AnyDonald Trumppresidency inevitably evolves into a constellation of scandals, with him at the center of a scurrilous universe, as controversies orbit near him and then away, only to return again.
Trump can't stop that. So he tries to capitalize on it, using one scandal to distract from another. TheEpstein files are a humiliating mess? Let'sgo to war with Iran! Thewar with Iran became a quagmire? Let'spick a fight with the pope!
We know it. We see it. But the waythe Epstein files scandal– centered on millions of documents about Trump's former pal, the deadconvicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein–came back into our celestial view was astounding.
First ladyMelania Trumpkicked this off witha bewildering April 9 brief speech from the White House, which nobody asked for or was expecting, in which she complained about "false smears" connecting her with Epstein,despite plenty of photographs that have circulated for yearsthat show her and her husband quite cozy with the sex offender.
Former Attorney GeneralPam Bondi, who did more than anyone in the Trump administrationto make the Epstein files a political minefield, kept the scandal's renewed momentum going byrefusing to comply with a lawfully issued subpoenafrom the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which wanted to question her about the files.
And then acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, picking up right where Bondi left offbefore Trump fired her on April 2 for this mess,appeared on Fox News on April 14with a message that amounted to: The Department of Justice has provided an unfettered view … to everythingwe wantyou to see in the Epstein files, and now this is over.
Blanche is using the same tactics Bondi deployed. Look how well that went for her.
In his interview,the acting attorney general insistedthat the DOJ reviewed 6 million documents and released "anything associated with the Epstein files.”
Blanche,a former Trump criminal defense attorneywho has helpedtwist and distort the DOJ into a tool of mendacitythat protects the president at all costs while attacking his perceived enemies,has a certain credibility problem here.
This isn't some random bureaucratic task. A bipartisan movement in Congress,driven specifically by the DOJ's lack of transparencyin the Epstein files,overwhelmingly passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. Trump, who fought to stop that legislation,grudgingly signed it into law.
The DOJdidn't meet the 30-day deadlineto release all of the Epstein files. And the two key sponsors of the legislation, Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, told me the DOJ still hasn't complied with the law.
Blanchetold Fox Newsthat any member of Congress can come to the DOJ and inspect the Epstein files in unredacted format. But here's what Blanche didn't say: He's making the call on what is and is not an Epstein file, and what Congress can and cannot see.
Massie, in a statement sent to me, accused Blanche of "falsely asserting deliberative privilege to shield certain required documents" covered by his legislation. And he said many of the documents that members of Congress can view remain redacted because the DOJ made no effort to get original, unredacted copies, as required by the law
"The Department of Justice did not comply with (the law) under former Attorney General Bondi, and it has not done so under Acting Attorney General Blanche," Massie told me.
Khanna sent Blanche a letter after his Fox News interview, noting that the law requires the DOJ to offer written explanations as to why some documents are redacted. "To date, no such justification has been provided," Khanna wrote.
