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Judge Sullivan Gives Todd Blanche Another Deadline in Epstein Files Lawsuit (9/18/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. The battle between the DOJ, Todd Blanch, and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Katie Fang continues to roil on. And now Judge Sullivan
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: has given Todd Blanch another deadline to comply with. And
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  Speaker 1: now he has until September 24th to turn over the
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  Speaker 1: documentation that's been requested by Judge Sullivan. And Judge Sullivan
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  Speaker 1: is once again threatening to hold Todd Blanch in contempt. Now,
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  Speaker 1: is he going to go through with it? That's a
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  Speaker 1: whole ass other question. But this is certainly a situation
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  Speaker 1: where the court has a chance to do the right
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  Speaker 1: thing and demand accountability from people that refuse to be accountable.
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  Speaker 1: And you would think that the highest ranking lawman in
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  Speaker 1: the whole entire country would want to do the right
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  Speaker 1: thing and set an example for everybody else. But of
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  Speaker 1: course not. Instead, Todd Baby Billy Blanched wants to play games,
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  Speaker 1: wants to avoid handing over the documentation that's been ordered
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  Speaker 1: by the court. And if that's not okay for you
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  Speaker 1: or me, it shouldn't be okay for him either. So
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  Speaker 1: today we have an article from Law Commentary and the headline,
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  Speaker 1: Judge warns Todd Blanche he could face civil contempt over
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  Speaker 1: Epstein files. This article was authored by Bridget Lucky. A
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  Speaker 1: federal judge has given Attorney General Todd Blanche until September
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  Speaker 1: 24th to comply with orders over the Jeffrey Epstein records,
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  Speaker 1: warning that he could face civil contempt if the Justice
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  Speaker 1: Department fails to meet the court's demands. Well, I'll believe
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  Speaker 1: it when I see it, but if any judge is
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  Speaker 1: going to do it, it's Judge Sullivan. We know that
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  Speaker 1: he's done it before. Now, it's an extraordinary step for
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  Speaker 1: a judge to do that, hold somebody from the Justice
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  Speaker 1: Department in contempt, but it's not like it's never been
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  Speaker 1: done before. And if Todd Blanche keeps up his shit,
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly what should happen. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan
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  Speaker 1: issued the warning Wednesday as he ordered Blanche to support
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  Speaker 1: disputed victim redactions, submit handwritten FBI interview notes for a
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  Speaker 1: private court review, and begin reviewing foreign language Epstein records
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  Speaker 1: that could fall under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. And
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  Speaker 1: not only that, just keep in mind that it looks
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  Speaker 1: like Massey and Ro Khanna have miraculously whipped enough votes
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  Speaker 1: to get the next section of of the Epstein Files
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  Speaker 1: Transparency Act pushed through. And they're going to do it
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  Speaker 1: with another discharge petition. So that could get real spicy,
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  Speaker 1: real juicy. But as of now, that has not passed.
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  Speaker 1: So we're still dealing with the original framework from the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein Files Transparency Act. And remember, there's no teeth there.
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  Speaker 1: There is really no enforcement mechanism. And when you don't
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  Speaker 1: have an enforcement mechanism, then you don't really have a
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  Speaker 1: path to holding people accountable. And when this was first
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: being drawn up, that was one of my biggest issues
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  Speaker 1: with it. Because anytime that you're writing up an order
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  Speaker 1: like this or a rule within the government, you got
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that there's some enforcement attached to it.
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  Speaker 1: Because if not, you're just going to have to play
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  Speaker 1: games and you're going to have to chase people and
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be a whole thing. Loopholes and technicalities.
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  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what we're seeing from Todd Blanche and
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  Speaker 1: the DOJ, as opposed to just complying. And you would
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  Speaker 1: think that if there's nothing there, nothing to be fearful of,
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  Speaker 1: that they would just comply and get this over with.
