The open drawer appears filled with images of famous people, including Trump and Epstein.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee questioned why they had been taken down and asked Attorney General Pam Bondi in a post on social media: « What else is being covered up? »
The DOJ clarified in a post on X that the image had been flagged by the Southern District of New York ‘for potential further action to protect victims’, adding it was a move made ‘out of an abundance of caution’.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also NBC that the files were taken down due to shielding victims and it was ‘laughable’ to suggest it had been removed due to Trump’s request.
« There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public seeing him with Mr Epstein, » he said.
« So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, is laughable. »
The deputy attorney general explained: « 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. »He continued: « So when we hear concerns — whether it’s photographs of women that we do not believe are victims or we didn’t have information to show that they were victims, but we learned that there are concerns, of course — we’re taking that photograph down, and we’re going to address it.
« If we need to redact faces or other information, we will, and then we’ll put it back up. So we are, in every way, shape and form, complying with the statute, » Blanche added before going to say Trump has ‘nothing’ to hide in connection with the files.
Now, Blanche has confirmed the image of Trump has been reinstated after a review.
