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Trump deputy attorney general's past raises questions in the Epstein case

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

President Trump is in Scotland today, and even there, he was asked about his administration's handling of the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I haven't been overly interested in it. You know, it's something - it's a hoax that's been built up way beyond proportion.

CHANG: Trump, who knew Epstein, has repeatedly tried to change the subject when asked about him. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is scrambling to limit the fallout over Epstein, which has only added to the conspiracy theories surrounding him. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas reports.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: In June 2024, Todd Blanche was serving as then-former President Donald Trump's personal attorney when Blanche made an appearance on a legal podcast hosted by a prominent defense lawyer named David Markus.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "FOR THE DEFENSE")

DAVID MARKUS: OK, I want to welcome Todd Blanche to "For The Defense." Everybody knows who Todd is. And he's the first guest on "For The Defense" to appear twice. So welcome to the show, Todd.

TODD BLANCHE: That is an honor. Thank you very much, David. I really appreciate it.

LUCAS: The two discussed Blanche's legal work for Trump. And Blanche, at one point, recounts the story of when he first got a call from Trump to be his lawyer.

(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "FOR THE DEFENSE")

BLANCHE: I was shocked. I didn't think anybody would believe me, so I grabbed my daughter and dragged her into the room that we were - you know, my bedroom and put President Trump on speaker for a minute so that she would - in case he never called me again.

LUCAS: Flash forward 13 months and Blanche is now the deputy attorney general - the No. 2 official in the Trump Justice Department. Markus, meanwhile, is a lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell, who's currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

Last week, Blanche and Markus sat down with Maxwell behind closed doors to discuss what she knows about Epstein and his associates. The interview is part of the Trump administration's attempt to tamp down outrage over its handling of the Epstein files. Blanche's friendship with Markus is not, from a legal ethics standpoint, problematic, says University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Claire Finkelstein.

CLAIRE FINKELSTEIN: The world of criminal justice is ultimately a small one, and everybody sort of knows everybody else.

LUCAS: But Blanche's involvement in interviewing Maxwell is highly unusual all the same, starting with his position in the department, says Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor.

SARAH KRISSOFF: So generally, the line prosecutors who are handling the matter are going to do the interview of somebody who is willing to provide information to the government, even in the most high-profile case.

LUCAS: She also says that FBI agents would usually participate in the meeting. It's unclear whether that happened with Maxwell. Asked about other participants, a department spokesman only referred to Blanche's tweets about it, which make no mention of anyone else being involved. It's also unclear what Maxwell told Blanche.

KRISSOFF: If the purpose of the interview is to show the American public, hey, we are following all these leads, we are seeing if there's any viable case against other individuals, I think that is undermined by having Blanche do those interviews.

LUCAS: For his part, Blanche has said that the department will pursue justice wherever the facts may lead. Again, Finkelstein.

FINKELSTEIN: The best thing for any administration is to project to the American people that they are handling a matter like this with impartiality and on a level playing field so that the president is not appearing to use the Justice Department to hide sensitive information about himself.

LUCAS: But she says Blanche's hands-on approach here raises concerns about what role he's playing.

FINKELSTEIN: It is very concerning when you have someone who was formerly the president's personal lawyer then getting involved to possibly assist the president in protecting his own image in this.

LUCAS: With all these questions about Blanche's personal involvement, it's unclear whether his efforts will help quell the uproar over the Epstein matter or whether they'll add to it.

Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Ryan Lucas covers the Justice Department for NPR.