Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that the Justice Department's decision to remove over a dozen photographs Saturday that had been released as part of the files on Jeffrey Epstein on Friday "has nothing to do with President Trump" and that it came at the request of victim advocacy groups.
Instead, Blanche said, the removed photographs included unredacted pictures of women, and "that photo will go back up" after Justice Department officials investigate whether they need to make further redactions.
NBC Newsconfirmed Saturdaythat 15 images that appeared as part of Friday's Epstein files release had been removed from the Justice Department's website Saturday.
One of the files included a photo of a tabletop covered by framed photos of Epstein with famous people. An open drawer on the tabletop included printed photos of Trump with women in bathing suits.
"We don't have perfect information," Blanche said Saturday on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "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."
Later Sunday, the Justice Department confirmed that the photo had been removed at the request of prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and restored to the files after review.
"The Southern District of New York flagged an image of President Trump for potential further action to protect victims. Out of an abundance of caution, the Department of Justice temporarily removed the image for further review," the Justice Department's official accountposted on X. "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."
Blanche also answered questions Sunday about the criticism he and other Justice Department officials face from Democrats for not releasing the complete Epstein files on Friday,the deadline for the document releaseoutlined in theEpstein Files Transparency Act, which both chambers of Congress passed last month.
He said the delay is due to the time it takes to redact photos and names of Epstein's victims from the files.
"The reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that to protect victims," Blanche told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker.
"We're going through a very methodical process with hundreds of lawyers looking at every single document and making sure that victims' names and any of the information from victims is protected and redacted, which is exactly what the [Epstein Files] Transparency Act expects," he added.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who, alongside Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., led efforts in Congress to pass the legislation guiding the release of the documents, said Friday that the release was "disappointing" and called on Blanche and Attorney General Pam Bondi to explain the full timeline for the release.
"I have to say that the release has been disappointing from the initial read of it," Khanna told reporters Friday, adding, "What I'm calling for, in terms of a constructive next step, is for Todd Blanche or Pam Bondi to get in front of the country, to share the timeline for the full release, to share the explanations of the redactions and to let the country know what they can expect."
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, blasted the Justice Department on Saturday for violating the law Congress passed by not releasing all the documents Friday.
Durbin said Democrats will "investigate this violation of law and make sure the American people know about it."
Several Republicans also criticized the Justice Department's decision to take back several documents, with Massie calling the move "government lies" Sunday on X.
Blanche blasted critics of the Justice Department's process Sunday as "the same individuals who apparently don't want us to protect victims."
"If they have an issue with me protecting victims, they know how to get a hold of me, but we're not going to stop doing it," he added later.
Several lawmakers slammed Republicans and the Trump administration over the weekend for releasing the Epstein files slowly over time rather than all at once Friday, questioning whether Justice Department officials are trying to hide something.
"It's obvious what the Republicans in the White House and at Justice and their desperate Congressional cronies are doing. The Right hand is colluding with the Far Right hand. What they're hiding is not obvious. But it must not be good," Angel Ureña, a spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton,wrote Saturday on X.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee also noted the removal of the photograph of Epstein's tabletop pictures,writing on X, "This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release. @AGPamBondi is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also criticized the slow release, writingFriday on Xthat the move was "NOT MAGA."
Blanche categorically denied Sunday that the Justice Department was covering up anything related to Trump.
"I have no reason to believe that the lawyers that were working on this case were talking about President Trump, because he had nothing to do with the Epstein files. He had nothing to do with the horrific crimes that Mr. Epstein committed," he said.
"We are not redacting information around President Trump, around any other individual involved with Mr. Epstein, and that narrative, which is not based on fact at all, is completely false," he added.
