Latest / Beyond The Horizon / Katie Phang Presses DOJ Over Epstein Records and FBI Interview Notes (9/5/26)

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Katie Phang Presses DOJ Over Epstein Records and FBI Interview Notes (9/5/26) · Beyond The Horizon

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  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Over the past couple of months, we've been
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  Speaker 1: talking about the Katie Fang lawsuit that was filed against
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  Speaker 1: Todd Blanche. And that battle is ongoing and Katie Fang
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  Speaker 1: is really taking Blanche out behind the woodshed. And in
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  Speaker 1: this latest response, absolutely lights Todd Blanche up. So with
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  Speaker 1: that said, let's take a look at the document. Katie Fang, plaintiff. v.
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  Speaker 1: Todd Blanch. Case number 26-1417, EGS. Reply on proposed order.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant Attorney General Todd Blanch objects yet again to
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  Speaker 1: complying with this court's orders. On June 25, 2026, this
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  Speaker 1: court issued a prelim injunction directing the defendant to, among
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  Speaker 1: other things, 1. Produce the FBI interview notes underlying several FD-302s,
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  Speaker 1: that reference President Donald J. Trump, or show cause why
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  Speaker 1: he could not, and 2. Publish the redaction log required
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  Speaker 1: by Section 2C2 of the Epstein File Transparency Act, the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein Act or Act, or show cause as why he
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  Speaker 1: could not. The defendant refused to comply, forcing this court
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  Speaker 1: to hold a hearing on the matter. Their counsel for
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  Speaker 1: the defendant repeated unsupported and unpersuasive arguments as to why
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  Speaker 1: it could not timely produce evidence the FBI notes, or
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  Speaker 1: redaction log. The court, the defendant, was directed to show
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  Speaker 1: cause why it, the FBI notes, should not be produced.
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  Speaker 1: What's the answer? Mr. Block, the answer, Your Honor, is
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  Speaker 1: that they are duplicative documents. The court, well, that's what
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  Speaker 1: the defendant says. The court doesn't know that. Mr. Block, again,
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  Speaker 1: Your Honor, it, the redaction log, is forthcoming. I don't
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  Speaker 1: have anything to say to the court beyond I know
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  Speaker 1: it's in the process. The court, I mean, Christmas is forthcoming,
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  Speaker 1: let's be realistic. The court ultimately directed plaintiff to draft
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  Speaker 1: a proposed order on the FBI notes and redaction log,
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  Speaker 1: which plaintiff did, ECF number 32. Plaintiff also submitted a
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  Speaker 1: notice demonstrating that despite defendant's assertions otherwise, defendant has produced
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  Speaker 1: numerous handwritten FBI interview notes underlying other FD-302 reports, ECF
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  Speaker 1: number 33. The defendant ignores the notice and opposes the
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  Speaker 1: proposed order, reiterating once again his general objection to producing
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  Speaker 1: the handwritten notes, but adding a twist. He now claims
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  Speaker 1: to have published the required redaction log in the Federal Register.
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  Speaker 1: The arguments on the FBI notes are unpersuasive, and the
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  Speaker 1: claim redaction log utterly fails to comply with the Epstein Act.
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  Speaker 1: This court should direct the defendant to submit, for in-camera review,
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  Speaker 1: the handwritten notes so the court can determine whether whether
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  Speaker 1: the defendant's objections are well-founded, as they clearly are not,
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  Speaker 1: and direct the defendant to produce a redaction log that
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  Speaker 1: actually complies with the law. 2. FBI Interview Notes This court,
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  Speaker 1: in its preliminary injunction order, direct a defendant to either produce,
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  Speaker 1: to the public, the underlying FBI interview notes that form
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  Speaker 1: the basis for the FD-302 interview, reports Bearing Bates number,
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  Speaker 1: EFTA 012-45620-0202, EFTA 028-58481, EFTA 028-58491, and EFTA 028-58495. With
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  Speaker 1: appropriate redactions to protect victims' information or show cause, why
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  Speaker 1: the notes should not be produced. ECF number 15 at 2.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant failed to comply, instead asserting that he did
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  Speaker 1: not need to produce notes, first because they were substantially similar,
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  Speaker 1: to the FD302s that were already produced, and second, because
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  Speaker 1: reviewing handwritten notes was unduly burdensome and might inadvertently reveal
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  Speaker 1: victim information. The Epstein Act does not list substantial similarity
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  Speaker 1: as one of the bases for refusing to produce documents.
