menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Acting AG Blanche will put Trump first in Epstein files release case

14 0
02.07.2026

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will find himself in a triangle of trouble on Thursday.

Blanche, nominated as attorney general on June 8 by President Donald Trump, faces a deadline July 2 in federal court to publicly release a batch of secret files about Trump's old pal, the now-dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Blanche must know that Trump, whom he previously represented in criminal and civil cases, doesn't want any more Epstein files released and has called for the huge, sweeping controversy to just go away.

And Blanche must also know that Congress, which passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November with just one Republican voting against it, will be watching what he does next, as his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing is just two weeks away.

Count on Acting AG Todd Blanche to serve Trump above all else

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled in June, in a lawsuit filed in April by independent journalist Katie Phang, that Blanche "has conceded that he is in violation" of the Epstein Files Transparency Act "by not responding substantively" in court to any of Phang's arguments about unreleased documents.

"I hope that members of Congress put some pressure on him for this," Brendan Ballou of the Public Integrity Project told me. "The extraordinary thing from this whole litigation is at no point has the government tried to argue that it followed the law, which is a pretty shocking position to take."

Phang, a former........

© USA TODAY