As public scrutiny increases after the release of millions of files related to the late sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an interview that “it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”
Blanche, the second-highest official at the Department of Justice (DOJ), made the comment during a televised interview about the newly disclosed trove of internal documents, videos, and emails that have reignited public interest in Epstein’s extensive high-profile social circle.
When asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about the presence of political, business, and entertainment figures in the files, Blanche responded that “We will always investigate any evidence of misconduct. But as you know, it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein…and it’s not a crime to email with Mr. Epstein, and some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will.”
American criminal law states that mere association or attendance at events with a convicted criminal does not constitute a chargeable offense unless there is independent evidence of wrongdoing. The DOJ has reinforced that position even as the files include communications and photos involving many influential individuals.
Blanche made similar comments on CNN’s State of the Union where he said, “There’s a lot of correspondence. There’s a lot of emails. There’s a lot of photographs. 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.”
The files were published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a bipartisan law passed by Congress to make millions of investigative documents public while balancing privacy and legal constraints. Even after the latest release of roughly 3 million pages, DOJ officials maintain that further criminal case openings are unlikely without clear and compelling evidence directly tied to prosecutable conduct.
On Friday, the Justice Department disclosed what it described as the largest single release of Epstein-related materials to date. More than 3 million pages of documents, roughly 180,000 images, and over 2,000 videos were made public. Blanche said this batch, combined with earlier releases, brought the total to about 3.5 million pages made public.
Numerous public figures like current U.S. President Donald Trump, former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, Bill Gates, Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Elon Musk, and others have been mentioned or even photographed in Epstein’s files. Jeffrey Epstein himself died in a New York jail in 2019.
