The No. 2 official within the Justice Division instructed ABC Information in an interview Friday that there was “no effort” to redact President Donald Trump’s identify from the discharge of recordsdata stemming from federal investigations into convicted intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Deputy Lawyer Common Todd Blanche was requested Friday in an interview by ABC Information Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas whether or not each doc that mentions Trump can be launched as the federal government continues its rollout of hundreds of thousands of files within the coming weeks.
“Assuming it is per the legislation, sure,” Blanche stated. “So there isn’t any effort to carry something again as a result of there’s the identify Donald J. Trump or anyone else’s identify, Bill Clinton‘s identify, Reid Hoffman‘s identify. There is no effort to carry again or not maintain again due to that and — and so — however once more, we’re not, we’re not redacting the names of well-known women and men which can be related to Epstein.”
Deputy Lawyer Common Todd Blanche speaks with Pierre Thomas, Senior Justice Correspondent for ABC Information.
ABC Information
When straight pressed over whether or not there’s been any order to DOJ personnel to redact supplies involving Trump, Blanche rejected any such suggestion and accused Democratic lawmakers of utilizing selective disclosures from Epstein’s property to current Trump in a destructive mild.
“President Trump has definitely stated from the start that he expects all recordsdata that may be launched to be launched and that is precisely what we’re doing,” Blanche stated.
Blanche sat for the interview simply hours earlier than the division launched its first tranche of hundreds of recordsdata, which contained little data associated to Trump and as an alternative included pictures of former President Invoice Clinton with out context, which had been highlighted on social media by DOJ and White Home officers.
A spokesperson for Clinton accused the division of selectively disclosing the photographs in an announcement and denied that they confirmed any wrongdoing by the previous president.
“The White Home hasn’t been hiding these recordsdata for months solely to dump them late on a Friday solely to guard Invoice Clinton,” Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena stated Friday. “They’ll launch as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photographs as they need, however this is not about Invoice Clinton.”
“Everybody, particularly MAGA, expects solutions, not scapegoats,” the spokesperson stated.
President Donald Trump, with pharmaceutical executives, delivers remarks on decreasing the costs of medicine and prescribed drugs throughout an announcement within the Roosevelt Room of the White Home in Washington, December 19, 2025.
Will Oliver/EPA/Shutterstock
Within the ABC Information interview, Blanche additional sought to defend the division’s choice to not launch the whole lot of its recordsdata topic to disclosure below the invoice signed into legislation by Trump, which gave the Justice Division a 30-day deadline to launch the whole lot of its Epstein investigative recordsdata.
“I didn’t say that every one the recordsdata won’t be launched, I stated all of the recordsdata won’t be launched at the moment,” Blanche stated when requested about an interview he gave earlier Friday to Fox Information. “And the legislation could be very particular that the Division of Justice is required to be sure that we shield victims. And as not too long ago as Wednesday, we realized of further sufferer names, and so we have acquired over 1,200 names of victims and their relations since we began this course of. And so there’s a longtime precedent that in a scenario like this, the place it is in essence inconceivable for us to adjust to the legislation at the moment, that we adjust to the legislation, per the legislation.”
When requested whether or not the general public ought to be assured that Blanche, who beforehand served as Trump’s private protection legal professional, would act within the public’s curiosity over Trump, Blanche stated the American individuals ought to take a look at what the division finally releases.
“Your confidence ought to be in the truth that for many years, plenty of individuals have been making an attempt to go after President Trump falsely, and when it got here to the Epstein saga, it is precisely the identical story.”
Blanche added that the method to make redactions to the paperwork, “was not Lawyer Common [Pam] Bondi, [FBI] Director Patel, Todd Blanche going via and coding hundreds of thousands of paperwork and saying, ‘sure, no, sure, no.’ You will have a number of, dozens and dozens of probably the most extremely educated legal professionals within the Division of Justice working for the Nationwide Safety Division. These are profession legal professionals engaged on this course of.”
Blanche defends jail switch of Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell
Within the interview, Blanche additionally defended the division’s controversial transfer over the summer season to switch Epstein’s convicted affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell to a decrease safety jail facility simply days after he sat for an interview with her over two days in Florida.
In an interview launched by Self-importance Honest earlier this week, White Home chief of workers Susie Wiles denied that Trump was concerned within the choice and stated he disapproved of Maxwell’s switch.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are seen on this picture launched by the Division of Justice in Washington, December 19, 2025.
U.S. Justice Division through Reuters
Whereas Blanche stated he was “not permitted” to speak about safety for particular person inmates, he stated Maxwell was dealing with “a number of threats” that warranted her being moved to a separate low-security facility in Texas.
“On the time that she was moved, there have been a number of threats towards her life, and like occurs on a regular basis on the Bureau of Prisons when that occurs, one of many issues that one of many choices out there to the warden and the safety system throughout the Bureau of Prisons is to maneuver the inmate,” Blanche stated. “She’s not launched. She’s in federal jail.”
Blanche additional denied Maxwell was receiving any preferential remedy within the new facility, regardless of current whistleblower disclosures released by congressional Democrats.
Blanche says investigations into Comey, James will proceed
ABC Information individually requested Blanche whether or not the division plans to proceed pursuing prosecutions towards two of Trump’s high political targets, New York Lawyer Common Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey after a federal decide tossed their indictments in November on the premise {that a} Trump-installed prosecutor was unlawfully appointed.
(COMBO) This mix of images created on November 24, 2025 reveals, L/R, former FBI director James Comey on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC, and New York Lawyer Common Letitia James in New York on February 16, 2024.
Brendan Smialowski,timothy A. Cl/AFP through Getty Pictures
Two separate federal grand juries prior to now two weeks have rejected the department’s efforts to re-indict James on mortgage fraud costs and a separate federal decide in Washington, D.C., has restricted prosecutors from accessing key proof of their probe of Comey.
Blanche confirmed the division’s investigation into Comey “is continuous” and stated it was “not a thriller” that DOJ plans to nonetheless search costs towards him and rejected any suggestion the prosecution was “vindictive.”
James and Comey have denied all wrongdoing.
When requested in regards to the interview that Wiles, the White Home chief of workers, gave to Self-importance Honest by which she candidly appeared to concede the DOJ’s prosecution of James was “retribution,” Blanche once more defended the division’s actions.
“As a result of we’re wanting on the proof, we’re investigating them, investigating the circumstances. We now have legislation enforcement, profession legislation enforcement, doing the investigations are being introduced to a grand jury within the regular course,” Blanche stated.
ABC Information has beforehand reported that profession prosecutors on each the James and Comey investigations really useful prosecutors not pursue both indictment primarily based on what they thought-about the dearth of ample proof to safe a conviction.
