lawmakers have threatened Bondi with contempt over the redactions and what they say is missing information.
Democrats also demanded answers after one image that included a photo of Trump was removed from the Justice's Department's website before later being reposted.
But the image depicting Trump and Bondi with Epstein was not part of the trove of files -- nor is it authentic.
Reverse image searches surfaced the original photo in Getty Images's catalogue, with a caption saying it showed then-businessman Trump and Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve, with Epstein behind them, at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York City (archived here). The picture has been widely published.
The manipulated version swaps Seynhaeve for Bondi and alters the appearance of Trump, who was wearing a patterned purple tie and looking away from the camera in the original.
The US fact-checking organizations Snopes and Lead Stories previously debunked the same image when it circulated in October 2025 at another peak in the controversy surrounding the Epstein files.
Trump was frequently pictured partying with Epstein during a 15-year friendship before the pair reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Two other Getty Images photos show Trump and Seynhaeve at the same 1997 function (archived here and here). Another picture showing Trump, Epstein and Seynhaeve together at the party was also included in a batch of photos House Democrats released December 11, 2025 (archived here and here).
AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation about Epstein, including here, here and here.
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