Screenshot
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday to discuss the attacks over the Department of Justice’s Epstein files dumps, which Democrats claim are illegally redacted and missing photos to protect Trump.
The DOJ also published a new link to the grand jury documents with “minimal redactions” on Sunday morning.
Here is the document now with minimal redactions. Documents and photos will continue to be reviewed consistent with the law and with an abundance of caution for victims and their families.
: https://t.co/zQaKenMLSy https://t.co/r4HiTIplnk
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) December 21, 2025
Last month, President Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law to release all files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the House overwhelmingly voted for the bill, sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), with only one Republican, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), voting against the bill, citing privacy concerns for Epstein’s victims.
The Senate later approved the bill by unanimous consent.
However, according to Massie and Khanna, the DOJ has not complied fully with the law due to redactions in the files. Khanna told CNN on Friday that he and Massie are currently drafting articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi, The Gateway Pundit reported.
(VIDEO) Ro Khanna Says He and Thomas Massie May Bring Articles of Impeachment Against Bondi Over Epstein Release
Additionally, the House Oversight Committee Democrats noted on X that one of the photos in the Epstein files featuring Trump was removed from the Department of Justice’s portal for viewing the files. They claimed that it suggests a cover-up.
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. pic.twitter.com/3wYZAl2dse
— Oversight Dems (@OversightDems) December 20, 2025
However, Todd Blanche responded and ripped into the Democrats on Sunday, explaining that “a number of photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday” because of others featured in the photos. “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,” Blanche told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
“So, we are, in every way, shape and form, complying with the statute, which, by the way, is what President Trump has been asking us to do since before he was elected. There is nothing that he has to hide in the Epstein files, there never was, and even though there’s repeated attempts by Democrats to paint him as being part of the Epstein saga, it’s failing over and over again.”
WATCH:
Welker: The Epstein files, Transparency Act prohibits redactions, quote, on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity, has anything been redacted on that basis?
Blanche: Absolutely, positively not. And that’s another trend, that is just simply false. There were a number of photographs that were pulled down after being released on Friday. That’s because 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 learned 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.
So, we are, in every way, shape and form, complying with the statute, which, by the way, is what President Trump has been asking us to do since before he was elected. There is nothing that he has to hide in the Epstein files, there never was, and even though there’s repeated attempts by Democrats to paint him as being part of the Epstein saga, it’s failing over and over again. And so you should not be surprised that the material that we released on Friday or the material that we’re going to release over the next couple of weeks is exactly what the statute requires us to release, which is everything that we have from this case, with the exception of redacting personal information from victims and other statutes, you know, privileges and things like that. Otherwise, everything is getting produced.
Blanche further responded to the missing photo in the files, explaining, “You can see in that photo, there’s photographs of women. And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those, about those women, and the fact that we had put that photo up, so we pulled that photo down.”
“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,” he continued, calling the claims of a cover-up “laughable.”
WATCH:
Welker: You were referencing the 15 files released Friday. They disappeared from DOJ’s website yesterday, including this photo of what looks like a desk with a drawer open, containing photos of Donald Trump. Just to be very clear, to put a fine point on it, why were these files taken down? You’re saying it was at the direction of a judge?
Blanche: Well, you can see in that photo, there’s photographs of women. And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those, about those women, and the fact that we had put that photo up, so we pulled that photo down. 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, and the fact that everybody’s trying to act like that’s the case is a reflection of their true motivation. But the reality is, anybody, any victim, any victim’s lawyers, any victim rights group, can reach out to us and say, “Hey, Department of Justice, there’s a document, there’s a photo, there’s something within the Epstein files that identifies me,” and we will then, of course, pull that off and investigate.
The post WATCH: Deputy AG Todd Blanche Rips Democrats Claiming DOJ is Protecting Trump, Says Law is Being Complied with and More Epstein Files Incoming Amid Khanna and Massie Impeachment Effort – DOJ Releases New Doc with “Minimal Redactions” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.