Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, ahead of his look on Capitol Hill Wednesday, defended the Justice Department’s dealing with of the Epstein files and asserted it doesn’t have new proof to prosecute anybody for crimes associated to Jeffrey Epstein, in an interview launched Tuesday that pressured him to face theories plaguing the division.
“I’m not trying to defend Epstein. I’m not,” Blanche stated in a single trade with Katie Miller, a former Trump administration spokesperson, on her podcast. “I do defend the work that that this department is doing today, right now, which is going after every single perpetrator anywhere. And if there’s a narrative that exists that we’re ignoring Epstein victims, that is false.”
Blanche’s feedback come as he and Attorney General Pam Bondi are scheduled to transient members of Congress behind closed doorways Wednesday on the investigation.
The Justice Department has been fiercely criticized for its dealing with of the Epstein recordsdata and has labored to fend off strain from lawmakers and the general public who nonetheless query how the investigation into the convicted intercourse offender and disgraced financier unfolded.
In the hourlong interview, Miller – who’s married to Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of workers – pressed Blanche repeatedly to elucidate why the general public ought to belief what the Justice Department says about its dealing with of the Epstein case.
Miller pushed Blanche on longstanding theories that also dominate on-line hypothesis – together with whether or not Epstein was murdered in his jail cell or if the FBI was in possession of an inventory of purchasers he saved – but in addition to elucidate why the FBI seems to have little perception into cameras arrange inside Epstein’s house, and why new circumstances had been being introduced overseas however not within the United States.
“How is it that the UK can do more on Prince Andrew than we can for any single one of these wealthy, elite billionaires and people in government, even, and not have one prosecution, not hold one person accountable,” Miller requested.
Blanche responded, “Well, because you need provable evidence. And so what I can do as the deputy general is invite anybody with evidence to come to the FBI and tell us, which is what we’ve been screaming from the rooftops for a year.”
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously often called Prince Andrew, was arrested final month on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He has beforehand denied any wrongdoing associated to Epstein and stated that he by no means witnessed or suspected any of the conduct of which the intercourse offender was accused.
Asked about cameras in Epstein’s house, Blanche stated they had been put in years after the preliminary investigation.
The deputy lawyer common additionally dismissed different conspiracy theories, together with: Epstein being related to a overseas intelligence operation, the physique wheeled out of Epstein’s cell really being a physique double, and Epstein being related to the years-old “Pizzagate” conspiracy idea.
“You don’t believe ice cream is a coded word for something else,” Miller requested, referencing the Pizzagate idea, which claims folks used code phrases to explain abuse.
“I’m not saying ice cream is never a coded word for something else,” Blanche stated.
Miller, in rapid-fire questions, requested, “Do you believe in the files it refers to something sexual related to underage girls?”
“I think there was all kinds of references to sexual, to underage women in the files, which is why Epstein was such a disgusting man,” Blanche responded. “But that’s a different question. Do I believe that there’s any validity to the Pizzagate conspiracy? I do not.”