The Daily Populous Monday February 2nd, 2026 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by ewzetf

The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration’s Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors’ review of the Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking case “is over”.

Separately, in comments to CNN about Epstein, Blanche said that “victims want to be made whole” after surviving the scheme attributed to the late convicted sex offender and which led to a 20-year prison sentence for Maxwell beginning in 2022.

“And we want that,” Blanche said. “But that doesn’t mean we can just create evidence or that we can just kind of come up with a case that isn’t there.”

While Blanche acknowledged “there’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or by people around him … that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody”.

Blanche’s comments took aim at survivors who met Friday’s release with calls demanding further accountability for the alleged clients of Epstein and Maxwell. He also made those comments amid complaints from federal Democratic lawmakers that Friday’s release – along with a number of earlier ones – were incomplete.

Responding to a question about claims by victim’s attorneys that some identities had not been correctly redacted, Blanche on Sunday said, “We immediately rectify that.” But, he added, “the numbers we’re talking about were .001% of all the materials.”

Blanche also said it was “amazing” that the justice department was facing accusations of a cover-up less than a day after it dropped millions of files.

“We have nothing to hide,” Blanche said. “We never did.”

However, US House member Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, disputed that the justice department’s Epstein investigative archive had been emptied to the extent called for by the transparency law that he co-authored.

“They’ve released at best half the documents,” he told CNN. “But even those shock the conscience of this country.”

Khanna alluded to some files released on Friday that revealed references to and correspondence with prominent individuals, including multibillionaire businessperson Elon Musk and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. Those prominent figures were at times associated with Epstein, or attended private events he organized at his homes, but have not been accused of wrongdoing.

A former friend of Donald Trump, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to state charges of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor. Officials say Epstein then killed himself in federal custody in New York in 2019, during Trump’s first presidency, while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

“You have some of the most wealthy individuals, tech leaders, finance leaders, politicians, all implicated in some way, having emailed them, wanting to go to Epstein’s island knowing that Epstein was a pedophile,” Khanna said.

Khanna added: “It’s frankly one of the largest scandals in my view in our country’s history. And there is a demand for elite accountability. But the survivors’ lawyers that I’ve talked to have said that the survivors are still upset. They’re upset that many of their names accidentally came out without redaction. And they want to make sure the rest of the files come out.”

Separately, Maryland House Democrat Jamie Raskin said: “Case closed has been [the Trump administration’s] mantra” since weeks beforehand. He also said the 3m documents released Friday were “close to nothing when they’re deciding which documents are coming out”.

That line was echoed by top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week.

“It’s not over and it will not be over until there is full and complete transparency as demanded by the survivors, so that there can be full and complete accountability,” Jeffries said.

He also said “there are more … documents that are being withheld” by what he derisively referred to as “the department of injustice”.

“So the question that has to be asked – that the American people are asking – is what are they hiding from the American people and who are they protecting?” Jeffries remarked.

The justice department has previously said that many of the total number of Epstein pages in their files are duplicates across separate investigations in Florida and New York.

ech-o on February 1st, 2026 at 22:31 UTC »

Well QAnon? Where are you? We had to listen to your bullshit for years.

EinsteinsMind on February 1st, 2026 at 22:24 UTC »

Todd Blanche, Trump's old lawyer, is a pedophile protector. It's just that simple.

AmicoPrime on February 1st, 2026 at 22:21 UTC »

DOJ: Our job here is done.

The American people: But you didn't do anything.

DOJ: turns with a dramatic flourish, hiding pedophiles with its cape as it does so