Katie Phang, an investigative journalist and legal analyst, filed suit Monday against acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, accusing the Justice Department of systematically blocking the public release of documents about Jeffrey Epstein under a federal transparency law.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington D.C., alleges that Blanche engaged in a "brazen, shocking, and ongoing violation" of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a law Congress passed in November requiring the government to publish all records it holds on the late financier and sex offender. The deadline for full disclosure was December 19.
Blanche, elevated to acting attorney general after Pam Bondi's recent departure, faces allegations of missing statutory deadlines, applying improper redactions, failing to explain why documents were censored, and retracting key materials after releasing them. Phang works as a reporter for MeidasTouch.
The Justice Department has released only a fraction of the Epstein materials it holds, with Democrats in February claiming millions of documents remained withheld. At that point, Blanche declared the investigation complete after what he said was a final release of about 3 million previously unseen papers.
Blanche has defended the redactions as necessary to shield victims from identification, acknowledging that "mistakes are inevitable." Yet many Epstein victims have complained that their sensitive personal information was exposed in the releases anyway, creating a contradiction between the stated rationale and the results.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the Democratic ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized the scope of the censoring in February, telling reporters: "There were tons of completely unnecessary redactions, in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims, and so that was troubling to us."
Phang's lawsuit seeks a court declaration that the Justice Department violated the law, orders to release all required documents without unlawful redactions, and explanations for any remaining redactions. She is also requesting the appointment of an independent special master outside the department to oversee future compliance.
The filing argues that incomplete and improperly redacted records have directly harmed Phang's ability to report on Epstein's network and the government's handling of the case. The lawsuit emphasizes that the transparency law was explicitly intended to aid journalists and inform the public.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted on similar charges in December 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The action represents the latest enforcement effort under the transparency law, which was co-authored by Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Khanna posted on X Monday that Phang had brought "a historic lawsuit to stand up for survivors and for the release of all Epstein files as the law requires," calling the situation "one of the biggest coverups in the history of our nation."
Separately, the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General announced last week that it was launching its own audit into whether the department complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Deputy Inspector General William M Blier said the inquiry would evaluate the department's processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records.
Author James Rodriguez: "This lawsuit exposes the contradiction at the heart of the government's Epstein response: claiming victim protection while simultaneously exposing them, and withholding information while pretending to comply."
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