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NBC’s Kristen Welker squared off against Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a tense showdown over the Epstein files.
In a 20-minute interview on Sunday’s Meet the Press, Welker grilled Blanche on why the DOJ failed to comply with legislation requiring that all of the files be released on Friday.
“The Epstein Files Transparency Act called for all files, with limited exceptions, to be released within 30 days,” Welker said. “On Friday, the Justice Department released just a fraction of the overall Epstein files. Why didn’t the Justice department meet that Friday deadline?”
Blanche argued the government did not have time to review all the files to make redactions needed to protect victims
“It’s very simple and very clear,” Blanche said. “The statute also requires us to protect victims. And so the reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that — to protect the victims. So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don’t want us to protect victims.”
Welker questioned whether President Donald Trump’s DOJ was honoring the wishes of Epstein victims with its handling of Friday’s release.
“The law directed the Justice Department to, ‘release internal DOJ communications, including emails, memos, meeting notes, concerning decisions to charge, not charge, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates,’” Welker said. “That’s the crux of what many of the victims or the survivors say they want to see. Why wasn’t that information prioritized in the first release, Mr. Blanche?”
“Well, first of all, it was,” Blanche replied. “And there are numerous documents released on Friday that address what you just quoted from, from the statute, that address internal communications within the Department of Justice and internal communications between law enforcement and the Department if Justice. But it’s for the same reason, because many of those internal communications talk about victims. Many of those back-and-forths between prosecutors and law enforcement talk about the victims and their stories. And that has to be redacted. And by the way, everybody expects us to redact that. So the same complaints that we’re hearing yesterday and even this morning from Democrats and from others screaming loudly from a hill about lack of production on Friday, imagine if we had released tons of information around victims. That would be the true crime. That would be the true wrong.”
The Meet the Press moderator then broached the topic of the many redactions in the files released Friday — as well as the 16 images which disappeared from the DOJ’s website after initially being posted.
“The Epstein-Files Transparency Act prohibits redactions ‘on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.’ Has anything been redacted on that basis?” Welker asked.
The deputy AG was unequivocal.
“Absolutely, positively not,” Blanche said. He added, “A judge in New York has ordered us to listen to any victim or victim rights group if they have any concerns about the material that we’re putting up. And so when we hear concerns, whether it’s photographs of women that we do not believe are victims, or we didn’t have information to show that they were victims, but we learn that there are concerns, of course we’re taking that photograph down, and we’re going to address it. If we need to redact faces or other information, we will, and then we’ll put it back up.”
“Mr. Blanchard, I want to follow up with you on what you just said,” Welker responded. “You were referencing the 15 files released Friday. They disappeared from DOJ’s website yesterday, including this photo of what looks like a desk with a drawer open containing photos of Donald Trump. Just to be very clear, to put a fine point on it, why were these files taken down? You’re saying it was at the direction of a judge?”
“You can see in that photo, there’s photographs of women,” Blanche said. “And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up. So we pulled that photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump. There are dozens of photos of President Trump already released to the public seeing him with Mr. Epstein. He has said that in the ’90s and early 2000s he socialized with him. So the absurdity of us pulling down a photo, a single photo, because President Trump was in it, is laughable.”
“Are you saying that one or more of the women in one of the photos or several of the photos is a victim or a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein?” Welker asked. “And that’s why you took those files down? And will they be put back up?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Blanche replied. “Of course, if we knew that, if we believed that that photograph contained a survivor, we wouldn’t have put it up in the first place without redacting the faces. But not withstanding what we believe, we don’t have perfect information. And so when we hear from victims’ rights groups about this type of photograph, we pull it down and investigate. We’re still investigating that photo. The photo will go back up.”
Welker then put Blanche on the spot.
“Can you guarantee that every mention and every photo of President Trump in the Epstein files will be released?” Welker asked.
“Yes,” Blanche said. “I mean, I’ve said it three, four times now, we’ve said it before, and President Trump has said it repeatedly, since before he was elected, and since he was elected, all summer long, he said the same thing. ‘I have nothing to hide.’ And so, of course, that’s the case. But let me just make sure everybody understands something. To the extent that he is, quote, in the Epstein files, it’s not because he had anything to do with the horrific crimes. Full stop.”
Watch above, via NBC.
The post ‘Why Were These Files Taken Down?’ NBC’s Kristen Welker Grills Trump DOJ Official On Epstein File Removals in Showdown Interview first appeared on Mediaite.
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