A Federal Judge Told Todd Blanche a Contempt Finding Would Be 'Premature' for Now and Gave Him Until Sept. 24 to Hand Over FBI Interview Notes and Justify Every Epstein Redaction. The DOJ Says It Is Not 'Concerned' and Is Appealing.

A federal judge in Washington has put Attorney General Todd Blanche on notice that he could be held in contempt of court over the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, setting a Sept. 24 deadline for the department to comply with orders it has been resisting since June. In a 20-page opinion issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote that "a civil contempt finding at this juncture would be premature," but made clear the option remains on the table if the department misses the new date.

The case was brought by Katie Phang, an attorney and independent journalist, under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed in November 2025 to force the attorney general to release Justice Department records on Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, with only narrow exceptions. The department published nearly 3.5 million pages in January. Phang's suit alleges the department has violated the law through improper redactions and by withholding categories of material entirely. Sullivan granted a preliminary injunction in June; the department missed that deadline, and at a hearing in August the judge warned government lawyers about their compliance.

Wednesday's order lays out what Blanche must now do. He has to substantiate a set of disputed redactions the department says protect victims, including in three specific files identified in court as EFTA01187999, EFTA02504630 and EFTA01022356. He has to turn over handwritten FBI interview notes for the judge's private review. And he has to begin reviewing foreign-language Epstein records that may fall under the act. Sullivan found the department's arguments for its redactions "without merit," and gave the government until Monday to seek any clarification. Separate deadlines require the department to certify the administrative record by Oct. 1 and deliver it by Oct. 15.

The department's position is that the redactions shield victims' names and private email addresses, even in the case of victims who later engaged in what it called "reprehensible activity." Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward argued in July that "one of the complicating aspects of administering the EFTA is that many communications written by victims, without context, can appear disturbing on their face." On the handwritten notes, the department has said they are "substantially similar to typewritten FBI reports that had already been released." Officials brushed off the contempt warning, saying department leadership "is not 'concerned' about this case, and our filings will speak for themselves," that it has "already shown the Judge 'proof of redacted victim names,'" and that the plaintiff is seeking to "unmask victim names." The department has also filed notice asking the D.C. Circuit to review Sullivan's injunction.

Phang rejects the idea that the fight is about exposing victims. "I can't imagine that anybody would be satisfied that there's still millions of documents that Todd Blanche says are duplicative or nonresponsive," she said. The order arrives in the same week that Blanche, from the White House podium, defended the president's right to weigh in on prosecutions and criticize judges, and as a House committee pursues its own Epstein inquiry, having voted this week to hold Apollo co-founder Leon Black in contempt of Congress for defying two subpoenas.