This is getting laughable. And *vexing*. If anything, Todd Blanche is doing *worse* than Pam Blondi at handling Epstein Files issues. His façade is cracking. But Trump apparently still wants him as AG, since we haven’t gotten any news about someone else. He is better at getting in trouble in court. So there actually is something where he’s doing better than she did. Not the sort of achievement to put on your wall. With respect for Raw Story:
The Trump Justice Department stumbled in a Jeffrey Epstein files case with an “embarrassing” excuse flagged by a legal expert. In a recent episode of the Legal AF podcast, analyst Michael Popok discussed the DOJ’s response to an injunction requiring it to translate foreign-language documents in the Epstein files. The injunction stems from journalist Katie Phang’s lawsuit demanding translation and a published redaction log, which has seen early success, Popok noted.
Uh, oh. Didn’t want to take the time to translate it? Another stall they’re trying to pull on a judge? Hmm, does the Epstein Law require translations? Not sure if that’s come up before, actually. Interesting. On the other hand, if the judge said “you WILL translate,” they had best get themselves in gear. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Blanche be brought up on contempt charges? There’s only so much one can dance around before they get clocked by the judge.
“It’s not like the World Cup. It’s not like there’s 48 different countries of languages,” Popok said. “What is it? Four or five languages. We know who was involved in the Epstein scandal. Maybe French, maybe Italian, certainly English, not a foreign language, but you know the way the Brits speak.” Even though the DOJ responded to a judge’s injunction “in the nick of time,” it refused to translate parts of the Epstein files, saying reviewers “could not translate it on the fly,” according to Popok.
Huh? On the fly? It’s not like it was to be translated live. It was in response to the lawsuit and the judge. And if it was last minute, well, that’s the DoJ’s problem, no one else’s. It would certainly be very interesting to find out what they didn’t translate. They are definitely trying the judges’ patience with all the excuses.
[Not the World Cup, and the way the Brits speak made me laugh. Hope it at least brought a smile to your face. By the way, from an earlier column, Belgium beats us 4-1. That’s a big, big OUCH. Now we’re doubly embarrassed.]
“They could use an app, an AI app, that would do the initial cut of translation,” Popok said. “It’s embarrassing that they think they can get away with this.” Popok summed up the DOJ’s response as “you’re not getting it, judge. We’re not translating it.” However, Popok added that the judge in the case, Emmet Sullivan, “doesn’t suffer fools” and predicted that he’ll be “p—– off” with the DOJ’s excuse for not complying with the injunction. “You’re gonna see it in his next order,” Popok said. “Remember we’re talking about Epstein survivors and sexual abuse victims, many of them who were girls at the time.”
WHAM. There’s the whole point about this. It’s for the girls, some of whom are still in hiding as adults, assuming we haven’t lost them like we did Virginia Giuffre, and some of whom have come forward and spoken out. It’s for the girls. Do your damn job, Blanche. Quit pussyfooting around, quit lying, and do your damn job, not Trump’s job. As if that will happen, our cynical side says.
See you soon!
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provide copies of the materials to phang and let her have it translated. it’s more important to get the material out there and would be more trustworthy.