Todd Blanche was being sworn in as Attorney General Monday — just days before he could be sanctioned by a furious federal judge.
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According to former US Attorney Joyce Vance, President Donald Trump’s appointee has a court date with Judge Emmet Sullivan to address his foot-dragging in the lawsuit over the Jeffrey Epstein files brought by attorney Katie Phang.
At the status hearing, Blanche must defend his refusal to produce documentation supporting his claims that certain redacted names in published documents belong to Epstein victims and not victimizers, the former prosecutor wrote on her Substack platform.
Additionally, Vance wrote, the court to produce underlying FBI interview notes that formed the basis for interview reports with appropriate redactions, or explain why the notes should not be produced.
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Blanche will also be expected to discuss his timeline for complying with the Epstein Act requirement that “all redactions must be accompanied by a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress.” The parties dispute whether a deadline exists for this compliance.
As Vance wrote, Trump’s former personal attorney has already been referred to a bar grievance committee by a federal judge in Florida, allowing Judge Sullivan to make a similar case over his failure to comply with court orders, indicative of a pattern of disregard for judicial authority.
“You can get a sense of how great Blanche’s sins are,” the former US attorney wrote. “Despite the factual tone of the order, make no mistake about it: this is a Judge who is angered by Blanche’s flagrant disregard of his orders. What he is prepared to do about it in the hearing is something we’ll be following closely later this week.”
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