'Quite incriminating': Expert bashes 'negligent' Trump lawyer after Epstein revelation

A former federal prosecutor blasted Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during an interview on Wednesday after Democrats released documents from Jeffrey Epstein that undercut claims his associate, Ghislane Maxwell, made to Blanche after she was moved to a minimum security prison in Texas.

On Wednesday, an email from Epstein to Maxwell was released detailing President Donald Trump meeting one of Epstein's most well-known victims, Virginia Giuffre, at Epstein's home before he ran for office. That email directly contradicts the testimony Maxwell gave to Blanche, indicating that she never saw Trump at Epstein's home.

Mimi Rocah, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, discussed the impact of the email during an interview on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper."

"Todd Blanche worksfor the Department of Justiceright now. He was purportedlydoing a proffer interview to getinformation from Maxwell," Rocah said. "At aminimum, he didn't press her onanything, and we don't know forsure, but it's extremely likelythat he knew about these emails.Even if he didn't, he shouldhave asked her morepointed questions. He shouldhave pressed her on his answers."

"He was negligent at best, and hewas complicit in helping her essentially craft very specificanswers," she continued. "If you look at heranswers now, they arecontradictory. But she wouldargue, well, that wasn't exactlythe question that was asked, etcetera. That is not aninformation-gathering exercise.This was a 'give Donald Trump a clear pass,say that he didn't do anythingwrong, and then we'll rewardyou.'"

"And wesaw the reward, and we knowshe's trying to get some kind of pardon orclemency, in some form," she added. "And if Trump grants that, I actuallythink it would be the biggestsign that there is somethingmore in addition to theseemails, which are already quiteincriminating, that she couldsay about him."