Department of Justice ‘did not protect’ Trump when reviewing Epstein files, says deputy attorney general – US politics live

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Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been speaking from the Oval Office after signing an executive order aimed at launching an IndyCar race in Washington DC this summer.

He’s taking questions from reporters now, if he says anything about the Epstein files I’ll let you know here.

Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Among the files released by the US justice department today is a copy of Ghislaine Maxwell’s police booking intake form from July 2020.

It includes a picture of Maxwell in what looks like a prison orange jumpsuit, along with personal details including her full name and a redacted address in Bradford, New Hampshire.

The police booking intake form for Ghislaine Maxwell released by the DOJ as part of a new trove of documents from its investigations into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Photograph: US Justice Department/Reuters

White House 'had no oversight' over review of files released today, Blanche says

Blanche also told reporters earlier that the White House “had nothing to do” with the DOJ’s review of the files it released today.

Asked if he had updated the White House about today’s announcement, Blanche replied:

They had nothing to do with this review. They had no oversight over this review. They did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what to not redact.

Blanche added that the White House knew he was holding today’s news conference and that the DOJ was releasing the files, but “there’s no oversight by the White House into the process that we’ve undertaken over the past 60 days”.

Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche holds a press conference at the Department of Justice. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Here’s a quick rundown of what Blanche said is not in the release:

• files that contain personally identifiable information of victims or victims’ personal and medical files, and any similar files that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy

• any depiction of child sexual abuse material or child abuse images

• anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation

• anything that depicts or contains images of death, physical abuse or injury

• files covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, work product privilege, and attorney client privilege

“Although the act allows for withholding for items necessary to keep secret in the interest of national security or foreign policy, no files are being withheld or redacted on that basis,” Blanche added.

The justice department’s Epstein Library now includes an age verification, asking users if they’re over 18.

Blanche earlier told reporters that some of the content being released includes pornography, with redactions.

Blanche defends DoJ missing congressionally set deadline on release of files

Blanche says he won’t be commenting on criticism the DoJ has faced on its handling of the release of the files and defends its missing the congressionally set deadline.

People can criticise all they want, my point was to make plain that when it comes to what we’ve been doing the past two months and why, we weren’t able to complete the review of over six million pages.

You’re talking about two Eiffel Towers of pages in 30 days in a way that made sure we complied with the act.

He says the department was “obviously” not defying the 30-day deadline set by Congress (a reminder, that expired in December), but was complying with the need to protect victims.

Blanche tells reporters:

There’s this built in assumption that somehow there’s this hidden tranche of information of men that we know about that we’re covering up or that we’re choosing not to prosecute. That is not the case.

I don’t know whether there are men out there that abused these women. If we learn about information and evidence that that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abuse women.

DoJ 'did not protect' Trump when reviewing Epstein files, Blanche insists

Blanche insists that no men, including Trump, were protected in the release of the Epstein files.

I can assure that we complied with the statute, we complied with the act. We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect or not protect anybody, I think there’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents. There’s nothing I can do about that.

Trump’s direction to the DoJ was to be “transparent” and “that’s exactly what we did”, Blanche says.

Epstein's victims have gone through 'unspeakable pain', says Blanche

Asked about survivors that have “expressed frustration” at the DoJ’s process for releasing the files, Blanche responds: “Same here.”

If there’s frustration with quote, the entire process, same here.

“The victims of Epstein have gone through unspeakable pain,” he adds. He says that he hopes that the release of the files has been able to “bring closure” to the victims.

The deputy attorney general also said that no further files were due to be released.

Todd Blanche told reporters: “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act.”

Blanche declined to comment on the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon last night.

Do I have a ‘reaction’ to it? I don’t know what that means. Are you looking for me to do, jump up and down? No I don’t have a reaction to it, I don’t know that the charges are unsealed yet. So, no. I’m not going to comment on that.