The woman in the photograph does not move.
She is lying face‑down, motionless, on what looks like a bed or massage table. Over her, on all fours, isAndrew Mountbatten‑Windsor – the man the world once called Prince Andrew– looking straight at the camera in one frame, resting his hand on her abdomen in another. Her face has been blacked out by officials. His, of course, has not.
Those images, released as part of a giant dump of JeffreyEpstein filesby the USDepartment of Justiceon 30 January, have already been described as sordid, degrading, damning. This week, under the fluorescent lights of a House Judiciary Committee hearing room in Washington, they were given a far starker label.
'We are looking at a sex trafficking victim,' said Congressman Ted Lieu.
Lieu, a California Democrat and former prosecutor, was questioning US Attorney General Pam Bondi about the handling of the three million‑document cache of Epstein‑related material. On screens behind him, the photos of Andrew Windsor and the unidentified woman appeared, blown up for all to see.
'I'm going to show you two photos of former Prince Andrew,' Lieu began, deliberately using the title that Buckingham Palace stripped away. 'Prince Andrew attended various parties with Jeffrey Epstein.'
He then zeroed in on the black bar across the woman's face.
NEW PRINCE ANDREW PHOTOS!Prince Andrew leaning over a woman on the floor, grinning for the camera like he owns the moment.This isn’t clumsy. It isn’t playful.It’s the body language of someone who’s never been told “no.”And that’s exactly why people are disgusted.pic.twitter.com/vCXIc937qS
'Under the lawCongresspassed, you were allowed to redact photos to protect the victims of Epstein's sex trafficking operation,' he told Bondi. 'You redacted the photos of this victim's face because you were following the congressional law, is that correct?'
Bondi, momentarily thrown, replied: 'I'm sorry, that we redacted the victim's face?'
Source: International Business Times UK
