The United States Department of Justice has restored sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s files that featured U.S President Donald Trump to its public database following a weekend of intense scrutiny and allegations of censorship.
The move comes after at least 16 files, including a photograph featuring Trump, briefly vanished from the agency’s website shortly after their initial Friday release.
The document dump was mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law in November 2025.
However, the initial release on December 19 was met with immediate backlash. Critics pointed to heavy redactions and the “disappearance” of Epstein files that featured Trump.
Many specifically pointed out that files that showed Trump alongside Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were missing.
Media outlets and congressional oversight members quickly flagged the missing materials, sparking a “media uproar” that trended across social platforms.
Following this pressure, the DOJ quickly reuploaded missing Epstein files that featured Trump.
The Department claimed that the files were temporarily removed for “technical quality control” and further victim privacy reviews.
This was made known by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general of the U.S Department of Justice.
Blanche also rejected criticisms that the removal was related to the U.S president and said the photo that included him also showed unredacted images of women.
Blanche called the suggestion that the photo was removed due to Trump “laughable”. “It has nothing to do with President Trump,” he told the press.
“There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public, showing him with Mr Epstein.”
He added: “So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, is laughable.”
Blanche cited a judge in New York who “has ordered us to listen to any victim or victims’ rights group if they have concerns” as a reason behind removing some previously posted files.
“There were several photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday,” he said.
Giving further details, the U.S Department of Justice, in a social media post, explained that the Epstein files that featured Trump were flagged by the Southern District of New York “for potential further action to protect victims”.
It added that the image was removed temporarily for further review “out of an abundance of caution”.
“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 DOJ said, linking to the image in question on its website.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the pictures under scrutiny were taken in one of Epstein’s homes, and they show a collection of framed photographs on a cabinet, many of them featuring famous people.
There is an open drawer filled with other photos – one of which shows the president with Epstein, First Lady Melania Trump, and Epstein’s convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ten of the missing files include images showing apparently the same room in Epstein’s home – a small massage parlour with clouds painted on the ceiling, and brown patterned wallpaper studded with multiple nudes. Some appear to be photos, others are artwork.
Most of the women pictured on the wall have had their faces redacted. However, one face is redacted in one file but plainly visible in three of the others. Another face remains unredacted in all of the files while a painted image of the same person is visible.
However, Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and has not been accused of any crimes by Epstein’s victims. There is no suggestion that these pictures imply any wrongdoing.
