Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / 19 Epstein Survivors Oppose The Todd Blanche Nomination For Attorney General (6/12/26)

Transcript

19 Epstein Survivors Oppose The Todd Blanche Nomination For Attorney General (6/12/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
0:03
Epstein Chronicles. Recently, we went through an article by The
0:07
New York Times talking about the crisis management that was
0:11
going on at the White House as the Epstein story
0:14
was dominating the headlines and they were coming up with
0:17
all kinds of strategies to try to deal with the fallout,
0:22
And according to the article, jd. Vance floated the idea
0:25
of having somebody like Tucker Carlson interview Gallainne Maxwell, but
0:31
instead of that, they ended up having Todd Baby Billy
0:34
Blanche do it. And not only that, but Pam Bondi
0:38
put all the blame on Todd Blanche basically for everything
0:42
that went on with the release of the files. So
0:45
has anybody shocked out there that Epstein's survivors want nothing
0:48
to do with Todd Blanche as the Attorney General? I mean,
0:53
I don't know why that would shock anybody. Bro's not
0:55
exactly what i'd call reliable, right, not exactly what I
0:59
would call somebody who gives a shit about these women
1:03
or about the case. Overall. He cares about protecting Donald Trump.
1:07
That's what he cares about, and that's always been his function.
1:12
So the fact that anyone's even talking about this dude
1:15
being the attorney general is bananas, and under normal circumstances
1:19
and the normal administration, a guy like this wouldn't even
1:23
be nominated to this kind of post. But we're so
1:26
far removed from what's normal and what's not that having
1:30
a guy like Todd Blanche as the Attorney general doesn't
1:33
even move the needle anymore. And when you have somebody
1:35
as corrupt as Donald Trump is the president, well why
1:38
should it. Today's article is from CNN and the headline
1:43
group of Epstein survivors announce opposition to Todd Blanche attorney
1:47
general nomination. This article was authored by Jake Tapper and
1:51
Annie Grayer. A group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors came out
1:55
in opposition to Todd blanche nomination as President Donald Trump's
2:00
permanent Attorney General, citing his participation in secret White House
2:04
meetings on how to contain the political fallout from the
2:07
Epstein files. And that was the whole goal, contain that shit.
2:13
The less people that know, the better, the more confusion,
2:16
the better, the least we say, the better. And while
2:22
in public they put on a brave face, telling everybody
2:26
that there was no there there and that everybody should
2:28
move on. Behind the scenes, they were scrambling all kinds
2:32
of crisis meetings, people fighting Dan Bongino, saying qutt time
2:37
is over, and walking out of a meeting allegedly. And
2:40
do you think all of that would be occurring if
2:42
there was nothing here, if there was nothing that they
2:45
feared as an administration. And whether that is their friends
2:49
being embarrassed or the institutions being embarrassed, the result was
2:55
the same. They're not willing to do it. And that's
2:58
because they know that if the American people truly understood
3:02
what these folks were up to, I think that the
3:04
American people would take to the streets. And I'm not
3:08
just talking about the sexual crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. I'm
3:11
talking about the whole kitten, koboodle, the whole thing. In
3:17
a new statement obtained by CNN, nineteen women responded to
3:21
New York Times reporting that Blanche and other senior officials
3:24
participated in situation room meetings to discuss how to respond
3:28
to growing pressure for more transparency as the issue became
3:32
a public relations crisis for the administration and to say
3:38
that they did a shitty job is an understatement. This
3:42
is one of the biggest fumbles in the history of
3:45
an administration. They had this all teed up. They could
3:48
have been the heroes, the goats, the most transparent administration
3:52
in history. But instead history will not remember them kindly
3:57
and they'll go down as the administration that thought it
3:59
would be a good idea to continue to protect Jeffrey Epstein.
4:03
That's going to be a gigantic part of this administration's legacy.