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  Speaker 1: I think that the administration has enough problems. They really
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  Speaker 1: need to create more? Sullivan said a contempt finding would
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  Speaker 1: be premature for now, but made clear that the option
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  Speaker 1: remains available. He gave Blanche until September 21st to seek clarification,
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  Speaker 1: if he considers the renewed order unclear three days before
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  Speaker 1: the government's compliance deadline. And that's even being too fair.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, how many deadlines are going to come and
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  Speaker 1: go before somebody's held accountable? Because I assure you, like
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  Speaker 1: I always say, we wouldn't be given the same kind
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  Speaker 1: of leeway, the same kind of space to maneuver. They'd
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  Speaker 1: show up at your house. They'd drag you out of work.
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  Speaker 1: They'd harass your parents. You know, the whole thing. But
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  Speaker 1: Todd Blanche, Mr. Lawman himself, the modern-day Wyatt Earp, well,
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  Speaker 1: he can't even answer some questions. The ruling came in
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  Speaker 1: a lawsuit filed by attorney and independent journalist Katie Fang,
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  Speaker 1: who claims that the Justice Department violated the Epstein-Files Transparency
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  Speaker 1: Act by withholding records, improperly redacting information, and leaving some
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  Speaker 1: material outside its review. All of that's true. Literally everything
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  Speaker 1: she said, right there in that part of the lawsuit, true.
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  Speaker 1: There's no way in hell that anyone's going to convince
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  Speaker 1: me that all three and a half million of those
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  Speaker 1: files that have not been released are duplicative or that
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  Speaker 1: they just don't fit. You have to be a real
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  Speaker 1: dum-dum to believe that shit. And unfortunately, well, we're surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by dum-dums. Sullivan granted Fang preliminary injunction in June and
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  Speaker 1: ordered the government to address several categories of Epstein records.
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  Speaker 1: The department has defended some redactions, as necessary, to protect
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  Speaker 1: victims and personal identifying information. Oh yeah, that's their number
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  Speaker 1: one goal. Top priority over there at the department, huh?
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  Speaker 1: Let's make sure we protect victims, while at the same
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  Speaker 1: time outing them, and posting pictures of them, and calling
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  Speaker 1: them liars and traffickers. But yeah, yeah, that's exactly what
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  Speaker 1: the department's worried about, folks. The latest order requires Blanche
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  Speaker 1: to provide documentation... supporting the department's assertion that three disputed
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  Speaker 1: redacted names belonged to victims. Sullivan found the government had
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  Speaker 1: not provided enough information to resolve those redactions. Like, if
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  Speaker 1: you're hiding shit from the court, what makes you think
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us are going to believe the bullshit
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  Speaker 1: you're serving us up? Now, when I say the rest
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  Speaker 1: of us, I don't mean the hardcore, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: administration can't do anything wrong people. I'm talking about the
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  Speaker 1: people that are going to swing votes. The same people
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  Speaker 1: that put Trump into office. Because let's remember, if you
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  Speaker 1: want to rewind, it was the independents that got him
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  Speaker 1: over the hump. And what has the GOP done for
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  Speaker 1: those independents? Besides abandon everything that they thought they were getting.
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  Speaker 1: And those are the people that are pissed off. And
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  Speaker 1: those are the people that are going to be voting
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  Speaker 1: in the midterms. Handwritten FBI notes are also at the
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  Speaker 1: center of the fight. Sullivan ordered the Justice Department to
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  Speaker 1: submit redacted and unredacted copies of notes underlying four FBI
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  Speaker 1: interview reports, allowing the judge to compare the material privately
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  Speaker 1: before deciding how it should be treated. So they're even
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  Speaker 1: being reticent to let the judge see it. What does
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  Speaker 1: that tell you? Like, if you were the department head, right,
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  Speaker 1: if you were Blanche, and you had a judge that
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  Speaker 1: was asking for this documentation, and you know it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be sealed, nobody else is going to see it,
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  Speaker 1: It's not like the judge is going home and posting
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  Speaker 1: it on Twitter. And you're still refusing to give the
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  Speaker 1: judge that information? What are we supposed to think? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: obviously you have something to hide if you won't even
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  Speaker 1: show the judge. And you're willing to defy a court order.
