SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
todd blanche
As DOJ Blows Deadline to Release Epstein Files, Khanna Vows to Prosecute Any Obstruction
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the missed deadline "just shows the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, and Pam Bondi are hell-bent on hiding the truth."
Dec 19, 2025
As the US Department of Justice announced it would miss Friday's legal deadline to hand Congress all files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna vowed to prosecute any officials who obstruct the documents' disclosure.
Khanna (D-Calif.)—who along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act—told CBS News Friday that the DOJ "had months to prepare for this" and "must today offer a clear timeline for the full release."
"The key is they release the names of all the powerful men in question who abused underage girls or covered it up," he stressed. "They must provide a clear framework to the survivors and the nation by when we will have everything public."
In a video published Thursday, Khanna warned that "anyone who tampers with these documents or conceals documents or engages in excessive redactions will be prosecuted because of obstruction of justice."
"We will prosecute individuals regardless of whether they're the attorney general or a career or a political appointee," he said.
Khanna's remarks Friday followed Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche's admission during a Fox News interview that the DOJ would not hand over all the Epstein files by the December 19 deadline.
“I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks, so today several hundred thousand and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more,” Blanche said. “There’s a lot of eyes looking at these and we want to make sure that when we do produce the materials we are producing, that we are protecting every single victim.”
Last month, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the release of all relevant documents within 30 days. The legislation also empowered Attorney General Pam Bondi to redact large amounts of information that critics fear could include material that incriminates the president, who was once a close friend of the disgraced financier.
“So today is the 30 days," Blanche acknowledged, adding that the documents released Friday "will come in in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with... all of the investigations" into Epstein—who faced a federal sex trafficking case at the time of his death.
This, after House Oversight Committee Democrats on Thursday released a cache of about 70 photos from the Epstein estate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was among the lawmakers pressing Friday for the administration to meet the deadline for fully disclosing the Epstein files.
"The law Congress passed and President Trump signed was clear as can be—the Trump administration had 30 days to release ALL the Epstein files, not just some," Schumer said after Blanche's remarks. "Failing to do so is breaking the law. This just shows the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, and Pam Bondi are hell-bent on hiding the truth."
"We will not stop until the whole truth comes out," he added. "People want the truth and continue to demand the immediate release of all the Epstein files. This is nothing more than a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past."
Today, the Trump administration must release the FULL Epstein Files.No missing pages. No documents blurred out. No redactions to protect rich and powerful men.Survivors and the American people deserve answers and transparency. By law, Trump must provide them TODAY.
— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) December 19, 2025 at 7:29 AM
In a joint statement Friday, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said that "Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are now violating federal law as they continue covering up the facts and the evidence about Jeffrey Epstein's decadeslong, billion-dollar, international sex trafficking ring."
"For months, Pam Bondi has denied survivors the transparency and accountability they have demanded and deserve and has defied the Oversight Committee’s subpoena," the lawmakers continued. "The Department of Justice is now making clear it intends to defy Congress itself, even as it gives star treatment to Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
"We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law," they added. "The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Friday on X: "Congress mandated that Trump's DOJ release all the Epstein files by TODAY. They must comply. Survivors have waited far too long for the accountability they deserve."
Massie said Thursday that "victims' lawyers have been in contact with me, and collectively, they know there are at least 20 names of men who are accused of sex crimes in the possession of the FBI."
“If we get a large production on December 19, and it does not contain a single name of any male who is accused of a sex crime or sex trafficking or rape or any of these things, then we know they haven’t produced all the documents,” Massie added. “It’s that simple.”
"Time's up," Massie said Friday on X. "Release the files."
Echoing the lawmakers' calls, Cavan Kharrazian, senior policy adviser at the advocacy group Demand Progress, said Friday: “Failing to release all of the Epstein files today is a violation of the law. We’re talking about a legal mandate for the Department of Justice, not a student submitting a late assignment."
"They have had 30 days to prepare for today, and many months more if you include all the time the DOJ claimed it was working towards the same goal," he continued. "Promises to release more files ‘over the next couple of weeks’ are unacceptable, and alarmingly suggest the public will only see a fraction of them today."
"Jeffrey Epstein ran a sex trafficking network that harmed women, including minors, and included some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world," Kharrazian added. "The stakes are too high to play political games. The survivors of Epstein’s crimes, the families of his victims, and the American people are legally owed answers. The cover-up must end.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Straight Grift': Trump Reportedly Wants $230 Million From Taxpayers for DOJ Probing Him
"The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don't need a law professor to explain it," said Pace University's Bennett Gershman. "It's bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe."
