But I've spent enough time in courtrooms to know that when a federal judge wraps up a hearing with a cautionary conversation about the time he held Department of Justice attorneys in contempt of court, things are going from bad to worse for the DOJ regarding the Epstein files.

That was the amazingly amiable advice offered at the close of an Aug. 13 hearing by Senior U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to DOJ lawyers who showed up with few of the documents he had ordered produced – and also with no answers on when or if they will do as he ordered.

Sullivan told Andrew Block, a DOJ attorney representing Attorney General Todd Blanche, about his 2009 contempt finding in the District of Columbia's court, later affirmed on appeal. Sullivan made clear in the hearing that nobody at the DOJ is in trouble – yet – but that he was putting the government lawyers on "fair notice."

"I'm not interested in doing that at all," Sullivan said from the bench about a contempt finding, which has been suggested by attorneys for independent journalist Katie Phang during her lawsuit against Blanche. "But I will do it to make sure justice is administered fairly. That's not a threat. It's a promise."

Sullivan issued that warning during a hearing I listened to on a court phone line, just after issuing a new order, giving Phang's lawyers 10 days to........

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