A day after reports claimed more than a dozen files related to disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had “disappeared” from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) website, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the move to remove the photos.
Over the weekend, several media outlets, including the New York Post, reported that about 15 to 16 photos that were originally uploaded on Friday had been deleted by the Justice Department.
Reports also claimed that one of the deleted photos — “file 468” — showed an open drawer with a printed image of President Donald Trump, prompting speculation that the Justice Department was covering up evidence in an effort to protect the POTUS.
However, Blanche dismissed the speculation on Sunday and acknowledged that some of the photos had indeed been removed and explained the reason for the removal.
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“Nothing to do with Trump”
In an interview with NBC for its “Meet the Press” program on Sunday, Blanche said the photos, including one featuring President Donald Trump, had been removed but at the behest of victims’ advocacy groups to protect people’s identities.
“You can see in that photo that there are photos of women. And so we learned after the photo was released that there were concerns about the women and the fact that we put the photo up. So we took the photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump,” Blanche told NBC.
Blanche’s comments are the latest in the saga of Epstein’s files, which were ordered released by Congress after bipartisan pressure to release the material overcame Trump’s own objections to it.
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The DOJ faces harsh criticism
In a release ordered by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department on Friday released thousands of pages of records, including flight logs, grand jury transcripts and contact lists, as well as never-before-seen photos found in Epstein’s possession.
In Friday’s edition, several figures linked to Epstein were seen in the photos or mentioned in the files, including former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor), as well as figures such as Michael Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Richard Branson and others.
Meanwhile, Trump was seen in a printed photo of himself, Melania Trump, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.
Another heavily redacted photo showed Epstein holding a $22,500 novelty check with Trump’s signature.
Read also | Why Epstein’s files sparked backlash, legal threats to Trump’s Justice Department
Hours after the files were released, 15 to 16 specific files (including a photo of Trump) reportedly disappeared from the DOJ website, leading critics to question the timing.
Critics pointed out that the extensive redactions — one 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury-NY” was completely redacted — ran counter to the nature of full disclosure mandated by the aforementioned transparency law.
The Justice Department responded to the wave of harsh criticism by saying, “Photographs and other materials will continue to be reviewed and edited in accordance with the law with great care as we receive more information.”
However, a day later, on Sunday, the DOJ released the Grand Jury document with “minimal redactions.”
When a journalist pointed out that the DOJ had redacted a document that had been uploaded with minor redactions in January 2024 (and was still available on the website), the DOJ washed its hands.
“These documents were redacted when they were filed in the relevant court cases that day. We reproduced the documents as we had them,” the Justice Department said.