Oct 21, 2025
President Donald Trump is facing fresh allegations of attempting to corruptly profit from his office after The New York Times reported Tuesday that the Republican is demanding that the US Department of Justice pay him about $230 million in taxpayer dollars for previous federal investigations into him, and his allies at the DOJ are expected to make the final decision.
Trump filed the administrative claims—which are submitted to the department for potential settlements to prevent lawsuits in federal court—before he returned to the White House earlier this year, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper. However, the president nodded to the legal battle in public comments at the White House last week.
"They raided my house in Florida. It was an illegal raid," the president said beside Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, US Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche—Trump's former lead criminal defense lawyer and one of two people who can green-light such settlements.
"I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said, I'm sort of suing myself. I don't know," Trump continued. "How do you settle the lawsuit? I'll say, Give me X dollars, right? And I don't know what to do with the lawsuit. It's a great lawsuit. And now I won—it sort of looks bad. I'm suing myself, right?"
"Trump is now openly shaking down HIS OWN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT for hundreds of millions of dollars to line his pockets… while claiming there's not enough money for Americans' healthcare."
As the Times detailed Tuesday:
The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the FBI and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the claim has not been made public.
The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the FBI of violating Mr. Trump's privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.
In addition to the deputy attorney general, the head of the DOJ's Civil Division can sign off on such settlements. That post is currently held by Stanley Woodward Jr. As the newspaper noted, Woodward previously represented not only Walt Nauta, the president's co-defendant in the classified documents case, but also "a number of other Trump aides, including Mr. Patel, in investigations related to Mr. Trump or the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021."
A White House representative referred questions to the DOJ, where spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said, "In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials."
Meanwhile, Pace University professor Bennett Gershman told the Times: "What a travesty... The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it."
"And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses," he added. "It's bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe."
Congressional Democrats, lawyers, journalists, and other critics also weighed in on Trump's reported conduct on social media, condemning it "corrupt and impeachable," "straight grift," and "straight up extorting the Justice Department and looting taxpayers."
"It's hard to think of an action more purely corrupt than a president ordering the executive branch to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars," said David French, a Times columnist and visiting professor of public policy at Lipscomb University. "I cannot wait to read the MAGA defenses of this (and there will be many). They'll display Soviet levels of sycophancy."
People's Policy Project president Matt Bruenig said that "suing the government in your personal capacity and then having the government, which you run, settle the lawsuit with you for money is the true infinite money trick."
Matthew Miller, the US State Department spokesperson during the Biden administration, suggested that "this would be the most corrupt act in presidential history. No complicated schemes, no outside actors, just a straight-up looting of the taxpayers to put $230 million in Trump's pocket."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a statement:
It's difficult for a president who spent the past 10 months behaving like a wannabe dictator and demonstrating his contempt for the law to surprise us, but Donald Trump has managed to do it today. Instead of being content with getting away with his lawless behavior, Trump is now brazenly demanding compensation from taxpayers for having the audacity to treat him like a public servant who can be held accountable for wrongdoing.
There is no other way to put it: The authoritarian demagogue we call our president is drunk on power, and there is no amount of money that can satiate this grifter's appetite for hoarding wealth instead of using his presidency to serve the good of the country. This disgusting behavior must be called out and stopped.
The reporting came on day 21 of a federal government shutdown over congressional Republicans' refusal to reverse healthcare cuts expected to negatively impact tens of millions of Americans.
"Trump is now openly shaking down HIS OWN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT for hundreds of millions of dollars to line his pockets… while claiming there's not enough money for Americans' healthcare," declared US Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). "He has no shame. He is openly and boldly corrupt."
Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said: "What does Donald Trump need more of OUR money for? I guess it's good to be president when you can bully, intimidate, and shake down every institution in this country, including now the Department of Justice. This is what a mob boss looks like."
Democrats on the US House Judiciary Committee were similarly critical, calling it "the ultimate Shutdown Shakedown."
"Donald Trump, who's put more than $3 billion in his pocket since returning to the White House, now wants to have 'his' lawyers at the DOJ to pay him $230 million in the middle of the GOP government shutdown," the panel members said. "While tens of millions of Americans desperately try to pay for groceries, healthcare, and childcare, Trump is robbing America blind. This is exactly why the Constitution forbids the president from taking any money from the government outside of his official salary. This is Donald Trump First, America Last—the Gangster State at work, billionaires shaking down the people."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the panel's ranking member—and manager of Trump's historic second impeachment—is launching an investigation into the potential settlement, citing the US Constitution's domestic emoluments clause.
Like the committee's Democrats, critics pointed to the various ways Trump and his family have cashed in on the presidency, from his Qatari jet to their cryptocurrency moves.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich concluded Tuesday that "America's Grifter-in-Chief knows no bounds."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular