Trump accuser's case is becoming Todd Blanche's confirmation nightmare: report
A legal battle over one Jeffrey Epstein accuser's unreleased FBI interview notes has emerged as a flashpoint threatening to complicate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's path to confirmation, as a federal judge presses the Justice Department for answers it has so far declined to give.The woman, known in court filings as Jane Doe 4, alleged in four 2019 FBI interviews that she was abused by Epstein in the 1980s and separately assaulted by Donald Trump when she was between 13 and 15 years old, and a federal judge has asked the Justice Department for answers about her case that have so far not been provided, reported The Guardian.The White House has dismissed the claims as "completely baseless," but the case has taken on outsized significance because Jane Doe 4 is among the only alleged Epstein victims to have directly accused the president — and because the Justice Department's handling of her file has become emblematic of broader concerns about its compliance with the Epstein Transparency Act.Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan last week ordered Blanche to produce unredacted versions of already-released files by July 2 or explain why he cannot, and he separately ordered the release of handwritten interview notes from Jane Doe 4's FBI sessions that have never been made public. The order came in a civil case brought by journalist Katie Phang, and late Friday the DOJ's third-ranking official, Stanley Woodward, gave notice he would join the case, a move one attorney involved called a sign that officials "really, really don't want these documents released."The case has drawn particular scrutiny because Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, personally oversaw the document-review process, directing a team of 500 reviewers through several chaotic release waves that exposed victims' names and compromising photographs while quietly retracting other records without explanation.Critics argue that roughly 2.5 million additional documents deemed "duplicative" or legally protected were withheld without sufficient justification, despite a law that explicitly bars withholding records over embarrassment or political sensitivity.Only one outlet, South Carolina's Post and Courier, has reviewed the still-unreleased interview notes, reporting that they reference high school friends who might corroborate parts of Jane Doe 4's account but do not address her alleged encounter with Trump.A Jane Doe joined a lawsuit against Epstein’s estate in 2020 with allegations and biographical details that line up with the FBI interviews, but she later dropped her claims.The Guardian spoke to a family member who said Jane Doe 4 is “staying off the grid” and lives in fear of retaliation from the Trump administration, adding that she's "coping" with "chronic trauma" related to the Epstein saga "the best she can," and an attorney who represented her during the two FBI interviews said he never received follow-up calls from the agents or copies of their reports that are usually provided to defense counsel.That attorney asked the publication not to report his name or location to protect the alleged victim's identity.
