Department of Justice speaks out after Donald Trump photo and others 'removed' from the Epstein files
It's a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Department of Justice.
After the agency was given just 30 days to release the coveted Epstein files in their entirety, it’s facing some tough questioning.
Similar to the Trump administration being bombarded with complaints about how it's handled the release of files pertaining to the shamed financier and convicted pedophile, the Department of Justice is now accused of holding back information after it vowed to make everything public.
Congress almost unanimously voted to release the Epstein files, President Donald Trump said he'd keep to his word, and the whole world waited with bated breath. Notably, Trump's much-reported relationship with Epstein, scandalous allegations that he's featured heavily in the files, and a questionable tie to the late Epstein's 'Birthday Book' led to conspiracy theories that we wouldn't be given everything.
Advert
Although the latest deluge of documents includes photographs of the likes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Michael Jackson, it's been noted that Trump is mentioned sparsely. It's important to remind everyone that just because someone is mentioned, pictured, or even snapped alongside Epstein, it's not an accusation of guilt.
Why is Donald Trump in the Epstein files?
With reports that hundreds of pages are blacked out or are missing altogether in the supposed final release of the files, others have noticed that a photograph featuring the POTUS was (briefly) removed after it appeared on the DoJ site.
The now-infamous photograph featured a credenza adorned with pictures in frames. Among the famous faces spotted within is a clear shot of President Trump. Taking to X, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee took aim at Attorney General Pam Bondi and sniped: "What else is being covered up?"
The DoJ claims that the credenza photograph was flagged by the Southern District of New York amid fears of "potential further action to protect victims."
While there are numerous snaps of Trump and Epstein together, it's said that this specific image was removed "out of an abundance of caution."
Why has the Department of Justice removed some Epstein files?
As complaints continued, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the idea it had been removed so as not to implicate Donald Trump was 'laughable': "There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public seeing him with Mr Epstein.
“So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, is laughable.”
Blanche continued: “There were a number of photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday. 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."
As for other MIA files, the Department of Justice site states: "In view of the Congressional deadline, all reasonable efforts have been made to review and redact personal information pertaining to victims, other private individuals, and protect sensitive materials from disclosure.
“That said, because of the volume of information involved, this website may nevertheless contain information that inadvertently includes non-public personally identifiable information or other sensitive content, to include matters of a sexual nature."
Others that are currently nowhere to be found include the Grand Jury NY document, which currently comprises 119 blacked-out pages. With the DoJ defending its decision to keep some parts of the files redacted, it's unclear whether more will be revealed, like the credenza photograph was returned, or whether we're left staring at a void of black pages.