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President Donald Trump’s acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has been sued over his alleged failure to release all the government’s files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“This case is about Defendant Todd Blanche’s brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” a lawsuit filed on behalf of journalist Katie Phang read.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses Blanche, who was the deputy attorney general at the time and formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, of failing to comply with the law.
Last fall, there was an intense bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to release the so-called Epstein files following backlash over what critics saw as the Trump administration’s lack of transparency in the case. Trump was friends with Epstein decades ago but has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing related to the late convicted sex offender.
open image in gallery President Donald Trump’s acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has been sued over his alleged failure to release all the government’s files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ( AFP via Getty Images )
Epstein, a wealthy financier who pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex crimes in Florida, was facing federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 when he died by suicide in his New York jail cell. The American public has long sought answers about the extent of Epstein’s crimes and his potential ties to the global elite.
With the passage and signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025, the Department of Justice was compelled to release the files it had on Epstein within 30 days. The DOJ belatedly released millions of documents about the late convicted sex offender, but it has been accused of not disclosing all its files.
Blanche said in a Fox News interview in early April that the DOJ released “all the files with respect to the Epstein saga.
“To the extent the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this justice department, it should not be a part of anything going forward.”
The Independent has reached out to the DOJ for comment on the new lawsuit.
open image in gallery 'This case is about Defendant Todd Blanche’s brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act,' a lawsuit filed on behalf of journalist Katie Phang read ( Getty Images for Hilarity for Charity )
The lawsuit alleges that under the leadership of then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche, the DOJ “has failed to produce the required documents within the time required.”
“It has improperly redacted documents and failed to adequately explain those redactions. And it has either retracted, or failed to produce entirely, documents that should have been produced. All of this facially violates the law,” the lawsuit claimed.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act allowed some redactions to protect the identities of victims, but when the files were released, news outlets reported that the DOJ included certain identifying information of the victims and some of their nude photos.
Blanche’s failure to comply with the law has harmed Phang, “who has extensively reported on Jeffrey Epstein and his network,” according to the lawsuit.
open image in gallery The DOJ belatedly released millions of documents related to Epstein, but critics have accused the agency of not disclosing enough information ( AFP via Getty Images )
“Phang’s inability to report with substance on all of the documents she should be able to access has hurt her ability to do her job, and made it harder to fulfill her mission as a journalist and legal analyst,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit seeks the production of all the Epstein files covered by the Epstein Files Transparency Act “with impermissible redactions removed, and with permissible redactions adequately explained.”
Phang, a former MS NOW anchor who currently works for the MeidasTouch Network, said in a video announcing the lawsuit, “I rely on compliance with the law for me to be able to process, discern, research, and do further investigation, and to report to you about what I have learned, discovered, read, seen, heard—you name it.
But when there is active concealment going on by way of violation of a federal statute, I cannot do my job as a journalist.”
open image in gallery Blanche said in early April that the DOJ released 'all the files with respect to the Epstein saga' ( Getty Images )
Phang also acknowledged her request within the lawsuit for a court-appointed special master to oversee Blanche’s compliance with the law.
“This special master would not be in the DOJ. This special master would not work for the victims and survivors. This special master would work pretty much for the American people,” Phang said.
Separately, the DOJ’s internal watchdog announced last Thursday that it was starting an audit of the agency’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Our preliminary objective is to evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the Act,” the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General said in a press release.