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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
Also in this trove of 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.
Epstein’s victims have gone through ‘unspeakable pain’, says Blanche
Asked at the press conference earlier about survivors that have “expressed frustration” at the DoJ’s process for releasing the files, Blanche responded: “Same here.”
If there’s frustration with quote, the entire process, same here.
“The victims of Epstein have gone through unspeakable pain,” he added. He said that he hopes that the release of the files has been able to “bring closure” to the victims.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No further files due to be released, says Blanche
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.”
Every woman’s image has been redacted in latest release, Blanche says
During his press conference on Friday morning, Todd Blanche addressed redactions made by the justice department.
We redacted every woman depicted in any image or video, with the exception of Miss [Ghislaine] Maxwell. We did not redact images of any man unless it was impossible to redact the woman without also redacting the man.
To this end, though, and to ensure transparency, if any member of Congress wishes to review any portions of the responsive production in any unredacted form, they are welcome to make arrangements with the department to do so.
The files, posted to the DoJ website, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release of documents in December.
They were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was enacted after months of public and political pressure on the Trump administration.
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”.
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.
DoJ releasing 3m more Epstein files
Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche held a news conference at 11am ET at the Department of Justice, Washington DC. He announced that the justice department is releasing more than 3m pages from its Jeffrey Epstein files.
Blanche said they include 2,000 videos and 180,000 images related to Epstein.
Blanche added that the images included lots of commercial pornography and images seized from Epstein’s devices.
Our full report is here:
