DOJ Pulls Photo of Trump from Released Epstein Files

The Department of Justice (DOJ) pulled more than a dozen images, including one containing photos of President Donald Trump, from the thousands of files related to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that it released Friday.

Saturday morning, journalists and members of the public noticed that one particular image was missing. It depicted a drawer holding multiple photos of the president, including one of him with young women and another with his wife, first lady Melania Trump. 

The Associated Press subsequently reported that at least 16 images had disappeared from the files without explanation.

The missing images — including the one depicting Trump — continued to be available on open-source, public collections of the DOJ’s library, which were created shortly after the department released its initial batch of documents Friday afternoon.

The DOJ later appeared to acknowledge the removals. “Photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information,” the department wrote Saturday night on X.

The department restored the image of Trump Sunday evening. It claimed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York flagged the photo “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 claimed. “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.”

However, the removal of images from the official website adds to mounting inconsistencies in the DOJ’s release of all the materials it had gathered over the past two decades through investigations into Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and underage girls.

And the temporary disappearance of the image depicting Trump suggests the removals may aim to shield the president from public scrutiny of his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York prison in 2019, was a longtime associate of Trump’s. 

While Trump has acknowledged his past friendship with Epstein, he denied involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation and claimed they had a falling out in the mid-2000s.

However, the president, his former attorneys in the DOJ and his allies in Congress have also repeatedly attempted to prevent the release of the Epstein files. 

Emails from Epstein’s estate released by the House Oversight Committee last month also indicated that the convicted sex offender believed Trump knew of his abuses.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s former defense attorneys, was required by a new law to turn over for public scrutiny all of the department’s Epstein-related documents by Friday. However, she failed to do so.

Before the deadline, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, another one of Trump’s former attorneys, said the department would deliver only a fraction of its Epstein documents, claiming that it needed to hold material past the deadline to redact the files in order to protect victims.

However, the new law, which Congress passed and Trump signed last month, had already given the department 30 days to process the material. The FBI had also started an extensive review and redaction process on the documents in March.

The files the department did release by the deadline were heavily redacted. Senior DOJ and White House officials also appeared to use the release to draw attention to former President Bill Clinton’s appearance in the Epstein files.

In a statement on social media Friday night, a Clinton aide said the DOJ’s initial batch of documents was about “shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever.”

“So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” Angel Ureña, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, said. “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”

Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, slammed Bondi for withholding information past the deadline.

In a video statement, Khanna said he and Massie were exploring bringing contempt or impeachment charges against DOJ officials responsible for the incomplete release.  

This story has been updated with additional information throughout.