{"id":403191,"date":"2026-02-02T01:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T01:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/403191\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T01:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T01:48:07","slug":"todd-blanche-says-review-of-jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-case-is-over-jeffrey-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/403191\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Blanche says review of Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case \u2018is over\u2019 | Jeffrey Epstein"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration\u2019s Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors\u2019 review of the Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>-Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> sex-trafficking case \u201cis over\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately, in comments to CNN about Epstein, Blanche said that \u201cvictims want to be made whole\u201d after surviving the scheme attributed to the late convicted sex offender and which led to a 20-year prison sentence for Maxwell beginning in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we want that,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean we can just create evidence or that we can just kind of come up with a case that isn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Blanche acknowledged \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or by people around him \u2026 that doesn\u2019t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody\u201d.<\/p>\n

Blanche\u2019s comments took aim at survivors who met Friday\u2019s release with calls demanding further accountability for the alleged clients of Epstein and Maxwell. He also made those comments amid complaints from federal Democratic lawmakers that Friday\u2019s release \u2013 along with a number of earlier ones \u2013 were incomplete.<\/p>\n

Responding to a question about claims by victim\u2019s attorneys that some identities had not been correctly redacted, Blanche on Sunday said, \u201cWe immediately rectify that.\u201d But, he added, \u201cthe numbers we\u2019re talking about were .001% of all the materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanche also said it was \u201camazing\u201d that the justice department was facing accusations of a cover-up less than a day after it dropped millions of files.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have nothing to hide,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cWe never did.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, US House member Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, disputed that the justice department\u2019s Epstein investigative archive had been emptied to the extent called for by the transparency law that he co-authored.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve released at best half the documents,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cBut even those shock the conscience of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khanna alluded to some files released on Friday that revealed references to and correspondence with prominent individuals, including multibillionaire businessperson Elon Musk<\/a> and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick<\/a>. Those prominent figures were at times associated with Epstein, or attended private events he organized at his homes, but have not been accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

A former friend of Donald Trump<\/a>, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to state charges of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor. Officials say Epstein then killed himself in federal custody in New York in 2019, during Trump\u2019s first presidency, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have some of the most wealthy individuals, tech leaders, finance leaders, politicians, all implicated in some way, having emailed them, wanting to go to Epstein\u2019s island knowing that Epstein was a pedophile,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n

Khanna added: \u201cIt\u2019s frankly one of the largest scandals in my view in our country\u2019s history. And there is a demand for elite accountability. But the survivors\u2019 lawyers that I\u2019ve talked to have said that the survivors are still upset. They\u2019re upset that many of their names accidentally came out without redaction. And they want to make sure the rest of the files come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately, Maryland House Democrat Jamie Raskin said: \u201cCase closed has been [the Trump administration\u2019s] mantra\u201d since weeks beforehand. He also said the 3m documents released Friday were \u201cclose to nothing when they\u2019re deciding which documents are coming out\u201d.<\/p>\n

That line was echoed by top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries during a Sunday appearance on ABC\u2019s This Week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not over and it will not be over until there is full and complete transparency as demanded by the survivors, so that there can be full and complete accountability,\u201d Jeffries said.<\/p>\n

He also said \u201cthere are more \u2026 documents that are being withheld\u201d by what he derisively referred to as \u201cthe department of injustice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the question that has to be asked \u2013 that the American people are asking \u2013 is what are they hiding from the American people and who are they protecting?\u201d Jeffries remarked.<\/p>\n

The justice department has previously said that many of the total number of Epstein pages in their files are duplicates across separate investigations in Florida and New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration\u2019s Epstein files release, told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-403191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}