Todd Blanche Stares 'Down the Barrel' as Jeffrey Epstein-Case Judge Urged to 'Start Threatening Jail' If DOJ Doesn't Release Files

Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department face an imminent threat of contempt of court over their failure to release records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act fully.

A legal analysis by attorney Michael Popok on the "Legal AF" podcast highlights that the Department of Justice is "staring down the barrel" of federal sanctions.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is being urged to issue a formal contempt finding and begin threatening jail time if the agency continues to resist transparency.

The legal battle stems from a lawsuit filed by journalist and attorney Katie Phang against Blanche. Phang alleges the DOJ has improperly redacted and withheld critical records related to deceased child rapist Jeffrey Epstein.

The friction between Judge Sullivan and the DOJ centers on several specific failures.

The DOJ is refusing to turn over handwritten FBI agent notes regarding a woman who alleges President Donald Trump sexually abused her at age 13.

Trump was accused in a 2016 civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1994 at a gathering associated with Epstein. Still, the plaintiff voluntarily dropped the lawsuit later that year before it went to trial, allegedly due to death threats against her and her family, and Trump has categorically denied all allegations.

A woman filing under the pseudonym "Jane Doe" (sometimes referred to in public commentary as Katie Johnson) filed and then refiled a civil lawsuit in 2016 alleging that Trump and Epstein abused her in New York when she was 13 years old.

The DOJ responded to court orders with a brief, two-page filing that Popok described as "gibberish unsupported by any affidavit," which primarily complained about attorneys working late at night and on holidays.

Government lawyers claimed they do not typically produce handwritten interview notes in these matters.

Phang's legal team quickly disproved this, citing over 100 prior examples where such notes were released under the Transparency Act.

In previous flawed document releases handled by Blanche's department, the identities, addresses, and sensitive photographs of Epstein's victims were accidentally exposed.

After months of claiming full compliance, Blanche's department abruptly shifted tactics right before a strict judicial deadline, choosing to appeal the disclosure order rather than hand over the missing files.

Legal experts predict that Judge Sullivan has reached his breaking point and may soon impose strict contempt penalties, including jail time, to compel the DOJ to comply.

"I think Judge Sullivan's had it," Popok said. "Bring the contempt already. Bring the contempt. Order the production of the FBI notes by a date certain, or people will be found in contempt of court. Start threatening jail. That's where we're at."