BREAKING: DOJ Deletes Epstein File Showing Photos of Trump
In response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday released a trove of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
This included a large cache of photos (many partially redacted) showing the notorious child sex trafficker and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell with high profile celebrities and politicians like former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Mick Jagger, Richard Branson, Les Wexner, Walter Cronkite, and David Copperfield.
Conspicuously missing from most of the photos was current president Donald Trump, despite his long relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, both of whom he has been photographed with many times before.
We say “most” because he did appear in at least one of them: EFTA00000468.pdf.
The file in question appeared in Data Set 1, which we downloaded in full yesterday.
If you read the title to this piece then you already know the punchline: the DOJ has now deleted this file from their website.
The version shown above is our downloaded copy. We’ve added the red circle to highlight the photos of Trump seen in the image. The full, unedited file is also currently available here, in the "Epstein Files Browser" created by software engineer Rhys Sullivan, which appears to have all of the relevant images, including #468.
You can confirm its deletion for yourself on the relevant page of doj.gov. We’ve also archived a copy of that page as it currently appears, in case the file is later restored.
Before it was removed, the photo was flagged by numerous users on X on Friday, including “Johnny Loveless” in a post made at 5:33pm ET, who wrote in part: “This was very likely an accidental leak of Trump, which also proves there are an abundance of photos. So where are they?”
The post went viral, with over 600,000 impressions and almost 26,000 likes as of this writing.
‘The Spirit and the Letter of the Law’
As noted by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) — who was one of the original co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) — Section 2(b) of the law, “Prohibited Grounds for Withholding,” specifically says that:
No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary
The next subsection, “Permitted Withholdings,” lists the specific instances in which the Attorney General (AG) “may withhold or redact the segregable portions” of certain records, such as material that depicts physical abuse, injury, death, or the sexual abuse of children, or contains the private information or medical records of victims.
Files which “would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution” may also be withheld or redacted, “provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary.” Likewise for those that “contain information specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order.”
“All redactions must be accompanied by a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress,” the law says.
The Trump administration does not appear to have even acknowledged that EFTA00000468.pd was deleted, let alone published a “written justification” explaining how it falls under one of the categories of “Permitted Withholdings.”
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who also co-sponsored the bill, put out a video on Friday — prior to and unrelated to the deletion of this particular file — in which he said:
The Justice Department’s document dump this after does not comply with Thomas Massie and my Epstein [Files] Transparency Act.
They released one document from a New York grand jury of 119 pages totally blacked out. This despite a federal judge ordering them to release that document. And our law requires them to explain redactions. There’s not a single explanation for why that entire document was redacted.
We have not seen the draft indictment that implicates other rich and powerful men who were on Epstein’s rape Island, who either watched the abuse of young girls, or participated in the abuse of young girls and the sex trafficking.
The reality is Pam Bondi has obfuscated for months. She first said there were no more documents to be seen. Now she’s admitting and releasing hundreds of thousands of documents, but it is an incomplete release with too many redactions.
Thomas Massie and I are exploring all options. It can be the impeachment of people at Justice, inherent contempt, or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice.
We will work with the survivors to demand the full release of these files; to demand justice for the Epstein class, and accountability.
“Unfortunately, today’s document release by AG Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that President Trump signed just 30 days ago,” Massie wrote on X Friday evening.
“Ro Khanna is correct.”
UPDATE Dec 23, 2025: After we and many others, including (and probably most notably) Democrats from the House Oversight Committee, made noise about this on X, the DOJ ended up temporarily restoring the file. It went missing again earlier today, but appears to be back again as of late Tuesday evening.
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Why even bother at this point. President Vance will just pardon him.
Oh no - does that mean the focus can now be centered on why our greatest ally ran a pedophile blackmail ring using young girls to control our deviant politicians and undermine our national sovereignty!