A top official with the Department of Justice (DOJ) is denying that there was an effort to redact any mentions of President Donald Trump in the agency's initial release of documents related to its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the DOJ's publishing of just a fraction of the Epstein files on Friday but pledged that all material will eventually be made public. When asked by NBC's Kristin Welker if that also applied to any documents related to President Trump, Blanche said "yes."
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"I’ve said it three, four times now, we’ve said it before, and President Trump has said it repeatedly since before he was elected. And since he was elected, all summer long, he said the same thing, ‘I have nothing to hide,’” Blanche stated.
"But, let me just make sure everybody understands something, to the extent that he is, quote, ‘in the Epstein files,’ it’s not because he had anything to do with the horrific crimes, full stop," Blanche added. "But yes, if President Trump is mentioned, if there’s photographs that we have of President Trump or anybody else, they, of course, will be released, with the exception of any victims or survivors that we’ve identified."
The Trump administration has faced criticism over the DOJ's initial release of the Epstein files, which were heavily redacted and offered few new revelations. The files were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, authored by Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie, which passed Congress nearly unanimously last month.
The law gave the DOJ 30 days to release the documents after President Trump signed it on November 19. After the initial release of files, however, Reps. Khanna and Massie said they were drafting articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi for withholding documents past the Friday deadline.
Blanche claimed the reason for the delay was because the DOJ was still reviewing documents in order to ensure that all victims are protected.
“So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don’t want us to protect victims," he told NBC.
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In one of the files that was shared by the deadline, two photos of Trump appeared inside a desk. One image appears to show him posing with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and two other unidentifiable people. The second showed Trump posing with a group of women.
However, just a day later, at least 16 files reportedly disappeared from the batch of documents, including one with the photos of Trump. The DOJ did not offer explanation on why the files were no longer available or whether their disappearance was intentional.
While the disappearance fueled speculation online, Trump has been named in other documents involving Epstein but has not been implicated in any crimes and denies knowing about Epstein’s criminal activity. Trump and Epstein were known to share a friendly relationship in the 1990s before a falling out in the early 2000s — before Epstein’s first criminal investigation began in 2005.
In that case, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. Epstein ultimately died in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving minors. His death was determined a suicide by federal investigators.
WATCH | A victim reacts to the newly released Epstein investigation files
