(José Niño, Headline USA) Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing bipartisan pushback after attempting to close the book on the Epstein files controversy despite millions of pages remaining unreleased.
As The Hill reported, In a Thursday interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Blanche argued that “to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward.”
Blanche also came to the defense of ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi, insisting her dismissal by President Trump was unrelated to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. He maintained the DOJ had satisfied its transparency obligations.
“Look, the Epstein files has been a saga that’s lasted for the entire for the past year, and what happened when the president signed the transparency act is the Department of Justice has now released all the files with respect to the Epstein saga and the attorney general. Bondi and I appeared in front of Congress voluntarily a couple weeks ago to answer any questions they had,” Blanche explained, noting that members of Congress could examine unredacted documents at DOJ headquarters.
However, the Justice Department has not made all the Epstein files public. Officials initially estimated the collection contained roughly 6 million pages, yet only about 3 million have been disclosed. The department attributed the gap to duplicate materials and other withheld records.
Critics have also accused the DOJ of suppressing documents tied to Trump, including records from a woman who contacted the FBI on four separate occasions claiming the president abused her when she was a minor. After facing pressure, the department released additional files it acknowledged were mistakenly withheld, but The Hill reported that journalists found that roughly 30 pages from that particular record remain missing.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, dismissed Blanche’s statement outright, according to a report by The Hill.
“This is a lie. About 50% of the files have been released and per our subpoena it’s illegal to withhold them,” Garcia posted on X. “Blanche may think it’s over, but we are just getting started.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, issued a warning when Blanche assumed his new role.
“Congratulations AG Blanche. Now you have 30 days to release the rest of the files before becoming criminally liable for failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Massie wrote on X.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
