{"id":43788,"date":"2026-08-14T06:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=43788"},"modified":"2026-08-14T06:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T01:58:41","slug":"judge-shows-signs-of-frustration-with-doj-attorneys-over-handling-of-epstein-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=43788","title":{"rendered":"Judge shows signs of frustration with DOJ attorneys over handling of Epstein files"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p id=\"anchor-f818ec\" class=\"body-graf\">WASHINGTON \u2014 A federal judge overseeing a case focused on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\" target=\"_blank\">Justice Department<\/a>\u2019s handling of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/epstein-files\" target=\"_blank\">Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a> pressed government attorneys Thursday about their compliance with his court orders and warned that he has held lawyers in contempt before.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1d6033\" class=\"body-graf\">U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, a 41-year veteran of the bench, <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779.29.0_3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">convened the hearing<\/a> seeking answers about whether the Trump administration had complied with his previous orders in the case, including one about the need for the Justice Department to publish justifications for the numerous redactions in the released Epstein files.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b81f70\" class=\"body-graf\">Justice Department official Andrew Block told Sullivan he was not in a position to commit to a time frame, saying that it was out of his control and that information would be \u201cforthcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8beeaf\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cChristmas is forthcoming,\u201d Sullivan quipped.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9ddc94\" class=\"body-graf\">Sullivan called his orders \u201cstraightforward\u201d and said he was willing to work with the government to obtain compliance.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-183a31\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cYou want me to issue another order and say, \u2018I really mean it this time\u2019?\u201d Sullivan said at one point.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a88111\" class=\"body-graf\">The case stems from a lawsuit <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">journalist Katie Phang filed<\/a> against Attorney General Todd Blanche in April, arguing that the Justice Department had failed to comply in full with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress and signed into law last year. The suit alleges the government failed to make some key redactions, inappropriately redacted other information and improperly withheld documents that referred to President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1ee5c3\" class=\"body-graf\">The Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779.12.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">had argued<\/a> that Phang lacked standing to bring the case, and it has said it is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779.22.0_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">absurd<\/a>\u201d to claim the Justice Department violated <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779\/gov.uscourts.dcd.291779.15.0_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Sullivan\u2019s order<\/a> in June requiring more information surrounding specific redacted files.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4b272a\" class=\"body-graf\">Former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who led the Justice Department when millions of Epstein files were made public, told lawmakers after Trump fired her that \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/pam-bondi-tells-lawmakers-redaction-errors-made-epstein-files-release-rcna347525\" target=\"_blank\">redaction errors<\/a>\u201d occurred during the records\u2019 release.<\/p>\n<section class=\"inline-video inline-video--in-body\" data-testid=\"inline-video\" id=\"anchor-ecef41\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__background\">\n<div class=\"inline-video__player\">\n<div class=\"styles_gridStackWrapper__Z_AMc styles_videoContainer___xc7B video-container paused\" data-testid=\"gamma-video-player\">\n<div class=\"styles_gridStackWrapper__Z_AMc videoSlate styles_videoSlate__IvkAP\"><picture class=\"\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"focal\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1240px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-860x484,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/1780093381393_now_hallie_bondi_epstein_files_260529_S3_1920x1080-dbhk4e.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 758px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-1000x563,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/1780093381393_now_hallie_bondi_epstein_files_260529_S3_1920x1080-dbhk4e.jpg\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/1780093381393_now_hallie_bondi_epstein_files_260529_S3_1920x1080-dbhk4e.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-760x428,f_auto,q_auto:best\/mpx\/2704722219\/2026_05\/1780093381393_now_hallie_bondi_epstein_files_260529_S3_1920x1080-dbhk4e.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p id=\"anchor-f75add\" class=\"body-graf\">At Thursday\u2019s hearing, Sullivan embarked on a history lesson about a previous case before him in which the Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna30086797\" target=\"_blank\">withheld exculpatory evidence<\/a>: the prosecution of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, whose conviction the Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna29988577\" target=\"_blank\">moved to reverse <\/a>in 2009 not long before Stevens died in a plane crash. Sullivan recalled that he held government attorneys in contempt for withholding information and that an appeals court upheld his decision.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d3eeda\" class=\"body-graf\">Sullivan said it was important for attorneys to know he was a judge willing to \u201cenforce legitimate judicial orders\u201d with the means available to him.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5d1440\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cI\u2019m not in a habit of blindsiding people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-178eb0\" class=\"body-graf\">He added that he had \u201cabsolutely no desire to go down that road again\u201d but wanted to make sure the attorneys were aware that it has happened before.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a7ab3a\" class=\"body-graf\">Attorney Brendan Ballou, who is representing Phang, said in a statement after the hearing that Blanche had \u201cfailed to follow the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-80a220\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cHe has failed to produce its redaction log. He has failed to begin producing foreign language documents. He has failed to produce notes concerning Donald Trump,\u201d Ballou said. \u201cThe Justice Department\u2019s strategy here is endless delay, and we\u2019re glad that the Court appears to recognize this. Our next step is to file a proposed order for how to handle the Attorney General\u2019s noncompliance, which we plan to do shortly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c7fa57\" class=\"body-graf\">The hearing took place shortly after Blanche, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/senate-confirms-todd-blanche-attorney-general-weeks-uncertainty-rcna591457\" target=\"_blank\">recently confirmed as attorney general<\/a>, addressed Justice Department employees at headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-deca39\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cWe will always respect the role of the judiciary. We will not engage in or stand for any sort of performative attacks that undermine the institutions that we are sworn to uphold,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the same time, we\u2019re not going to be intimidated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 A federal judge overseeing a case focused on the Justice Department\u2019s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files pressed government attorneys Thursday about their compliance with his court orders and warned that he has held lawyers in contempt before. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, a 41-year veteran of the bench, convened the hearing seeking&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251220-Epstein-Maxwell-ch-1411-c27024.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}