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  Speaker 1: See Epstein Act, Section 2A1 and 9. As the court
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  Speaker 1: has repeatedly observed, it's not sufficient for the defendant to
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  Speaker 1: merely assert without evidence that documents are substantially similar. E.g.
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  Speaker 1: August 13th, 2026 hearing. Transcript at 10. Mr. Block, the
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  Speaker 1: department had to determine that these documents were duplicative, so
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  Speaker 1: they fell outside. The court? The department may well be correct,
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  Speaker 1: but the court needs to be in a position to
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  Speaker 1: say that the court either agrees with the department or disagrees.
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  Speaker 1: Something more is required to comply with the court's order.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant's second argument that handwritten documents cannot be reviewed
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  Speaker 1: for risk of accidental disclosure of victim information, is similarly unpersuasive.
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  Speaker 1: At oral argument, counsel for the defendant incorrectly asserted that
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  Speaker 1: no handwritten notes for the FBI reports had been produced.
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  Speaker 1: August 13, 2026 hearing, transcript at 8. But in fact,
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  Speaker 1: as plaintiff noted, the defendant has produced nearly 100 handwritten notes,
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  Speaker 1: including notes that formed the basis for other FBI FD-302 reports,
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  Speaker 1: ECF No. 33. In his opposition, defendant does not even
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  Speaker 1: try to argue that the handwritten notes mentioning the president
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  Speaker 1: at issue here are somehow more difficult to review than
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  Speaker 1: the hundreds of pages of handwritten notes defendant already produced,
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  Speaker 1: nor can he. The typed FD-302s for which plaintiff seeks
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  Speaker 1: the underlying notes are, in total, just 25 pages. The
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  Speaker 1: handwritten notes are presumably not much longer, if at all.
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  Speaker 1: The attorney general commands perhaps the largest law firm in
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  Speaker 1: America to and can find a way to reliably review
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  Speaker 1: approximately 25 pages to ensure victim information is not revealed.
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  Speaker 1: All parties share the objective of not releasing genuine victim information. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: the court should direct the defendant to produce, within five days,
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  Speaker 1: the unredacted, underlying handwritten notes for the in-camera review. The
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  Speaker 1: court can then decide whether and how to publish these documents. 3.
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  Speaker 1: Redaction Log The court, in its preliminary injunction order, directed
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  Speaker 1: the defendant to either publish the Federal Register, the redaction
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  Speaker 1: log required under the Epstein Transparency Act, Section 2C2, and
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  Speaker 1: update it concurrently with each future release of redacted material,
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  Speaker 1: or show cause why he cannot do so, ECF No. 15,
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  Speaker 1: Act 2. After much foot-dragging, the defendant claims to have
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  Speaker 1: now complied with this direction, publishing to in the Federal
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  Speaker 1: Register in six-page letter it produced to Congress, more than
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  Speaker 1: six months ago, ECF No. 37, citing 91 Federal Regulation 55-35-6.
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  Speaker 1: This belatedly published letter is also offensively insufficient to comply
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  Speaker 1: with the defendant's obligation under 2C2. The Epstein Act has
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  Speaker 1: two relevant disclosure obligations. Section 3 requires the Attorney General,
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  Speaker 1: within 15 days of otherwise complying with the Act, to
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  Speaker 1: submit to Congress a report describing the categories of records
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  Speaker 1: released and withheld, the government officials and other politically exposed
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  Speaker 1: persons mentioned in the materials, and a summary of redactions made. Separately,
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  Speaker 1: Section 2C2 of the Act requires the defendant to explain
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  Speaker 1: each individual redaction, directing that all redactions must be accompanied
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  Speaker 1: by a written justification published in the Federal Register and
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  Speaker 1: submitted to Congress. In its filing, the defendant tries to
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  Speaker 1: pass off It's high-level letter required under Section 3 as
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  Speaker 1: the detailed redaction log required under Section 2C2. It's obvious
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  Speaker 1: that the letter responds to Section 3, not to Section 2C2,
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  Speaker 1: because the defendant himself says so. The first sentence of
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  Speaker 1: the letter begins, Section 3 of the Epstein Files Transparency Act,
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  Speaker 1: the Act, requires the Department of Justice, within 15 days
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  Speaker 1: of completing the release required under the Act, to submit
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  Speaker 1: to the House and Senate Committees on the Judiciary Report,
