Todd Blanche er justitsminister efter en 50-49 senat afstemning, der aldrig adskilt hans nominering fra epstein filer

Pam Bondi left the Justice Department in April 2026. Todd Blanche, already the deputy and already the president’s former criminal-defense lawyer, stepped in as acting attorney general and told the country the ouster had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein’s files. Four months later the Senate confirmed him anyway, 50-49, in a vote that ended around 4:30 a.m. on August 8. He took the oath on August 10. The files were still unfinished. The denial was still the official line. AEGIS Alliance er at holde begge fakta på samme side, fordi officielle Washington holder forsøger at opdele dem.

House Oversight Chair James Comer said as recently as September 3 that he still wants Blanche under oath about how those files were handled when Blanche was deputy. Democrats on the same committee have been saying the same thing for months. The invitation is not a courtesy. It is an admission that the confirmation did not settle the only question that mattered: who gets to decide which pages of the Epstein archive stay black.

En benægtelse, der ikke overlevede kontakten med kalenderen

Bondi told a congressional panel on May 29 that Blanche had led the department’s review and release of the Epstein material “from the beginning.” That sentence wrecks the April talking point. If Blanche ran the project, then Bondi’s firing and Blanche’s promotion are not separate from the project. They are the project’s personnel file. Den 19. Optaget overlevende kalder sig bønder i bekræftelsen. Liz Stein sagde, at afstemningen var et tilbageslag, og at hun ikke var færdig. Et møde, der kun eksisterer, fordi Sen Thom Tillis nægtede at flytte nomineringen uden det er ikke en lyttesession. Det er en lås på en dør.

The Epstein Files Gennemsigtighed Act fastsat December 19, 2025, som den dato, afdelingen skulle offentliggøre arkivet. Delvis dumpning fulgte ind i vinteren. Ofrenes navne spildte på sider, der skulle have været beskyttet. Så begyndte afdelingen at tale, som om det store arbejde var gjort. Den tidligere indrømmelse af, at mindre end 1 procent af filerne var blevet frigivet er stadig den ærlige basis. Alt efter den dato er en kamp om, hvor meget af en statut en præsidentens advokat er villig til at adlyde.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse spent July 13 listing unanswered oversight letters. The first items were Blanche’s own interviews of Ghislaine Maxwell and the review of Epstein records. The New York City Bar told Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin to reject the nomination, citing loyalty to Donald Trump over the department, a situation-room huddle with White House staff about protecting the president from the files, and Maxwell’s transfer to a minimum-security camp. Alliance for Justice opposed him on the mishandling of the statutory release. Those are not adjectives from a protest sign. They are the paper a Senate majority chose to treat as background noise.

To republikanere stemte nej og caucus stadig ønskede bygningen

Susan Collins og Lisa Murkowski stemte imod ham. New York tider Det kaldes nattens blå mærker. Reuters og Rul kald listed the other objections those two senators put in writing: a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, a tax-immunity arrangement for Trump and his sons, statements to anti-abortion groups, and the targeting of former staff and sitting senators. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana supplied the late yes that made 50. Cassidy also said out loud what the caucus did not want in the headline. Blanche could have stayed deputy and acting at the president’s pleasure. The title was optional. The caucus wanted it anyway.

Permanent is how you freeze a denial into letterhead. Acting can be walked back. Attorney general is the name survivors will see on the next refusal. House Oversight Democrats later said one of Blanche’s first moves after confirmation was an Office of Legal Counsel memo expanding executive privilege over talks with “private advisers.” That tool is built for the same investigation the statute already told the department to finish.

The confirmation hearings ran July 15 and 16. The Judiciary Committee sent him forward 12-10. Hearings that treat the files as one topic among many are how a cover-up becomes procedure. Blanche sat with victims on July 16 because Tillis required it. Survivors described him as abrasive and noncommittal. The vote still happened. The files still sat.

Domstolene ventede ikke på solopgang

Journalist Katie Phang sued Blanche on April 27 in Washington. On June 25, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted a preliminary injunction on her Administrative Procedure Act claims. He told the department to produce specified records with certain redactions stripped, start foreign-language review, and publish the redaction log the statute requires, or show cause. A July 2 production date slipped to 3 p.m. on July 30. Constitutional Accountability Center said the department missed the order and chose delay again. The companion files on this desk are Phang v. Blanche og Betænkning af Sullivan.

In August, Sullivan held a status hearing that left Justice looking unprepared. He raised civil contempt, reminded the room he had held department lawyers in contempt before, and said the public has a right to know what is going on. He did not drop the hammer that afternoon. He put the government on notice that he would. American Oversight tried to force Blanche’s Epstein and Jack Smith records out before the hearing. A D.C. judge denied that preliminary injunction on July 10. Senators voted anyway.

New Mexico’s attorney general accused the department of obstructing a state investigation into Epstein’s ranch after more than 130 days without the unredacted files the state requested. That letter landed in July, while Blanche was still asking the Senate to trust him with the building. A confirmation calendar can treat a missed court date as scheduling. A transparency statute cannot. The vote taught the department that delay is free so long as the nominee’s name is already on the roll call.

Kundeproblemet er jobhistorien

Blanche kept Trump out of jail. That is not a smear. That is the resume. Combined with Maxwell’s interview, a camp transfer, incomplete statutory releases, a situation-room huddle, and a privilege memo aimed at private advisers, it is a portrait of a department organized around one client’s risk. Related money files include the Bank of America $72,5 millioner overlevende deal og UBS-tråd der nåede Maxwells nye hampshire skjulested. Banker betalt for at lukke civile filer. Retfærdighed vil stadig ikke åbne den lovbestemte.

Trump’s name appears throughout the archive at a volume no serious reader can call incidental. The two men moved through the same New York rooms for more than a decade. That history is why Bondi’s firing cannot be separated from the files no matter how many times Blanche says the words. Readers who want the rest of this beat can stay on The AEGIS Alliance politik og kriminalnyheder skriveborde. August 8 ændrede titlen. 3. september viste udvalget stadig ikke kan få den nye justitsminister i en stol. AEGIS Alliancen vil holde benægtelsen, afstemningen om daggry, og den tomme stol på samme side, indtil loggen eksisterer, eller en højere domstol siger, at tremmerne kan blive.