'Never said that!' Trump AG squirms when pressed on burying Epstein files

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche got defensive and backpedaled on his previous statements with a reporter on Wednesday when he was pushed to answer a question about the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Blanche was speaking with Semafor's White House correspondent Shelby Talcott during the Semafor World Economy summit when she brought up how last week first lady Melania Trump denied she had any ties to the late financier and convicted child sex offender. Talcott asked if Blanche and the Department of Justice would support giving Epstein survivors a chance to testify before Congress, something Trump had suggested in her statement.

"Of course, the DOJ has said that from the beginning," Blanche said. "We have said, repeatedly, from day one, that if there's any victim that wants to come forward and talk about what they know, whether it's something that happened by Mr. Epstein, who's dead, or another individual or individuals. That's what the FBI does. And we arrested 1,700 defendants last year for abusing women in some way, shape or form. That's the essence of what we do. Whether that victim testifies in front of Congress, if asked, whether that victim comes to the FBI, we have never, ever said that we would say 'No, that's OK. We don't want to hear from you.' Director Patel has said that repeatedly, Attorney General Bondi has said that repeatedly, I have said that repeatedly, and we have no issues with that and of course, that is what we'd want."

Blanche denied having mixed messaging for the survivors and public about the investigation.

"I've never said that we should move past it. If somebody has that, I'd love to see it," Blanche said, defending the DOJ's investigation.

Earlier this month, Blanche had told Fox News the following:

"I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward."