DOJ facing legal consequences over Todd Blanche's Epstein redactions

The Department of Justice could abruptly be forced to divulge secrets about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's handling of the Epstein files.

American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog, filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ on Monday after the agency denied an expedited release of records tied to Blanche's oversight of Epstein.

The suit demands the records by July 14 — one day before Blanche faces the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing as the nation's next attorney general.

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi told House investigators she "delegated oversight over this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche" — placing him in charge of the review of the Epstein files.

The DOJ missed its legal deadline to release the files. When they came, the survivors' names were exposed while the powerful men's names stayed hidden.

Attorneys for survivors called it what may be the single most egregious violation of victim privacy "in one day in United States history." A Wall Street Journal review found at least 43 victims' full names unredacted — more than two dozen were minors when abused.

"If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours," Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat speaking from the House floor, said, "imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files." Khanna named the men there rather than to reporters — House members cannot be sued for what they say on the floor.

Blanche admitted before a Senate panel last month that the DOJ "failed" in its rollout of the files.

Already, 19 Epstein survivors have come out against his nomination, calling it in a statement obtained by CNN "failing upward, plain and simple."

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled Blanche's confirmation hearing for July 15 and 16.