A video published Friday by the Daily Mail and the O'Keefe Media Group shows a man who identified himself as a Department of Justice analyst discussing the Jeffrey Epstein files, alleged internal DOJ and FBI infighting, and the movement of Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower-security facility, according to the reporting.
In the footage, the man — described as wearing aviator sunglasses, small hoop earrings and a black T-shirt — told an undercover reporter who posed as an au pair that he had worked at the Justice Department for about 23 years and that he would be acting deputy chief of his office “for a few months starting next week,” the Daily Mail reported. He is shown making claims about how records related to Epstein would be redacted and about agency personnel decisions.
The Daily Mail identified the man as Joe Schnitt. The outlet said the recording was made by an undercover reporter working for the O'Keefe Media Group, who met the man through a dating app and captured the conversation on hidden camera.
The publication said the video’s release reverberated in Washington, prompting questions among officials and what the report described as efforts to contain political fallout. The reporting attributed the statements about redactions, internal disputes and Maxwell’s detention status to the man in the video; it did not independently corroborate those assertions.
The O'Keefe Media Group, which released the footage via the Daily Mail, has used undercover recording tactics in prior reporting. The video clip published Friday adds to continuing public interest in documents, prosecutions and institutional handling of the Epstein case.
The Daily Mail’s report provided the most detailed public account to date of the encounter and the man’s on-camera statements. It did not provide contemporaneous confirmation from the Justice Department about the man’s employment or role, nor did it cite officials who corroborated the specific allegations he made on camera.
Requests for comment from government agencies or from the man identified in the video were not included in the reporting. The publication said its reporter recorded the conversation after meeting the man through a dating app and conducting a multi-hour interaction that included discussion of the items later released on video.
The episode comes as scrutiny of past handling of Epstein-related materials and institutional conduct has remained a subject of political and media attention. Reporting on the video noted that claims about how records are handled, and who is protected by redactions, are matters of ongoing debate and legal process.
The Daily Mail said the footage was published on Friday. The outlet and the O'Keefe Media Group framed the recording as part of an undercover operation that captured the man’s private comments. Further reporting may clarify the man’s identity, his employment status and the veracity of the statements shown on camera.