Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has revealed why there have not been any charges brought following the release of more documents from the Epstein files.
As January came to a close, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped lots more information connected to Jeffrey Epstein and his nefarious actions before his 2019 death.
The DOJ released around 3.5 million files that included over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. It ultimately left the public with many questions.
One of the most pertinent is: why haven’t there been any charges or arrests of the people pictured or named in the Epstein files?
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Speaking in an interview on February 1 on CNN’s State of the Union, the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed this.
He said that the DOJ is not considering bringing any additional charges related to Epstein, despite the releases over recent months.
He said: “I can’t talk about any investigations, but I will say the following, which is that in July, the Department of Justice said that we had reviewed the files, the Epstein files, and there was nothing in there that allowed us to prosecute anybody.
“The entire world can look at and see if we got it wrong.”
Blanche did admit that the materials released do contain disturbing material, such as photographs, emails and correspondence, but emphasized that this did not meet the threshold for prosecution.
Blanche added: “There’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him, but that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”
Being mentioned or photographed in the Epstein files is not enough to suggest wrongdoing.
Blanche also called on people to temper their focus on Donald Trump and said that, though he is mentioned more than 1,000 times in the documents, many of the allegations involving Trump came from anonymous tips or unverifiable sources.
He added: “It turns out, there was a number of claims made by either … anonymous people or somebody, for example, calling and saying, ‘I used to have a roommate who told me this sensational story.’
"So just, you know, obviously that’s not something that can be really investigated, right? ‘What’s your roommate’s name? I don’t remember,’ So that’s what that’s about.”
Trump has previously denied any knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes and claimed that his relationship with Epstein had soured.
In a statement shared when the files were made public, the US Justice Department reiterated Trump's denial of these accusations.
The statement said: “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election."
