The Justice Department has restored a photograph that included President Donald Trump to the Epstein files website following backlash over its decision to remove several images from the trove of files released over the weekend.
Read More: What Is—and Isn’t—in the Newly Released Epstein Files
The image in question depicted a desk with several framed photographs and an open drawer with more photos and photo albums. One of the photos shows Trump alongside convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Melania Trump. The DOJ released thousands of pages of documents to the “Epstein Library” on Friday and Saturday after a monthslong bipartisan push and a Congressional mandate for the full release of the files. But the image appeared to have been removed from the website on Saturday, prompting criticisms of an attempted cover up from Democrats and others.
The Justice Department said file “EFTA00000468,” along with at least 14 other files, were temporarily removed from the public release while the agency assessed whether further redactions were needed.
“The Southern District of New York flagged an image of President Trump for potential further action to protect victims. Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review,” the DOJ said in a post on X. “After the review, it was determined there is no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted in the photograph, and it has been reposted without any alteration or redaction.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously represented Trump in the criminal case against him in New York City last year, which resulted in Trump being convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, defended the move in an interview with NBC on Sunday.
“There were a number of photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday,” Blanche said. “That’s because a judge in New York has ordered us to listen to any victim or victim rights group if they have any concerns about the material that we’re putting up.”
DOJ criticized over removal of files, redactions
The Justice Department partially released the files on Friday after Blanche told Congress that the department would not be able to meet the deadline for a full release. Congress had mandated the full release by Dec. 19 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump after initially calling on Republicans to resist releasing the files.
Blanche said the department required more time due to the need to redact files in order to prevent victims from being identified. Blanche said the department had identified more than 1,200 victims or their relatives whose information had to be redacted. The Justice Department has also said it would redact materials depicting child sexual abuse and physical abuse, records that “would jeopardise an active federal investigation,” and classified documents pertaining to “national defence or foreign policy.”
But the incomplete release of the files and heavy redactions have drawn criticism from lawmakers and Epstein survivors.
More than 500 pages of documents included in the initial release on Friday were completely blacked out. The DOJ said one 119-page grand jury document that had been entirely redacted in Friday’s release was released with “minimal redactions” on Saturday. “Documents and photos will continue to be reviewed consistent with the law and with an abundance of caution for victims and their families,” the DOJ said.
“In plain sight, and even with an act of Congress, we’re seeing the exact same delays, negligence, corruption, incompetence that we’ve seen consistently and have been advocating about,” Jess Michaels, an Epstein survivor, said on MS Now.
“We just want all of the evidence of these crimes out there,” one survivor, Liz Stein, told the BBC. “We are a little disappointed that they’re now still lingering on and distracting us with other things,” another, Marina Lacerda, said. Another survivor said in a letter to the DOJ that the department had failed to redact her name.
Observers accused the Trump Administration of redacting the names of non-victims, including politicians, which the DOJ denied. Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D, Md.) told CNN that the redactions make no sense, and accused the Administration of “covering up things that, for whatever reason, Donald Trump doesn’t want to go public.”
Reps. Ro Khanna (D, Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R, Ky.) said on Sunday that they would seek to find Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for failing to fully release all the files.
“The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi,” Massie told CBS. Khanna told the Washington Post that among the records that have not been released—and which he said were part of “selective concealment” by the department—is a draft of a 60-count federal indictment of Epstein and the accompanying prosecution memo from 2007, the year before Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution, including one charge involving a minor.
After the 15 files disappeared from the “Epstein Library” on Saturday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned, “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”
Blanche said on Sunday that the DOJ removed the photo after learning there were “concerns” about photographs of women whose faces were not redacted in the image. “It has nothing to do with President Trump,” he said.
“If President Trump is mentioned, if there’s photographs that we have of President Trump or anybody else, they of course will be released, with the exception of any victims or survivors that we’ve identified,” Blanche told NBC.