4:09
We are deeply disturbed to learn that so many senior
4:11
members of the administration gathered in the situation room to
4:15
discuss the release of the Epstein files as a reputational problem,
4:19
rather than an opportunity to pursue investigative leads and try
4:23
to figure out what actually happened. The survivors of Epstein's
4:27
abuse said in the joint statement. These revelations confirm our
4:31
worst fears about the administration prioritizing political expediency over justice
4:36
for survivors and truth for the American people. Look, the
4:40
second that Todd blanche was involved, you knew the fix
4:43
was in his function. His sole function is to protect
4:47
Donald Trump, and whether that's to protect Donald Trump from
4:51
being embarrassed or something more sinister. We just don't know yet.
4:56
But if anyone thinks that this isn't about protecting them,
4:59
they're crazy. The survivors raised specific concerns about Blanche, who
5:04
played a key role in overseeing the release of the
5:07
Epstein files after Congress passed the law mandating it, who
5:11
has now been nominated by President Donald Trump to permanently
5:14
serve as the nation's top law enforcement officer. And remember,
5:18
according to Todd Blanche, it's not illegal to party with
5:21
Jeffrey Epstein. You know Todd Blanche, Glenn Maxwell's good buddy,
5:27
Todd Blanche, the man who won't answer any questions. Yeah,
5:30
that Todd Blanche. If anyone deserves to have their confirmation torpedoed,
5:35
it's him. We are especially concerned that Todd Blanche, the
5:39
person nominated for the highest law enforcement position in the country,
5:42
was at the table. Blanche has consistently minimized legitimate concerns
5:47
about how the files have been handled, including problematic reactions
5:51
and the exposure of survivor's personal information. Blanche failed to
5:56
deliver transparency, and he has gravely feiled survivors. Is failing upward,
6:00
plain and simple, they wrote, and it's true. Why should
6:05
Todd Blanche be involved in any of this? And what
6:08
I truly hope is that all these people right now
6:11
that are being smug all these people that are taking
6:14
part in this cover up, I hope that all of
6:16
them get their day in front of Congress, and not
6:20
this Congress, not one led by James Calmer, led by
6:23
somebody who's serious about getting to the truth. We deserve better.
6:28
We deserve truth, transparency, and accountability. We deserve to be
6:33
taken seriously when we come forward, and we deserve an
6:36
attorney general who will use the full power of that
6:38
office to pursue justice, protect others, and ensure that what
6:43
happened to us never happens again, the women continued. Liz Steine,
6:48
one of Epstein's survivors who signed the letter, told CNN,
6:51
if his nomination is confirmed, Todd Blanche would be the
6:54
head law enforcement agent of our country. And we've seen
6:57
consistently over the past year his behavior in regards to
7:01
the Epstein case is just really concerning. And I'd say
7:05
that is an understatement. I would say that if there's
7:08
a face to this cover up, it's Todd Blanche. It
7:11
wasn't Pambondi. Now she was the boss, right, so buck
7:16
stops with her. But Todd Blanche has always been the
7:19
one that was dick deep in this and his first
7:22
loyalty is to Donald Trump, not to the country. That's
7:26
why he's in this position, and that's why Todd Blanche
7:30
should not be confirmed. At the end of the day,
7:34
we're victims of a crime, and what's the message that
7:37
we're sending to Americans in the country about how victims
7:40
of crime should be treated. This is an issue that
7:43
has been laden with a ton of political emotion. But
7:46
if we can't count on our government to prosecute crimes,
7:49
then we're in big trouble. Stein said Thursday on the Lead.
7:53
And unfortunately this has become one of those issues that
7:57
instead of uniting people, it's divided people. And it shouldn't
8:01
have done that. I mean, what we're talking about here
8:04
is something that should be a red line in the sand.
8:07
But because people have their favorite politicians dragged in, all
8:10
of a sudden, it's a hoax. All of a sudden,
8:12
it's not that big of a deal. All of a sudden,
8:15
you have people on Fox News trying to throw cold
8:18
water over what Epstein was. Meanwhile, just a few years ago,
8:23
they wouldn't stop reaching out to me to try to
8:25
get me to come on Fox to talk about Epstein.
