SerpApi.Org
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asked a federal judge on Monday to avoid a $1,000-a-day fine, describing a contempt action against him as “absurd.”
Blanche is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by independent journalist Katie Phang.
She claims he violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the Justice Department to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan supported Phang in June. He found that Blanche never challenged her main claims in court: that he missed the law’s deadline, made improper redactions, and withheld documents he was required to provide.
Sullivan ordered Blanche to produce handwritten FBI notes from agents who interviewed a woman accusing President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her as a minor.
He also ordered emails to Epstein without redacted sender names and documents naming potential co-conspirators. Phang asked the judge to impose a $1,000-a-day fine until Blanche complied.
In his reply brief on Monday, Blanche called Phang’s filings filled with “hyperbolic rhetoric seeking to impose punitive sanctions” and “outlandish claims.”
He referred to her contempt argument as “absurd” and her factual claims as “sensational and unsubstantiated.”
The brief requested that Sullivan reject the contempt and sanctions, allow Blanche to appeal any negative ruling immediately, and pause the proceedings while that appeal is ongoing.
Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, which represents Phang, stated that the government has not challenged the claim that it broke the law.
“At no point has the government tried to argue that it followed the law,” Ballou said, noting that the government had not defended its actions in court. “That is a pretty shocking position to take.”
After Sullivan’s ruling in June, Ballou said the Justice Department ignored the statute and a court order to protect powerful individuals.
“The government ignored its own law and disregarded a judge’s order, all to shield the very powerful and the very rich,” he said.
National Public Radio reported that the Justice Department withheld and removed Epstein files related to sexual abuse allegations against Trump. This included over 50 pages of FBI interview notes and other records from agents who interviewed a woman who claimed Trump assaulted her when she was a minor.
Blanche previously served as Trump’s personal defense attorney in two federal criminal cases: the classified documents case and the Jan. 6 election obstruction case.
He also worked on a state case, the Manhattan hush-money trial. Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April and appointed Blanche to take her place.
Sullivan has not yet decided whether to hold Blanche in contempt. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled an executive business meeting for July 23, where a vote on Blanche’s confirmation as permanent attorney general is expected.
