DoJ ‘did not protect’ Trump when reviewing Epstein files, Blanche insists
Blanche insists that no men, including Trump, were protected in the release of the Epstein files.
I can assure that we complied with the statute, we complied with the act. We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody, I think there’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.
Trump’s direction to the DoJ was to be “transparent” and “that’s exactly what we did”, Blanche says.
Key events
The day so far
Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche announced the latest – and final – release of the justice department’s files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including 3m pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.
Blanche insisted that no men, including Donald Trump, were protected in the release of the files, and that the White House “had no oversight” over the DoJ’s review. Blanche explained what material had not been included, and that every woman’s face had been redacted. Epstein’s victims had been thorough “unspeakable pain”, Blanche said, adding that he shared frustration “with the entire process”. He also defended the DoJ’s missing its congressionally set deadline (which expired in December), comparing the amount of material to “two Eiffel towers of pages” and citing a need to protect victims.
We’re launching a separate live blog on the Epstein files now, which you can continue to follow here.
Also today:
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Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, was arrested late last night on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month. His arrest sparked outrage from former colleagues, first amendment advocates and members of Congress. “This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!” Lemon’s former CNN colleague Jim Acosta wrote in a post on X. Read our report here.
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Iran said it’s ready to negotiate with the US, but only if talks are not under duress and do not extend to Iran’s missile programme, as diplomats scramble to head off the threat of a regional conflict. More here.
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The US Senate is scrambling to find agreement on a government funding package as a partial shutdown looms at midnight, after the killings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis upended spending talks and has given Democrats rare leverage over Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has outlined a series of reforms to federal agents he wanted codified in the DHS’s funding measure, including the requirement that officers wear body cameras, abide by a code of conduct and cease wearing masks and conducting “roving patrols” aimed at people they suspect of being illegally in the US. More on that here.
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And Trump announced Kevin Warsh as his nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, selecting a candidate who has been an outspoken critic of the US central bank and ending months of speculation about who the president would pick to replace Jerome Powell. Trump has waged an extraordinary campaign to influence policymaking at the Fed by repeatedly calling for interest rate cuts. Powell’s second term as chair is due to end in May. More here.
Also in the files is Ghislaine Maxwell’s US naturalization certificate, which lists her home address at Little St James Island, one of Epstein’s two private islands in the US Virgin Islands.
Update: Trump did not say anything about the files. If he says anything as the day progresses, we’ll have it here.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been speaking from the Oval Office after signing an executive order aimed at launching an IndyCar race in Washington DC this summer.
He’s taking questions from reporters now, if he says anything about the Epstein files I’ll let you know here.
Among the files released by the US justice department today is a copy of Ghislaine Maxwell’s police booking intake form from July 2020.
It includes a picture of Maxwell in what looks like a prison orange jumpsuit, along with personal details including her full name and a redacted address in Bradford, New Hampshire.
White House ‘had no oversight’ over review of files released today, Blanche says
Blanche also told reporters earlier that the White House “had nothing to do” with the DoJ’s review of the files it released today.
Asked if he had updated the White House about today’s announcement, Blanche replied:
They had nothing to do with this review. They had no oversight over this review. They did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what to not redact.
Blanche added that the White House knew he was holding today’s news conference and that the DoJ was releasing the files, but “there’s no oversight by the White House into the process that we’ve undertaken over the past 60 days”.
Here’s a quick rundown of what Blanche said is not in the release:
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files that contain personally identifiable information of victims or victims’ personal and medical files, and any similar files that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy
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any depiction of child sexual abuse material or child abuse images
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anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation
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anything that depicts or contains images of death, physical abuse or injury
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files covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, work product privilege, and attorney client privilege
“Although the act allows for withholding for items necessary to keep secret in the interest of national security or foreign policy, no files are being withheld or redacted on that basis,” Blanche added.
The justice department’s Epstein Library now includes an age verification, asking users if they’re over 18.
Blanche earlier told reporters that some of the content being released includes pornography, with redactions.
Blanche defends DoJ missing congressionally set deadline on release of files
Blanche says he won’t be commenting on criticism the DoJ has faced on its handling of the release of the files and defends its missing the congressionally set deadline.
People can criticise all they want, my point was to make plain that when it comes to what we’ve been doing the past two months and why, we weren’t able to complete the review of over six million pages.
You’re talking about two Eiffel Towers of pages in 30 days in a way that made sure we complied with the act.
He says the department was “obviously” not defying the 30-day deadline set by Congress (a reminder, that expired in December), but was complying with the need to protect victims.
Blanche tells reporters:
There’s this built in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about that we’re covering up or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case.
I don’t know whether there are men out there that abused these women. If we learn about information and evidence that that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abuse women.
DoJ ‘did not protect’ Trump when reviewing Epstein files, Blanche insists
Blanche insists that no men, including Trump, were protected in the release of the Epstein files.
I can assure that we complied with the statute, we complied with the act. We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody, I think there’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.
Trump’s direction to the DoJ was to be “transparent” and “that’s exactly what we did”, Blanche says.
Epstein’s victims have gone through ‘unspeakable pain’, says Blanche
Asked about survivors that have “expressed frustration” at the DoJ’s process for releasing the files, Blanche responds: “Same here.”
If there’s frustration with quote, the entire process, same here.
“The victims of Epstein have gone through unspeakable pain,” he adds. He says that he hopes that the release of the files has been able to “bring closure” to the victims.
The deputy attorney general also said that no further files were due to be released.
Todd Blanche told reporters: “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act.”
Blanche declined to comment on the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon last night.
Do I have a ‘reaction’ to it? I don’t know what that means. Are you looking for me to do, jump up and down? No I don’t have a reaction to it, I don’t know that the charges are unsealed yet. So, no. I’m not going to comment on that.
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