Top Trump DOJ official demands lawmaker retract Epstein inquiry: 'Take down that post'

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche got into a public spat with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) Thursday night over an explosive claim regarding the Justice Department’s publication of files on Jeffrey Epstein, and one that devolved into Blanche issuing a fierce demand to the California lawmaker.

Earlier on Thursday, Khanna flagged an email sent to Epstein in 2016 by an individual whose name was redacted, an email that indicated it was sent by a “political figure,” Khanna argued, and thereby should not have had the sender’s identity redacted. Khanna is the co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), the bill-turned law that forced the DOJ to release its files on Epstein, and with redactions limited to those protecting the identities of minors or victims.

The unidentified sender of the email in question wrote to Epstein that they had gotten “more votes” than ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, then a presidential candidate, supporting Khanna's claim that they were a "political figure." The sender also suggested that they had attempted to visit Epstein’s private island, and signed off the email with the phrase “love ya.”

Responding to Khanna’s claim on social media, Blanche accused Khanna of “calling for the release of a victim’s personal information,” alongside a clown-face emoji. Khanna fired back, claiming there was “no evidence this political candidate was a victim.”

Blanche fired back yet again, only this time, with a stern demand.

“As we have repeatedly said and written to you and your colleagues, victims identified themselves as such to the FBI and the DOJ,” Blanche wrote Thursday night in a social media post on X. “I’ll ask you again to take down that post.”

The DOJ has already redacted the names of figures within the Epstein files that critics say should not have been redacted, such as Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the billionaire Emirati businessman who wrote to Epstein in 2016 that they “loved the torture video.” After pressure from Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the other co-sponsor of the EFTA, the DOJ has since unredacted mentions of bin Sulayem’s name.