Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche brushed aside warnings of legal or political fallout over the Justice Department’s incomplete release of files tied to the late *** trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Appearing Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Blanche was asked about lawmakers floating impeachment or contempt proceedings and whether he takes those threats seriously.
“Not even a little bit. Bring it on,” Blanche said. “We are doing everything we’re supposed to be doing to comply with this statute.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the Trump administration to release the Epstein files by Friday, with limited exceptions meant to protect victims’ privacy and identifying information.
But the material released so far represents only a small portion of what exists, and many pages are heavily redacted. That has prompted criticism from Rep. Ro Khanna, one of the lawmakers behind the bipartisan measure, who argues the DOJ is not meeting the law’s requirements.
Rep. Thomas Massie, another leader in the push, went further in a social media post, suggesting a future Justice Department could pursue charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi and others, adding: “THEY ARE FLAUNTING LAW.”
On Friday, Khanna said he and Massie had begun drafting potential articles of impeachment and inherent contempt targeting Bondi, though they have not decided whether to formally proceed.
“Impeachment is a political decision, and is there the support in the House of Representatives? I mean, Massie and I aren’t going to just do something for the show of it,” Khanna told CNN.
Blanche pushed back on the criticism, saying members of Congress attacking the DOJ’s approach “have no idea what they’re talking about.” He claimed the file trove totals roughly a million pages and that “virtually all of them contain victim information” that must be shielded.
He also defended releasing the documents in stages over several weeks rather than meeting the Friday deadline in a single dump, arguing that the required redactions justify a slower timetable.
“There is well settled law, as they should know, that in a case like this where we’re required to produce within a certain amount of time, but also comply with other laws like redacting information, that very much trumps … some deadline in the statute,” Blanche said.
