Attorney General Todd Blanche drew a profane rebuke from the attorney suing him over the Epstein files after he appealed a judge's order to release documents.
In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday, attorney and independent journalist Katie Phang, who sued Blanche in April, tore into him for defiance in the face of a preliminary injunction issued by Senior U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in June. Blanche finally appealed the order on Aug. 24 after claiming he had complied with it.
"So I'm going to say it again in really, really basic terms for you, Todd Blanche. Just some free legal advice. Okay?" Phang said.
"He either granted the motion or he didn't," she said.
Blanche's notice of appeal told the court that whether the June order can even be appealed is "inconclusive."
"If he didn't grant the motion, then what the f--- are you appealing? If he granted the motion, then you have been violating all sorts of canons and ethics and rules by pretty much trying to snow the court — which, trust me, Judge Sullivan has got your f---ing number — or you're so damn stupid, you don't know what the hell is going on," Phang continued.
Sullivan refused Blanche two stay requests in his June opinion, and the Justice Department asked for a third on Thursday.
"If you don't get a stay from Judge Sullivan or from the appellate court, it's not stopping s---," Phang said.
Blanche has never filed an answer to the complaint, according to Phang's court filings.
"But if you're saying — which you [have] been saying and writing — that Judge Sullivan never granted my preliminary injunction... then you blew the deadline and you're basically in default," she added.
"So you don't have any defenses. It's not like you ever raised any defenses," Phang said.
Sullivan reached a similar conclusion in June, writing that "by not responding substantively, the Attorney General has conceded Ms. Phang's merits arguments."
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the Justice Department to publish the files by Dec. 19, 2025, and Blanche declared the department finished in January. The redaction log the law demanded did not appear until Thursday.
Blanche is still withholding handwritten notes from four FBI interviews, telling the court in a Thursday filing that they are duplicative and risk exposing victims.
Sullivan warned Justice Department lawyers at an Aug. 13 hearing that he had held prosecutors in contempt before, CNN reported.
"The public has a right to know what the hell is going on in this case. The victims have a right to know. The court has a right to know," Sullivan said.
"Either way, you look dumb," Phang said.