The real reason why Trump's photo vanished in Epstein files

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has revealed the real reason why President Donald Trump's picture vanished from the Epstein files soon after it was released. 

More than a dozen files, including an image of Trump in the drawer of the late pedophile's desk, were mysteriously taken down by the Department of Justice after being released on Friday. 

The move caused fury as many speculated the image, which saw Trump alongside a group of women and another of him posing next to Melania, Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell, was taken down as a way to seemingly protect the president from embarrassment. 

But, according to Blanche, that is not at all the case. 

'Absolutely, positively not,' he told NBC's Kristen Welker on Sunday's Meet the Press. 

'It has nothing to do with President Trump. There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public seeing him with Mr. Epstein. He has said that in the ’90s and early 2000s he socialized with him. 

'So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, is laughable,' Blanche said before sharing the real reason the photos disappeared. 

'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. 

'And 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 learn 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,' the AG added.

The president does feature in the latest Epstein cache, although most of the images have previously surfaced and his appearances are minimal, a preliminary review by the Daily Mail revealed. Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing. 

Welker then pushed a bit further, asking Blanche if he was saying that the women, or one of them in the pictures, was 'a victim or survivor of Jeffrey Epstein.' 

'No, that’s not what I’m saying,' Blanche hit back. 

'Of course, if we knew that, if we believed that that photograph contained a survivor, we wouldn’t have put it up in the first place without redacting the faces. But not withstanding what we believe, we don’t have perfect information. 

'And so 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,' he added. 

The reporter continued to quiz the AG, asking him: 'Can you guarantee that every mention and every photo of President Trump in the Epstein files will be released?' 

'Yes. I mean, 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 snapped back. 'And so of course, that's the case.'

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He doubled down, adding: '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.' 

Other than the images of the commander-in-chief, paintings depicting nude women and a series of other photographs were seen. 

Democrats quickly grew enraged after the release of the files that had to be shared by Friday's deadline, per the recently passed Epstein-Files Transparency Act.  

Specifically, liberals have accused the White House of a 'cover-up,' and have demanded 'transparency for the American public.'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led the criticisms of the DOJ after the files went missing, alleging it 'could be one of the biggest cover-ups in American history.' 

'This is a White House Cover-Up,' Democrats on the House Oversight Committee wrote on X. 

The Committee, in another post, also pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo, writing: 'What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.'

Schumer, referencing a comment made by Trump's Chief of Staff, said the removal of the files is what 'Susie Wiles meant when she said Trump and Epstein were "young, single playboys together".'

Wiles, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, addressed the Epstein files and Trump's relationship with the pedophile.

'They were, you know, sort of young, single, whatever—I know it's a passé word but sort of young, single playboys together,' Wiles told the outlet. She also admitted Trump 'is in the file' but that 'he's not in the file doing anything awful.' 

Congresswoman Shontel Brown echoed the members of her party, writing in a post on X: 'Trump and his lackeys have proven one thing - they're absolutely committed to the coverup.'

Rep. Summer Lee demanded the 'cover up must end.' She also refuted the claim that Trump's Administration is the 'most transparent in history,' citing how the Epstein files that have been released were heavily redacted.

'Most transparent admin in history? These redactions are an absolute mockery of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse and the American people,' she tweeted.

More files were released on Saturday that mainly related to grand jury transcripts from cases against the disgraced financier and his convicted girlfriend. 

The documents contained harrowing testimony directly from victims, as well as from FBI agents recounting their interviews with Epstein accusers. 

One document related to a 2007 grand jury hearing on Epstein contained an account from a girl who claimed she was recruited at around the age of 16 by Epstein to bring other girls to him.

The accuser told the court that during a massage, she was naked and Epstein tried to fondle her.

When she refused, she said he recruited her into a criminal conspiracy to bring him underage girls who would be more willing, paying her $200 for each successful referral.