Blanche, whom Trump plans to nominate to replace ex-attorney general, served as Bondi’s deputy at DoJ
Former attorney generalPam Bonditold lawmakers that Todd Blanche, the manDonald Trumphas lined up to replace her, was “in charge” of the US Department of Justice’s controversial handling of theJeffrey Epsteincase.
Appearing before the House oversight and reform committee, which is investigating the late financier and convicted sex offender, Bondi also said she was “not certain of the extent” that Trump knew about the crimes of Epstein andGhislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, before they became public.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, claimed in a statement on Thursday that Trump had been “totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein” when contacted for comment on Bondi’s testimony.
Blanche, who served as Bondi’s deputy at the justice department, was responsible for the “entire release of the Epstein files”, Bondi claimed, according to a transcript released by the committee on Thursday. Blanche was appointed as acting attorney general following Bondi’s ouster, and Trump said this week he planned tonominate him for the role permanently.
Last week, Bondi faced questions about the justice department’s handling of theEpsteinfiles during her tenure. Her appearance came as the department continues to facescrutinyover the files and its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated the release of Epstein-related records held by the department. The department hasmaintainedit acted in accordance with the law.
Several lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, as well as survivors of Epstein’s abuse, have criticized some of the department’s actions andraised concernsover certain redactions and the disclosure of sensitive personal information in the files.
In heropening statementand throughout her testimony, Bondi defended the justice department’s handling of the records under her leadership, at the same time working to distance herself from the release and review of the files, saying that she did not “lead every aspect” of the department’s effort, but that it was Blanche who oversaw it.
“He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,” she told lawmakerson 29 May. In her opening statement, she also said that she did not “conduct that document review myself” and told the panel that she “delegated oversight over this process” to Blanche.
Bondi acknowledged “there were redaction errors” in the release, but insisted that “since day one of this process, this department has been committed to accountability and transparency”.
During a break in questioning last week, several Democratic lawmakerstold reportersthat Bondi was telling them that it was Blanche “that was leading the Epstein investigation and quite frankly, all of the mistakes that we saw, the redactions, not protecting survivors, she continues to push that back on to the acting AG Todd Blanche”.
Afterward, Bondi pushed back on that characterization in asocial mediapost, calling it “NOT TRUE”, and said that she “praised Acting AG Blanche’s management of this Herculean task”.
In the transcript, Bondi can be seen making the claims the Democrats had made during the break, and denying she was “blaming anything on Todd”.
“Todd Blanche is one of the most highly ethical individuals I know, and I think he is making an incredible acting attorney general,” she said in her testimony. “And he managed this investigation – and it was a Herculean task – with very little error.”
If formally nominated by Trump to be attorney general on a permanent basis, Blanche would require confirmation from the US Senate.