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  Speaker 1: What's so difficult for you to produce? And why are
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  Speaker 1: you so scared to do that? The department argued that
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  Speaker 1: the handwritten notes were substantially similar to typewritten FBI reports
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  Speaker 1: that had already been released. Sullivan found that similarly to
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  Speaker 1: a previously produced material did not provide a basis for
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  Speaker 1: withholding otherwise responsive records. And I agree with that. If
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  Speaker 1: they're duplicative, release them. You can end the argument right
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  Speaker 1: then and there. And I'm not moving no goalposts. Let's
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  Speaker 1: see the evidence. And then if there's nothing there, there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing there. The problem is, we've never seen the evidence.
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  Speaker 1: They've never produced it. And that's because they can't. because
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  Speaker 1: the evidence points somewhere else entirely. The foreign language records
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  Speaker 1: remain another issue. The government previously said reviewing the material
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  Speaker 1: during its initial process was impractical because of the time
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  Speaker 1: and resources that were required. Sullivan rejected that reasoning and
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  Speaker 1: ordered the Justice Department to begin reviewing and producing responsive
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  Speaker 1: foreign language records. Blanche must notify the court by September
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  Speaker 1: 24th that the process is underway. Oh, he'll come up
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  Speaker 1: with another new, and creative way to not be compliant. Oh, well,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: you know, I stubbed my toe on the way in,
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  Speaker 1: so I need another 10 days. That's the kind of
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  Speaker 1: bullshit we're dealing with at every single turn. Every time
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  Speaker 1: you look up, there's another official playing games and not complying.
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  Speaker 1: The contempt warning raises the stakes surrounding that deadline. Civil
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  Speaker 1: contempt allows a federal judge to impose sanctions intended to
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  Speaker 1: force compliance with a court order. Sullivan said any finding
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  Speaker 1: would require a clear and unambiguous directive and convincing evidence
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  Speaker 1: that it had been violated. Well, I think there's plenty
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  Speaker 1: of evidence that it's been violated. The question is, is
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  Speaker 1: the court ever going to act? And up until this point,
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  Speaker 1: we know the answer is no. So forgive me, forgive us,
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  Speaker 1: if we have no confidence in the process. Congress passed
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  Speaker 1: the Epstein-Files Transparency Act in November of 2025. requiring the
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General to release Justice Department records related to Epstein
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  Speaker 1: and Ghislaine Maxwell, subject to limited exceptions. The Justice Department
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  Speaker 1: said in January that it published nearly three and a
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  Speaker 1: half million pages in response to the law. Only half
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  Speaker 1: the pages. It was required to produce them all, and
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  Speaker 1: we only got half. So much for the most trans
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  Speaker 1: administration in the history of America, huh? And I'm the
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  Speaker 1: head of the new Gambino family. Blanche is appealing Sullivan's
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  Speaker 1: June prelim injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
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  Speaker 1: the D.C. Circuit. Sullivan rejected the department's request to pause
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  Speaker 1: the district court proceedings while the appeal moves forward. A
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  Speaker 1: separate ruling Wednesday requires Blanche to answer Fang's lawsuit by
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  Speaker 1: September 24th. The Justice Department must then file a certified
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  Speaker 1: list describing the administrative record by October 1st and provide
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  Speaker 1: the record to Fang by October 15th. So this lawsuit
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  Speaker 1: continues to make its way through, and I think it
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  Speaker 1: continues to shine a light on how non-compliant the Department
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  Speaker 1: of Justice is. So it's going to be interesting to
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  Speaker 1: see what ruling we get here when all is said
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  Speaker 1: and done, And I'm very interested to see if Todd
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  Speaker 1: Blanche ends up complying, or if he finds another new
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  Speaker 1: and creative way to continue with the cover-up. And of course,
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  Speaker 1: like usual, once we have some more information, we'll get
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  Speaker 1: it updated. Until then, that's going to do it for
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  Speaker 1: this one. All the information that goes with this episode
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  Speaker 1: can be found in the description box.