Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has provided an explanation as to why no charges have arisen following the latest release of documents from the Epstein files.
At the end of January, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) made public a substantial amount of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and his illicit activities prior to his death in 2019.
The DOJ unveiled approximately 3.5 million documents that included over 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, leaving the public with numerous questions.
A significant question remains: why have no charges or arrests been made against individuals featured or mentioned in the Epstein files?
In a February 1 interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke about this issue.
He stated that the DOJ is not planning to bring any further charges associated with Epstein, despite the recent document releases.
Blanche explained: “I can’t talk about any investigations, but I will say the following, which is that in July, the Department of Justice said that we had reviewed the files, the Epstein files, and there was nothing in there that allowed us to prosecute anybody.
“The entire world can look at and see if we got it wrong.”
He acknowledged that the released materials include troubling content, such as photographs, emails, and correspondence, but stressed that these did not meet the criteria necessary for prosecution.
Blanche further stated: “There’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him, but that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”
Simply being mentioned or photographed in the Epstein files does not automatically imply wrongdoing.
Blanche also urged people to reconsider focusing on Donald Trump, noting that although he is referenced over 1,000 times in the documents, many allegations against Trump were derived from anonymous tips or unverifiable sources.
He elaborated: “It turns out, there was a number of claims made by either … anonymous people or somebody, for example, calling and saying, ‘I used to have a roommate who told me this sensational story.’
“So just, you know, obviously that’s not something that can be really investigated, right? ‘What’s your roommate’s name? I don’t remember,’ So that’s what that’s about.”
Trump has consistently denied any awareness of Epstein’s sex crimes and stated that his association with Epstein had deteriorated.
In a statement issued when the documents were released, the US Justice Department reaffirmed Trump’s denial of these allegations.
The statement noted: “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”