'Twas The Sunday Shows Before Christmas And Todd Blanche Was Doing Epstein Coverups
We watch so you never have to!
It takes a lot of Trump sycophants and stooges to do Epstein Files coverups for Donald Trump, to prevent the horrific truth about Trump from ever coming out. Pam Bondi is doing her part. Now let’s check in with incompetent former personal Trump lawyer turned Ghislane Maxwell’s personal concierge Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Blanche was on NBC’s Meet The Press to answer why the Justice Department was NOT in contempt of Congress for failing to fully release/over-redacting the Epstein Files on Friday, against the clearly stated wishes of Congress.
He did not do a good job.
It all began with host Kristen Welker asking why the DOJ failed to make the Friday deadline for the release of the Epstein files. Blanche made excuses about trying to “protect the victims.”
Of course, it’s made clear to the Epstein victims that protecting them is not high-priority:
To most who reviewed the documents over the weekend, the only people being protected were the rich and powerful.
Some of the redactions happened AFTER they were originally released, indicating the redactions were being made specifically to protect Donald Trump.
But one particular redaction caught everyone’s attention: the deletion of a photo (file 468) of Jeffrey Epstein’s desk, with an open drawer, that showed multiple pictures of Trump.
Welker asked Blanche about this, and in his attempt to cover up for Trump, he made it much worse.
BLANCHE: You can see in that photo, there’s photographs of women. And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up. So we pulled that photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump. […] But the reality is anybody, any victim, any victim’s lawyers, any victims’ rights group can reach out to us and say, “Hey, Department of Justice, there’s a document, there’s a photo, there’s something within the Epstein files that identifies me.” And we will then of course pull that off and investigate it.
WELKER: Are you saying that one or more of the women in one of the photos or several of the photos is a victim or a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, and that’s why you took those files down? And will they be put back up?
BLANCHE: No, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course, if we knew that, if we believed that that photograph contained a survivor, we wouldn’t have put it up in the first place without redacting the faces. […] And so when we hear from victims' rights groups about this type of photograph, we pull it down and investigate. We're still investigating that photo. The photo will go back up. And the only question is whether there will be redactions on the photo.
Is he Freudian-insinuating that a victim’s rights group flagged a picture of Donald Trump with several women because it contained several Epstein victims? Surely that is not what he is trying to Freudian-insinuate!
Welker also asked Blanche about Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, the authors of the Epstein bill, noting that the DOJ’s partial release failed to comply with the law. Welker noted they are now considering the possibility of impeachment proceedings, contempt, and even criminal referrals for obstruction of justice for DOJ officials. When asked if he took these threats seriously, Blanche tried his best tough guy impersonation.
BLANCHE: Not even a little bit. Bring it on.
OK.
So of course, Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, also appearing on Meet The Press, responded by immediately reaffirming why cowardly dinosaurs like him are not fit for the fight against fascism in America.
Luckily, Reps. Massie and Khanna were on CBS’s Face The Nation with host Margaret Brennan to address Blanche and Kaine in real time.
KHANNA: Blanche was on this morning saying that Massie and I have a problem that it's taking too long. That's not the problem. The problem is, this was a slap in the face of survivors. What do they want? They want to know, who are the rich and powerful men who visited Epstein's rape island and covered up the abuse? […] The redactions were excessive. And even Harvard Law professors who have looked at that have said you can't redact internal communications, you can't redact workforce product. And the courts are going to find that these were excessive. […]
BRENNAN: OK. What are you going to do about it to force them to comply? I mean can you do anything?
MASSIE: Oh, absolutely. […] there are several ways to get at this. Some take longer. Some are shorter. The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi. And that doesn’t require going through the courts.
When asked about Kaine, Khanna answered by reminding him (and voters) they don’t need Senate cowards’ permission to do their job.
KHANNA: No, we only need the House for inherent contempt. And we're building a bipartisan coalition.
Well said. This is the type of accountability and checks and balances we should be seeing from a coequal branch of our government.
Within minutes of their interview, Massie and Khanna got results and proved Kaine’s advice was woefully wrong.
We’ll conclude today by circling back to Todd Blanche on Meet The Press.
Welker asked about Blanche moving Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s to cushier prison accommodations:
WELKER: Why was she moved just days after you interviewed her, Mr. Blanche?
BLANCHE: So that’s a Bureau of Prison security issue that I will not talk about –
WELKER: Did you have anything to do with it?
BLANCHE: – but I think it’s fair to say –
WELKER: Did you have anything to do with it?
BLANCHE: Let me finish. First of all, I am responsible for the Bureau of Prisons. So every decision that they make lands on my desk to the extent it needs to.
Todd Blanche says we all need to talk to the Bureau of Prisons about why Maxwell was moved and admits he is the final decision-maker responsible for the Bureau of Prisons.
No notes.
Have a week and a very happy holiday.
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Let's just remember: Tim Kaine was one of the reasons Hillary lost...
"You can see in that photo, there’s photographs of women."
Women or girls, Todd and Kristen? "Minors unable to consent" isn't as fluid to speak or write, I know.