At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Madeleine Dean pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, accusing the DOJ of withholding more than 3 million additional documents tied
The fight played out fast and sharply in a hearing room on Capitol Hill—fast enough that Rep. Madeleine Dean didn’t let acting Attorney General Todd Blanche finish a sentence.
Dean’s complaint was blunt from the start: she accused the Department of Justice of holding back more than 3 million documents connected to the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. the late sex trafficker. “There are 3 million more documents. ” Dean told Blanche during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. insisting that the materials include duplicative records and “another guy named Epstein.”.
The exchange turned tense when Dean asked whether Blanche would comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. a bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last year and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. Dean asked the acting attorney general directly if he would follow the law.
Blanche responded by saying, “As I said to you when we spoke before, we have complied with the law.”
Dean cut him off immediately. “There are 3 million more documents,” she said, adding, “And you know what you said to me? They’re all duplicative, and they include another guy named Epstein.”
Blanche denied saying that, but Dean wouldn’t let him finish answering. The congresswoman then argued over procedure—who got time, and whose question was being answered. “I just gave you the answer you gave me. No, actually, it’s my time, Mr. Chairman,” Dean said. “I think those are the rules of this committee. I told him the answer he gave me, and now in public, he’s trying to say something else.”.
Dean pressed further, returning to the central issue of transparency—how much information was being released, and to whom. She questioned why many of the unredacted files were made available only to members of Congress at the DOJ.
“What does it say in terms of transparency?” Dean asked. “It says that they should be made publicly available.”
Blanche replied, “And they were, they were.”
When the chair told Dean her time was up, Dean pushed back. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Chairman,” she said, before pulling out her notes from visits to the DOJ to review unredacted files.
She used the moment to broaden the fight beyond the documents themselves. pointing to political heat she said Blanche was facing over what she described as a failure to prosecute in “monstrous crimes.” “What rules are we operating under?. Because he’s under a little bit of heat for not prosecuting anyone in these monstrous crimes,” Dean said.
Dean then described what she believed she personally saw and how she translated it into a record. “I’ve been in the room, I’ve been there. This is what I had to do to transcribe to show what is true. What is true is that the president has lied about being on Epstein’s plane. and the unredacted files prove that. ” she added.
Blanche’s full testimony was shown during the hearing, with video of Tuesday’s exchange embedded after Dean’s remarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G24RdkHkzk.
Todd Blanche Madeleine Dean Epstein Files Transparency Act Jeffrey Epstein Department of Justice House Appropriations Committee Capitol Hill Donald Trump
3 million docs?? that’s insane, just release them already.
Wait so the DOJ has more Epstein stuff and they’re saying it’s duplicative? Duplicative doesn’t sound like “nothing,” it sounds like “we hid the same thing again.”
I’m not even sure why she’s yelling about procedure. Like if it’s “another guy named Epstein,” then why would it matter? Seems kinda like a gotcha. Also Trump signed it so… of course it’s a fight now.
Capitol Hill always does this, people cutting each other off, acting like that proves guilt. But withholding 3 million documents is still weird as hell. And Blanche keeps saying “we complied” like okay but where are the actual files then? Sounds like they’re playing word games with “duplicative” to buy time.