8:27
But all of a sudden, they get their marching orders
8:29
from the White House and it's a whole different story. Huh.
8:32
And on the flip side of that, the left leaning
8:36
media had no desire to talk about this story previously,
8:41
no desire whatsoever. In fact, they we're calling everybody who
8:44
was following it covering it conspiracy theorists. But now because
8:49
they feel like it's an inroad to go after their
8:51
political opponents, Oh, they care a whole lot about the story.
8:55
I see them too, and I know exactly what they're doing.
9:00
Like I've told you before, I'm willing to ride these
9:03
motherfuckers all the way to the finish line. If they're
9:06
gonna bring some more eyes to the story, cool good.
9:09
But I'm under no illusions about their motivations being pure,
9:13
about them caring about the survivors or about us. But
9:17
the way they try to use us, the way they
9:19
try to use the survivors, I think we should just
9:22
flip the script and use them. And that was my
9:24
same strategy with Thomas Massey. I'm not some you know,
9:27
died in the wool massy guy. I don't trust any
9:30
of these politicians, none of them. But every now and
9:34
then our goals aligne right. So if that's the case,
9:39
I'm willing to work with whoever. Like I've told you
9:41
from the beginning, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and
9:44
bringing transparency to this case, that's all I care about,
9:48
nothing else. CNN has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
9:53
In response to a request for comment, White House spokeswoman
9:56
Abigail Jackson pointed to how Trump has said that he
9:59
has been and exonerated on any matters relating to Epstein,
10:03
and said by releasing thousands of pages of documents, cooperating
10:06
with the House Oversight Committee subpoena, signing the Epstein File
10:10
Transparency Act, and calling for more investigations into Epstein's Democrat friends,
10:16
President Trump has done more for Epstein victims than anyone
10:19
before him. Well, first of all, the President calling for
10:22
investigations into Democrat friends of Epstein is a non starter.
10:27
If there was a case brought, it would get thrown
10:29
out for political malice. So he's sabotaging it. And then
10:34
this Abigail Jackson lady shows up and runs the same nonsense,
10:39
runs the same canned statement, time and time again. What
10:42
do you think your Buckingham Palace enough already? Imagine having
10:46
the audacity to say you've done more for Epstein's survivors
10:49
than anybody else, and then those various survivors telling you
10:53
that you're lying. That's your president, that's the man sitting
10:58
in the Oval office. Aren't you guys tired of so
11:01
much winning? The administration provided a similar statement to The
11:05
New York Times earlier this week, House Oversight Chair James
11:09
Comer told reporters that he planned to ask Blanche to
11:12
testify in front of his committee in July as part
11:16
of the panels ongoing Epstein probe, an indication that even
11:20
Republicans still have questions about how the Justice Department has
11:24
handled the Epstein matter, or he feels like he has
11:26
to do it. Let's not forget that. Let's not rule
11:30
that out, because as you know, I don't trust Comer either.
11:35
As the Trump administration continues to deal with political fallout
11:38
over how the files were released, the millions of documents
11:42
that were withheld, and redaction issues, former Attorney General Pam
11:46
Bondy has sought to distance herself from the process, and
11:49
testified behind closed doors to the panel last month that
11:53
Blanche was responsible for overseeing the release of the files. Oh,
11:57
she threw him right under the bus one and look,
12:02
she's probably right. Trump didn't trust Bondi at that point,
12:06
and he wanted Blanche to do it. Trump needed that
12:08
personal touch on this one. He was in charge of
12:12
the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,
12:15
Bondi said at the time when asked about her role
12:17
in the department's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
12:21
The DOJ released approximately three million files compelled by Congress,
12:26
but Bondi was pushed to explain why another roughly three
12:29
million have not yet been released. Earlier this week, Comer
12:33
met with roughly a dozen Epstein's survivors in private meetings,
12:37
sources said. A member of the group meeting with Comer
12:41
told CNN that survivors felt heard by the chairman. Well,
12:44
that's good. Look, I'll give credit where it's due. I
12:48
don't have an ax to grind against James Comer, and frankly,
12:51
I never thought about the dude until he was involved
12:54
in this, but have some backbone, have some courage, and
13:00
be willing to stand up to the president when the
13:02
president is wrong? Is that too much to ask? Does
13:05
that make people a traitor? Not my opinion. The survivors
13:13
also told the Kentucky Republican that some of what's been
13:16
said by witnesses that his panel has interviewed has been inaccurate,
13:20
and why witnesses should be under oath and recorded that
13:24
is one thousand percent true. Every single person that appears
13:27
should be compelled to do so. Hit him with a subpoena,
13:31
compel them, don't give them the choice to come in
13:35
voluntarily and have a closed door meeting. It's ridiculous. We
13:40
have consistently looked to meet with lawmakers just to kind
13:43
of explain our story and explain what our concerns are,
13:46
Stein told CNN on Thursday. Stein continued on to say,
13:51
we were really glad that mister Comer was receptive to
13:53
meeting with us, and it was an extraordinarily positive interaction
13:57
that we had with him. Again, that is good and
14:00
I hope he comes around, But I have my doubts.
