In February 2026, news circulated online that France and other countries outside the United States had released unedited images from the U.S. Department of Justice’s files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Some of the posts contained images purportedly depicting US President Donald Trump with underage girls.
The Justice Department began releasing the documents in bulk in December 2025 after public pressure mounted to obtain them. Text and images in the documents have been heavily redacted to protect survivors’ identities, according to a notice on the Justice Department’s online document repository.
Claims that other countries had access to the unredacted files were circulated across multiple platforms ( Archive , Archive ), racking up millions of views. Dozens of users in the comments seemed to believe the claim.
The earliest post (archived) we found of this statement appears on February 5, 2026 — just days after a small group of U.S. lawmakers reviewed unredacted Epstein documents. The suggestion that other countries were releasing unredacted documents emerged alongside two photos in the post purportedly showing Trump and two underage girls, which read: “Warning: This is worse than you think. Other countries are releasing unredacted Epstein documents. This sucks, guys. “
(Thread user @bodycoachderek)
Other accounts claimed more specifically that France had released unredacted documents. “Trump can control the DOJ, but other countries like France have unredacted versions,” one X posts (Archived) read nearly 4 million times.
There is no evidence that countries outside the United States, such as France, could officially access and release unredacted Epstein documents, revealing previously unseen images.
CNN contacted the Justice Department seeking comment on whether it has released any documents to other countries, and whether the department Officials responded, “The department did not share these documents with any country and the photos of the president were fake.”
Snopes also contacted the French Ministry of Justice but did not receive an immediate response. We will update this story if there is any. Until then, we have not rated this claim.
There is also no evidence that either of the two photos circulated with the statement, both of which appear to show Trump with young girls, were ever included in any of Epstein’s files. Both images have signs of artificial intelligence generation.
Have other countries released unredacted Epstein documents?
The only evidence we found for this claim appeared on social media, from unreliable unofficial accounts. If a country outside the United States, such as France, released unredacted Epstein documents, credible news outlets would report it.
A direct Google search for whether France had released unredacted Epstein documents turned up no relevant results. The most significant results relate primarily to U.S. lawmakers reviewing unredacted documents and European leaders facing investigations into their ties to Epstein. A search replacing “France” with “Europe” showed similar results.
Image showing Google search results
(Google)
The Threads account that posted the earliest version of the statement we could find seems suspicious—it doesn’t appear to be credible in any official capacity. The account appears to belong to a fitness instructor near Seattle, and the user’s profile and posts are highly political. Some indicated the use of artificial intelligence. We’ve reached out to the account seeking comment on the claims and the source of the image, and will update this story if we hear back.
In short, claims that France has access to unredacted documents are baseless. The claim comes from unreliable claims, and neither credible news outlets nor political leaders have issued any official statements on the claim.
No evidence Trump’s photo with girl is real
The two images first appeared together in February 2026, and according to Snopes, they were likely generated by artificial intelligence.
They contain classic features of the AI era, such as unnatural light patterns, unusually smooth skin and irregular facial features. For example, if you zoom in on the girl pictured above, you’ll notice that one eye appears larger and clearer than the other, with shadow blur extending unnaturally outward from her face.
(Thread user @bodycoachderek)
The second image appears to be a screenshot of a TikTok post, but Snopes was unable to find the original image on TikTok. The children in the photo are wearing similar white clothing and hairstyles, suggesting a possible fit with the general AI-generated prompts. The shadows in the child’s hair in the image below also appear to be entirely reflective of themselves – further evidence of artificial intelligence generation.
(Thread user @bodycoachderek)
all in all……
There is no evidence that countries outside the United States, such as France, have released unredacted Epstein documents. The U.S. Department of Justice said in an email to Snopes that it had not “Share files with any country. “
A number of AI-powered images depicting Trump with young girls have been circulating over the years, and while we can’t definitively determine whether these images were AI-generated or AI-modified, these two images contain clear visual signs of AI.
Source:
“The Timeline of the Jeffrey Epstein Investigation and the Fight to Release Government Records.” PBS NewsFebruary 6, 2026, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-timeline-of-the-jeffrey-epstein-investigation-and-the-fight-to-make-the-governments-files-public.
Gold, Michael. Lawmakers review unredacted Epstein documents. February 9, 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/09/us/president-trump-news#9360f606-e733-58f5-bba6-f523b6a130c5.
https://www.justice.gov/epstein. Accessed: February 11, 2026.
Perry Cook, Taia. “We’ve debunked 7 rumored photos of Trump with underage girls.” SnopesNovember 19, 2025, https://www.snopes.com//collections/photo-trump-girls-rumors/.
“British police consult criminal prosecutors over Andrew Epstein allegations.” nbc newsFebruary 11, 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/world/united-kingdom/uk-police-consult-criminal-prosecutors-andrew-epstein-allegations-rcna258588.