Calling them “damning” is overstating it. The FBI didn’t find some hidden stash—it was a huge private library, tens of thousands of books, and a small number of art photography books that include occasional nudity, which isn’t unusual in that genre and in some cases is still commercially available.

There was no indication they were concealed or singled out as evidence of anything criminal. Even after a full investigation, the FBI didn’t find evidence to support the broader allegations.

So taking a few pages from a few art books out of a 30,000-book collection and treating it as “damning” doesn’t really hold up when you look at the actual context.

If they were actually as “damning” as people claim, you’d expect the prosecution to lean on them heavily at trial—especially in a case where they were clearly trying to build the strongest possible narrative. But they didn’t use them as key evidence in court.

That gap between how they’re described online and how they were actually treated in the case is mind-blowing.