Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asked a federal judge Monday to spare him a $1,000-a-day fine, calling a contempt push against him "absurd."
Blanche is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by independent journalist Katie Phang, who has accused him of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act — a law passed by Congress requiring the Department of Justice to release its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In June, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan sided with Phang, finding that Blanche had never disputed her core claims in court — that he missed the law's release deadline, made improper redactions, and withheld documents the act required him to produce.
Sullivan ordered Blanche to produce, among other materials, handwritten FBI interview notes from agents who spoke with a woman accusing President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her as a minor, emails to Epstein with sender names unredacted, and documents naming potential co-conspirators.
In court filings, Phang proposed the judge slap Blanche with sanctions of a $1,000 a day until he complied.
In his Monday reply brief, Blanche called Phang's legal filings full of "hyperbolic rhetoric seeking to impose punitive sanctions" and "outlandish claims." He called her contempt argument "absurd" and labeled her factual assertions "sensational and unsubstantiated."
"At no point has the government tried to argue that it followed the law," said Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, which represents Phang, adding that the government had not defended its conduct in court. "Which is a pretty shocking position to take."
Instead, Blanche's brief closed with three requests: no contempt or sanctions, the ability to immediately appeal any ruling, and a pause to pursue that appeal.
Among the files Sullivan ordered produced are those directly related to President Donald Trump. National Public Radio found that the Justice Department withheld and removed Epstein files tied to sexual abuse allegations against the president, including more than 50 pages of FBI interview notes and accompanying records from agents who spoke with a woman who said Trump assaulted her as a minor.
Blanche previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney in two federal criminal cases — the classified documents case and the January 6 election obstruction case — and one state criminal case, the Manhattan hush-money trial. Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April and elevated Blanche to replace her.
That conflict sat at the heart of the Phang lawsuit, and Ballou did not mince words about it after Sullivan's June ruling.
"The government ignored its own law and blew off a judge's order, all for the sake of protecting the very powerful and the very rich," Ballou said.
Sullivan has not yet ruled on whether to hold Blanche in contempt. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled an executive business meeting for July 23 — where a vote on Blanche's confirmation as permanent attorney general is expected.
