Journalist Katie Phang sues acting attorney general Todd Blanche over Epstein files

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, engaged in a “brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation” of a law requiring the justice department (DoJ) to release the entirety of the so-called Epstein files, a lawsuit filed in Washington DC alleges. The action on Monday by Katie Phang, an investigative journalist and legal analyst, seeks to hold Blanche personally responsible for the DoJ’s alleged failure to publish all the documents the government holds about Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender. A full release was mandated by a landmark transparency act passed by Congress in November, with a deadline of 19 December. Blanche, who was the deputy attorney general until Pam Bondi was fired earlier this month, has since been accused of stalling the process and releasing only a fraction of the papers. The scandal has been hugely damaging to the White House in part because of Donald Trump’s former relationship with the disgraced financier. In February, Democrats said millions of documents were still being withheld, and accused the DoJ of a “ full-blown cover up ” after Blanche effectively declared the investigation over, following what he said at the time was a final release of about 3m previously unseen papers. In a separate development last week, the DoJ’s office of the inspector general (OIG) said it was launching its own audit into the department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. …