Backlash over the release of the Epstein files continued on Saturday after 15 sexually charged images disappeared from the DOJ website, and with a leading Democratic senator vowing to investigate.
One of the files removed included a photo of a table with framed pictures of Epstein with famous people — including two printed pictures of President Donald Trump. One photo in the drawer showed Trump standing surrounded by women in bathing suits; the other was a known image of Epstein with Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump has not commented on the release of the files and has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s case.
“By releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena request, and President Trump recently calling for further investigations into Epstein’s Democrat friends, the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC News on Friday that there has been “no effort” to redact Trump’s name from the release of files.
“Assuming it’s consistent with the law, yes,” Blanche said. “So there’s no effort to hold anything back because there’s the name Donald J. Trump or anybody else’s name, Bill Clinton‘s name, Reid Hoffman‘s name. There’s no effort to hold back or not hold back because of that and — and so — but again, we’re not, we’re not redacting the names of famous men and women that are associated with Epstein.”
When directly pressed over whether there’s been any order to DOJ personnel to redact materials involving Trump, Blanche rejected that idea.
“President Trump has certainly said from the beginning that he expects all files that can be released to be released and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Blanche said.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Saturday vowed to investigate the release of the files, calling the DOJ’s failure to publish all the files by Friday a “violation of the law.”
“Yesterday could have been a win for survivors, accountability, and transparency to the public. It wasn’t. After mishandling the Epstein files all year, the Trump Administration is now violating federal law to protect the rich and powerful. It took an act of Congress to force Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and Dan Bongino to even consider providing justice. They had a choice: survivors or Donald Trump. They chose the latter,” Durbin said.
“Senate Judiciary Democrats will investigate this violation of law and make sure the American people know about it,” he added.
