The No. 2 official within the Justice Division advised ABC Information in an interview Friday that there was “no effort” to redact President Donald Trump’s title from the discharge of recordsdata stemming from federal investigations into convicted intercourse trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche was requested Friday in an interview by ABC Information Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas whether or not each doc that mentions Trump will likely be launched as the federal government continues its rollout of hundreds of thousands of files within the coming weeks.
“Assuming it is in keeping with the regulation, sure,” Blanche mentioned. “So there is not any effort to carry something again as a result of there’s the title Donald J. Trump or anyone else’s title, Bill Clinton‘s title, Reid Hoffman‘s title. There isn’t any 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 Normal Todd Blanche speaks with Pierre Thomas, Senior Justice Correspondent for ABC Information.
ABC Information
When immediately 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 adverse mild.
“President Trump has actually mentioned from the start that he expects all recordsdata that may be launched to be launched and that is precisely what we’re doing,” Blanche mentioned.
Blanche sat for the interview simply hours earlier than the division launched its first tranche of 1000’s of recordsdata, which contained little info associated to Trump and as an alternative included photographs of former President Invoice Clinton with out context, which have been highlighted on social media by DOJ and White Home officers.
A spokesperson for Clinton accused the division of selectively disclosing the images 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 mentioned Friday. “They’ll launch as many grainy 20-plus-year-old images as they need, however this is not about Invoice Clinton.”
“Everybody, particularly MAGA, expects solutions, not scapegoats,” the spokesperson mentioned.
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 determination to not launch everything of its recordsdata topic to disclosure underneath the invoice signed into regulation by Trump, which gave the Justice Division a 30-day deadline to launch everything of its Epstein investigative recordsdata.
“I didn’t say that each one the recordsdata won’t be launched, I mentioned all of the recordsdata won’t be launched in the present day,” Blanche mentioned when requested about an interview he gave earlier Friday to Fox Information. “And the regulation may be very particular that the Division of Justice is required to make it possible for we shield victims. And as lately as Wednesday, we realized of extra 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 state of affairs like this, the place it is in essence unattainable for us to adjust to the regulation in the present day, that we adjust to the regulation, in keeping with the regulation.”
When requested whether or not the general public needs to be assured that Blanche, who beforehand served as Trump’s private protection lawyer, would act within the public’s curiosity over Trump, Blanche mentioned the American individuals ought to have a look at what the division in the end releases.
“Your confidence needs to be in the truth that for many years, plenty of individuals have been attempting 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 Normal [Pam] Bondi, [FBI] Director Patel, Todd Blanche going by and coding tens of millions of paperwork and saying, ‘sure, no, sure, no.’ You’ve 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 Truthful earlier this week, White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles denied that Trump was concerned within the determination and mentioned 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 by way of Reuters
Whereas Blanche mentioned he was “not permitted” to speak about safety for particular person inmates, he mentioned Maxwell was going through “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 accessible to the warden and the safety system inside the Bureau of Prisons is to maneuver the inmate,” Blanche mentioned. “She’s not launched. She’s in federal jail.”
Blanche additional denied Maxwell was receiving any preferential therapy within the new facility, regardless of latest 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 Normal Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey after a federal choose tossed their indictments in November on the idea {that a} Trump-installed prosecutor was unlawfully appointed.
(COMBO) This mix of images created on November 24, 2025 exhibits, L/R, former FBI director James Comey on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC, and New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James in New York on February 16, 2024.
Brendan Smialowski,timothy A. Cl/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Two separate federal grand juries previously two weeks have rejected the department’s efforts to re-indict James on mortgage fraud costs and a separate federal choose 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 constant” and mentioned 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 employees, gave to Self-importance Truthful 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 trying on the proof, we’re investigating them, investigating the circumstances. We now have regulation enforcement, profession regulation enforcement, doing the investigations are being offered to a grand jury within the regular course,” Blanche mentioned.
ABC Information has beforehand reported that profession prosecutors on each the James and Comey investigations beneficial prosecutors not pursue both indictment based mostly on what they thought of the shortage of enough proof to safe a conviction.
