This is glorious. A judge laid the smackdown on the DoJ regarding the unreleased Epstein files. This makes me happy since we just lost our soccer game. The DoJ has been playing fast and loose with the Epstein files since last year. It started with Blondi. It continues with Blanche. They were supposed to be out in December. As we know, not only were they not, the ones that were released did NOT redact the names and information of the victims! We also have a pretty good idea that Trump’s name and “his friend’s names” *were* redacted. Remember 1,000 FBI agents being seconded over to the DoJ to scrub the files? Makes me wonder if they were ever sent back. Heh. After all the purging, the FBI needs everyone they can get. Oof, let me not get sidetracked again. Respect to Raw Story:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that courts can force the Justice Departmentto release Epstein files that the Trump administration has fought to keep hidden. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan issued the ruling in Washington, D.C., siding with independent journalist Katie Phang in the first lawsuit ever brought to enforce the Epstein Files Transparency Act — a law Congress passed nearly unanimously in 2025.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche must now explain why he shouldn’t be forced to release names redacted from emails that court documents describe as referencing a “torture video” and sexual activity with minors, the names of co-conspirators in a draft federal indictment, and FBI interview notes from a victim who says Epstein introduced her to President Donald Trump when she was approximately 13 — and that Trump assaulted her. Trump has denied the allegation.
Of *course* he denied the allegation. He’s in there, He’s in there a lot, and that’s just what we know now, not including the ones that haven’t been released yet. There is also a likely large amount in there where he’s been hidden. Blanche needs to take a very hard look at how he’s performing on this. Blondi has already been punted. Blanche is still only “acting”. Trump does NOT want the rest of the files to come out. There are bound to be places where redacting his name was missed.
Instead of defending his actions, Blanche argued the court had no power to hear the case at all. That gamble failed. When a defendant in federal court fails to challenge specific allegations, those allegations are deemed admitted. “The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act,” the ruling states directly. Blanche also never reviewed foreign-language materials in the Epstein files. And he still hasn’t published an explanation for his redactions — something the law required by December 19, 2025, more than six months ago.
Oops. Blanche is trying to play fast and loose. Thus far, he’s losing. He is not going to like it if he keeps losing. Neither will Trump. The thing that continues to be annoying is that the DoJ is Trump’s own personal legal firm. That’s so wrong. Yes, preaching to the choir. At least some of the AGs and some of the cases for the Revenge Tour™ flopped so badly that they can’t come back. Others never got anywhere in the first place.
The ruling is a landmark for a simple reason: the transparency law had no enforcement mechanism built into it. Phang’s attorneys sued under the Administrative Procedure Act — a law that lets courts review and overturn government agency decisions. Judge Sullivan found that the DOJ’s document releases count as agency decisions that a court can reverse. Any journalist, researcher, or watchdog group can now use that same door.
Blanche asked for more time before the order took effect — up to 60 days. The judge said no. “There is no competing harm to the government with the issuance of preliminary relief that orders compliance with statutes,” Sullivan wrote. The DOJ’s only move now is to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to block the order — a court battle the government must fight, having never denied it broke the law.
BOOM. Sorry, Todd, you lose! Have fun with all that, trying to fix the screwups of your predecessor. And enjoy having Trump’s McDonald’s breath on the back of your neck. He’s going to hover over Blanche for months. Someone might find it a good idea to brush up on the law where all the remaining Epstein files are concerned. He’s already behind. How did you like that Ghislaine testimony?
See you soon!
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