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  Speaker 1: 91 Federal Regulation 55-357. It continues, Consistent with Section 3
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  Speaker 1: of the Act, the Department provides the following information, and
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  Speaker 1: proceeds to purport to provide the information called for by
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  Speaker 1: Section 3 of the Act. The defendant's apparent argument is
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  Speaker 1: that its reporting obligations under Section 2C2 and Section 3
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  Speaker 1: are the same. They are not. The cardinal rule of
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  Speaker 1: statutory interpretation is that no provision should be construed to
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  Speaker 1: be entirely redundant. Cunges vs. U.S. 485 U.S. 1988 Plurality
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  Speaker 1: of Opinion Section 2C2 requires an explanation for each individual redaction,
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  Speaker 1: while Section 3 requires only a summary of all the redactions. Specifically,
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  Speaker 1: Section 2C2 directs that all redactions be accompanied by a
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  Speaker 1: written justification. while Section 3 directs defendants simply to produce
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  Speaker 1: a summary of those redactions. Where Congress includes particular language
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  Speaker 1: in one section of a statute, but omits it in
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  Speaker 1: another section of the same act, it's generally presumed that
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  Speaker 1: Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion,
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  Speaker 1: Rusello v. U.S. 464, 1983. Congress could have used the
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  Speaker 1: word summary in Section 2C2 as it did in Section 3,
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  Speaker 1: but conspicuously chose not to. The Attorney General has merely
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  Speaker 1: republished a summary he already made public to purportedly satisfy
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  Speaker 1: the requirements of Section 2C2 and this Court's order. This
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  Speaker 1: is painfully insufficient, and this Court should direct the Attorney
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  Speaker 1: General to publish within 10 days the written justification. for
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  Speaker 1: all redactions made, as is required by the Epstein Act. 4.
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  Speaker 1: Request for Stay. Finally, the defendant once again argues that
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  Speaker 1: the proceedings should be stayed pending the appeal. Previously, he
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  Speaker 1: argued that he could not appeal the case. ECF 19.
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  Speaker 1: The government views the court's order as more in the
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  Speaker 1: nature of of an unappealable show cause order. His position
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  Speaker 1: appears to have now changed, and he has filed what
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  Speaker 1: he describes as a protective notice of appeal, ECF number 35.
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  Speaker 1: But the defendant has not actually filed any motion to
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  Speaker 1: stay this court's prelim injunction or the current proceedings or
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  Speaker 1: made any substantive argument why these proceedings should be stayed.
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  Speaker 1: The defendant's argument can be dismissed on that basis alone. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: even if the defendant made these arguments in a motion
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  Speaker 1: they would be losing ones. In the D.C. Circuit Court,
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  Speaker 1: a court assesses four factors when considering a motion to
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  Speaker 1: stay an injunction pending appeal. One, the moving party's likelihood
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  Speaker 1: of success on the merits of its appeal. Two, whether
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  Speaker 1: the moving party will suffer irreparable injury. Three, whether issuance
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  Speaker 1: of the stay would substantially harm other parties in the proceeding.
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  Speaker 1: And four, the public interest. In granting a motion for
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  Speaker 1: prelim injunction, The court has already resolved factors 1, 3,
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  Speaker 1: and 4 in Katie Fang's favor. On the remaining factor,
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  Speaker 1: irreparable harm to defendant, the defendant cannot circumvent well-established jurisprudence
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  Speaker 1: recognizing the administrative burdens and staffing limitations fail to constitute
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  Speaker 1: irreparable harms in this manner. Center for Biological Diversity, First U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, D.C., 2026. the
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General of the United States must spend time and
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  Speaker 1: effort to follow the law. But that is not a harm,
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  Speaker 1: let alone an irreparable one. Conclusion 5. To compel the
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  Speaker 1: defendant to follow the Epstein Files Transparency Act, as well
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  Speaker 1: as this court's orders, the court should direct an in-camera
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  Speaker 1: review of the FBI interview notes and direct defendant to
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  Speaker 1: produce a complete redaction log. Respectfully submitted by Brendan Ballew,
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  Speaker 1: dated September 2nd, 2026, and when we have a response
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  Speaker 1: from Mr. Blanche, we'll get that added to the catalog
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  Speaker 1: as well. All the information that goes with this episode
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  Speaker 1: can be found in the description box.