Blanche hit with major Epstein accusation as he's accused of witness tampering

A Democratic lawmaker hurled a major allegation at Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday, one they said amounted to “witness tampering” in the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Blanche was nominated by President Donald Trump on Monday to serve as permanent attorney general, and during an appearance on CNN, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) was asked whether Blanche’s handling of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) release of Epstein-related files would help or hurt his chances at being confirmed by the Senate.

Lynch poured cold water on Blanche’s chances – calling him “unqualified and untrustworthy” – while also leveling the allegation that Blanche had “interfered” with the criminal probe into Epstein’s potential co-conspirators.

Last year, Blanche – then deputy attorney general – conducted an interview with Epstein accomplice and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, during which the two spoke “for a few minutes” before the conversation was recorded. Not long after, Maxwell was quietly transferred from her maximum-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison in Texas, a move that ran afoul of DOJ policy as it relates to sex offenders.

“Todd Blanche's involvement with the Epstein case is disastrous. He actually went and met with Ghislaine Maxwell, took her out of a heavy security prison, gave her a sweetheart deal,” Lynch told CNN’s John Berman.

“She never agreed to cooperate. [Blanche] put her in a much more permissive environment [that] has given her extensive privileges. I believe that is witness tampering on his part – he interfered with the investigation! She is less likely to talk to us now since Todd Blanche got involved with this case.”

Maxwell has enjoyed extensive privileges at the detention facility she was transferred to in Texas, privileges reportedly not afforded to other inmates that include access to computers, a "security risk not typically allowed,” CNN previously reported. Maxwell has since gushed about her experience at the prison, claiming to be “much happier” there and calling her privileges “fantastic.”