Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche pushed back hard on Sunday against criticism of the US Justice Department’s limited rollout of Jeffrey Epstein’s files. He argued the cautious approach shields survivors of the late financier’s sexual abuse, even as the department met a congressionally set deadline with partial release of the documents.
Blanche stressed the Trump administration would fully comply with the law in time. Yet he emphasised the need for careful handling of thousands of pages that might expose sensitive details. This comes after Friday’s partial disclosure, featuring photos, interview transcripts, call logs, court records, and more, sparked fresh Democratic outrage. Critics accuse the Republican-led DOJ of burying key facts.
Blanche dismissed the attacks as insincere, especially as President Donald Trump’s team faces mounting pressure for openness. Demands for transparency about Epstein probes now echo from Democrats and even some in Trump’s own base. Epstein, after all, once mingled with Trump, top politicians, and business moguls before their friendship soured.
“The reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that to protect victims,” Blanche told NBC’s Meet the Press. “So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don’t want us to protect victims.”
His remarks mark the administration’s fullest response yet to the file drop. Still, major pieces remain absent, like FBI survivor interviews and internal DOJ memos on charging choices. Those could shed light on why investigators let Epstein off with a minor 2008 state prostitution plea.
Trump, a longtime Epstein acquaintance until their split, spent months fighting to seal the records. No allegations tie him to wrongdoing, but he insists the files hold nothing newsworthy, urging focus elsewhere. Federal prosecutors in New York hit Epstein with sex trafficking charges in 2019, only for him to die by suicide in jail.
Democrats aren’t buying the victim-protection line. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., blasted the DOJ on CNN’s State of the Union for what he sees as obstruction. “It’s all about covering up things that, for whatever reason, Donald Trump doesn’t want to go public, either about himself, other members of his family, friends, Jeffrey Epstein, or just the social, business, cultural network that he was involved in for at least a decade, if not longer,” he said.
Blanche also stood by the DOJ’s quick move to yank several case-related files from its website, including a Trump photo, less than a day after posting them.