14:04
When your a boss is Donald Trump and he's telling
14:06
you to do something, well, we've learned that people do it.
14:13
I think that to hear from us directly what the
14:15
particular concerns were, I think that it opened his eyes
14:18
in a way that they haven't been open before. Many
14:21
of the people testifying as part of the panels Epstein
14:24
investigation have appeared voluntarily, which is meant that they have
14:28
not had to take a formal oath before speaking to
14:30
the panel. Like I told you from the jump, the
14:33
panel's garbage. Oh sure we get some depositions out of it,
14:37
but nobody's under oath. You got these people coming in
14:41
there voluntarily, And if they lie, what's the big deal.
14:45
Everybody has lied to the panel, every single person, basically,
14:50
and what's come of it. Nothing. Just like everything else
14:53
in this case, witnesses are a minded at the start
14:55
of their interviews. However, that making false statements to Congress
14:59
is subject to criminal prosecution. We're continuously meeting with survivors
15:03
of Epstein, Comer, who has said he wants to eventually
15:07
hold a hearing with survivors Toll reporters. On Tuesday, he
15:11
pointed to recent testimony from Epstein's longtime assistant as an
15:15
example of what his committee will need to fact check
15:17
with survivors. Chairman Comber's goal from the start of the
15:21
Oversight Committee's investigation has been to provide transparency for the
15:26
American people and accountability for survivors. We will continue to
15:30
work with survivors as we conduct our review of the
15:33
federal government's handling of the Epstein and Maxwell cases. A
15:38
House Overside Committee spokeswoman told CNN, Well, that's funny. They
15:43
haven't brought in anybody that was part of the NPA.
15:45
I wonder why no Matt Menchell, no Lily Sanchez, no
15:49
Marie Villa Fauna. Oh, we had Alex Acosta, and of
15:52
course because he's always been the fall guy, but certainly
15:55
nobody from DOJ, from Brass, no Mukeeses, no Mark Philippe,
16:01
none of those people. How are you going to tell
16:03
us that this is about the government's handling of this
16:06
if you're not even looking into the NPA, or how
16:09
about the fact that Jeffrey Epstein died in custody and
16:13
if we go with the official narrative nothing changed in
16:16
the aftermath. What happened to all those sweeping changes we
16:19
heard about. Oh, that's right, they never came. And that's because,
16:24
of course, the whole entire OIG investigation is part of
16:28
the cover up. So look, I hope that James Comer
16:31
does the right thing, and I hope that he takes
16:33
the survivor seriously. And this is certainly a step in
16:37
the right direction if the survivors themselves say that they
16:40
feel heard. So I wasn't in the meeting, so what
16:43
we have to go on is what the survivors are saying.
16:46
But look, it's one thing to say something, it's another
16:49
thing to follow through. And now that James Comer has
16:51
talked to talk, let's see a few walks the walk.
16:56
All the information that goes with this episode can be
16:59
found in the description box.