Photos released in Epstein dump

Photos released in Epstein dump not enough evidence to prosecute, Blanche says

“There's a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him, but that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

By Cheyanne M. Daniels

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday said the latest drop of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes do not contain enough evidence to bring additional charges against any possible co-conspirators, despite the batch containing seemingly revealing communications and photos.

In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blanche said the DOJ reviewed the files last summer and concluded there was nothing that allowed the department to prosecute anybody.

“There’s a lot of correspondence, there’s a lot of emails, there’s a lot of photographs — there’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him, but that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody,” Blanche said.

He added that with the pages now released to the public, “the entire world” can look at the documents “and see if we got it wrong.”

The Justice Department released more than three million pages of materials related to the deceased convicted sex offender Friday, including 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The documents revealed Epstein’s communications on a variety of topics with some of the most prominent public figures both in the U.S. and abroad, including Steve Bannon, Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick.

The files also included allegations made against President Donald Trump, though none have been verified.

But Blanche on Sunday pushed back on questions related to Trump’s connections with Epstein, saying there had been many anonymous allegations made about the president but were “very quickly” deemed non-credible.

“It’s not about President Trump, it’s about a ton of people, multiple, multiple, multiple people that were quote in the Epstein files,” Blanche said. “I don’t appreciate it being directed towards Donald J. Trump because that pushes a narrative that is completely false. There are all kinds of people that are mentioned in the quote Epstein files that we had to look at and run down.”

Democrats have repeatedly accused the administration of stalling its release of the Epstein files for months in an effort to protect Trump, particularly after photographs of Trump were among a trove of documents briefly removed from the DOJ’s website. Administration officials denied the allegations, arguing the delay came from ensuring sensitive information related to victims and survivors were properly redacted.

In an interview immediately following Blanche’s, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Bash that Blanche’s continued defense of Trump “shows he has never once attempted to make the transformation from being Donald Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyer to the number two person for the United States Department of Justice.”

Raskin also accused the DOJ of a “full-blown cover up” because of the highly redacted material within the documents.

“We’re just getting these dribs and drabs of information coming out, this stuff that they want us to see,” said Raskin.

Blanche on Friday said members of Congress could make arrangements with the Justice Department to see the unredacted files. Raskin, who sent a letter to Blanche on Saturday requesting a review of the unredacted material, on Sunday said he would “absolutely” do so.

“I hope that the Department of Justice will keep to its word and let us in there,” Raskin said.