Judge Emmet Sullivan issues what one legal analyst described as a "powerful" order against Attorney General Todd Blanche that makes the release of the remaining Jeffrey Epstein files more likely.
Sullivan, the senior district judge in the District of Columbia, ruled last week that Blanche and the Department of Justice failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by journalist Katie Phang challenging the department's adherence to the Administrative Procedure Act. Sullivan also set a deadline of Sept. 24 for Blanche to respond to Phang's lawsuit, making it more likely that her other lawsuit seeking the entirety of the Epstein files is "way closer" to a conclusion.
Phang argued on a new episode of "The Breakdown" with host Allison Gill that Sullivan effectively argued that he won't help Blanche "slow this roll" anymore.
"It's just another example of a nail in the coffin for Blanche when it comes to violating federal law," Phang said.
Sullivan also took aim at one of Blanche's more puzzling attempts to avoid releasing more Epstein files.
The ruling concerned the DOJ's compliance with an order from the summer to produce translated documents and other investigative materials related to the Epstein files. Blanche claimed that Congress had amended the Epstein Files Transparency Act in a way that prevented him from releasing the files because the body did not respond to his assertion that redacting the files was "too hard."
Sullivan ruled that Blanche's claims were "without merit," which is legalese for "that's dumb," according to Phang.
Phang explained that Sullivan's order effectively forced Blanche to start reviewing the documents and producing them, which he was supposed to begin doing almost a year ago.
"You should be angry, as an American taxpayer, that they're spending money on this!" Phang said.