Blanche-led DoJ likely to derail Epstein survivors’ pursuit of justice, experts say

As Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer Todd Blanche appears poised for confirmation as attorney general, numerous Jeffrey Epstein survivors have sounded the alarm that a US justice department helmed by him would derail their pursuit of justice.In a letter urging Republican senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn to reject his nomination, these survivors said that Blanche’s handling of the Epstein case as acting attorney general was characterized by misstep after misstep.Blanche, who reportedly led the disclosure of documents as required by the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, allowed the disclosure of survivors’ names, photos and identifying information – but omitted the names of accused abusers and enablers, they said.While more than 1,000 teenage girls and women were abused, not a single person other than Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell faced charges, they noted. And in a recent sit-down with survivors at Tillis’s urging, survivors “received an hour of deflection, interruption and gaslighting”, they said.These survivors’ concerns about Blanche by no means exist in a vacuum, and have only fanned the flames of a controversy that has dogged Trump since he again took office. While campaigning, Trump promised to release all Epstein files – playing into his supporters’ belief that there was a global sex-trafficking cabal involving high-profile business and political figures.Todd Blanche at his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month. Photograph: Eric Lee/Getty ImagesBut Trump’s justice department only released dribs and drabs of information until Congress forced its hand following a series of embarrassing disclosures that renewed attention on Trump’s former friendship with Epstein. Trump has denied all wrongdoing including in relation to Epstein.Blanche’s meeting with Maxwell in prison last summer, which was followed by her transfer to a lower-security facility, further heightened outrage over the DoJ’s underwhelming disclosures. The constellation of circumstances has raised the question: what would a Blanche-directed justice department mean for Epstein survivors’ search for justice?Legal veterans told the Guardian that a Blanche-led DoJ would likely derail survivors’ efforts for accountability. Several survivors’ advocates said that all hope was not lost, noting that roadblocks likely under Blanche did not portend a permanent impediment to justice.Bryan Sullivan, a partner with Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, said that based on what he has read and seen in Blanche’s testimony before the judiciary committee, he thinks a confirmation would mean “more suppression and no active investigations” into Epstein’s sex-trafficking.“I think it’s because that’s what Trump wants. He wants this to go away,” Sullivan said. “And that’s one of the reasons he fired [former attorney general Pam] Bondi, because she didn’t make it go away, in my opinion.”Ron Kuby, a renowned defense lawyer with a focus on civil rights, voiced similar sentiments about a Blanche confirmation.“It means that no other perpetrators will be held criminally liable for their misconduct,” he said. “That’s no different from the way it’s been throughout the Trump administration and the Biden administration.”“All the millionaires and billionaires and hangers-on and others in Epstein’s orbit who, you know, enabled him have not been brought to justice,” Kuby said. “And they’re not going to be.”An exhibition of Jeffrey Epstein documents created by the Institute for Primary Facts in New York in May. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty ImagesCarl Tobias, the Williams chair in law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said that even if Blanche were not confirmed, he could serve as acting attorney general for the rest of Trump’s term, meaning he would have continued control over the Epstein case.“He’ll have more power, of course, if he’s formally confirmed by the Senate … but he’ll have plenty of power even if he’s not,” Tobias said. “So I can’t be very optimistic about what he might do – if anything – about the Epstein files, or to give much comfort to the survivors.”While there are some legal avenues for survivors to seek justice outside an allegedly recalcitrant DoJ, attorneys cautioned that success would be an uphill battle.“You could bombard them with [public records] requests, and then file a lawsuit for them not providing responses to the Foia [Freedom of Information Act] requests, but that alone is a long process,” Sullivan said. “Bluntly, the problem with all of this is [that] all of it takes time.”“Courts are grossly underfunded [and] understaffed,” he said. “It will take quite a while to go through that sort of legal process.”There has been litigation against federal authorities over their handling of the Epstein investigation, alleging that their failure to act years ago enabled more abuse. Those kinds of cases “are exceptionally difficult to win”, Kuby said.“It’s always true that had the government done something differently, a different outcome would have ensued,” Kuby explained of the legal intricacies. “There’s no generalized duty to protect specific individuals outside of a special relationship with the victims.”“I’m certainly sympathetic to those claims, but the government historically is not.”Tobias similarly described the possibility of winning litigation against the DoJ as “difficult”.Neither reps for Tillis or Cornyn responded to requests for comment.Asked for comment on survivors’ concerns, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “Todd Blanche has done an excellent job as acting attorney general and will continue doing so as attorney general.”A justice department spokesperson said in a statement that Blanche, senior DoJ officials, FBI agents and victims services representatives “met with Epstein victims last week and had a productive, initial discussion”.The spokesperson said Blanche “answered questions and walked through what is needed for investigations to proceed”.“While some victims said that they had not reached out to the FBI under this administration, he encouraged victims to meet with FBI investigators as the next step, and attendees spoke with agents after the meeting about scheduling interviews. The justice department is determined to bring justice for all victims of human trafficking and sex crimes.”Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, who filed sexual harassment lawsuits against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and co-launched the non-profit survivors advocacy organization Lift Our Voices, expressed hope that survivors could still find justice one day even if faced with more setbacks.Gretchen Carlson at the podium following the passage of the the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act in February 2022. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesCarlson said she was disappointed in Republicans poised to let Blanche’s nomination go through, noting that Trump went on the attack against Cornyn and Tillis.“They have the ability not to allow this,” Carlson said, explaining that not everything should be on their shoulders, as “everyone should have questions about Todd Blanche being attorney general, just about the Epstein issues”.That said, there is a midterm election coming up. “I’ve learned, in all the work I’ve done on the Hill in trying to get bills passed, that you never know who you might get, first of all, to be on your side,” Carlson said. “So you never judge it before you actually try.”“I feel the same way about this,” she said. “We don’t know who’s going to potentially step up to the plate and say, ‘You know what, I’m going to take over the work that [Republican congressman] Tom Massie was doing on this.“We can’t do this work with any kind of a negative lens. And although it feels like we’re in a little bit of a setback if Todd Blanche is confirmed, I think there’s always a way to find victory.”Roginsky expressed similar views. While a possible Blanche confirmation represented a “slap in the face to anybody who’s ever fought … a system that is already rigged very much against survivors”, she advised survivors and advocates to keep pushing for justice.“If you think about how far our movement has come just in the last decade, we’ve seen tremendous advances,” Roginsky said of Lift Our Voices’ successful advocacy for federal legislation against non-disclosure agreements and forced arbitration related to workplace sexual misconduct.“We’ve seen some setbacks, but ultimately the advances will always outweigh the setbacks.”