US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed on Sunday that the Department of Justice will not redact the name of President Donald Trump in the evidence file of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The statement came after the Justice Department received criticism for removing his photos from the recently released evidence posted on the DOJ website.
DOJ's Explanation for the Missing Trump Photo
The Justice Department released thousands of files linked to the Epstein case on Friday, 19 December. It included photos of high-profile celebrities with the late sex offender.
On Saturday, however, at least 13 images were removed from the published files, including one where Trump was photographed.
As posted on the Justice Department's X (formerly Twitter) account, Trump's photo was temporarily deleted to check if it violated the rights of the Epstein victims.
'Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review. 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,' the X post stated.
Blanche also released a statement on NBC's Meet the Press that the removal of some of the photographs that were already released was due to the request of victim advocacy organisations, and not by Trump.
'We don't have perfect information,' Blanche said on Saturday. 'And so when, when we hear from victims' rights groups about this type of photograph, we pull it down and investigate. We're still investigating that photo. The photo will go back up, and the only question is whether there will be redactions on the photo.'
The said image was already restored on the DOJ's website as of Sunday.
What Have Been Released So Far?
A massive collection of documents, including images, telephone records and court documents were released on the DOJ website.
The release complies with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by Trump on 19 November.
However, according to a report from the BBC, over 500 pages in the files were fully redacted. About a hundred of these pages were related to a grand jury probe.
Fox News learned that the names of politically exposed high-profile individuals and officials from the government were redacted from the documents. Blanche explained in a phone interview that the DOJ did not redact the names of any politicians from the files.
'The only redactions being applied to the documents are those required by law — full stop,' Blanche said. 'Consistent with the statute and applicable laws, we are not redacting the names of individuals or politicians unless they are a victim.'
Meanwhile, victims' rights advocate Gloria Allred told CNN that the justice system failed the Epstein survivors and demanded more transparency on the redactions.
'I saw a number of survivors' names which should never have been published, because the whole point is to protect the survivors,' Allred stated.
She also said to she was concerned about the images featuring Epstein's alleged victims and survivors, especially those that may show them unclothed.
The DOJ admitted that the scope of files made it vulnerable to machine and human errors.
