'Not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein': Trump team's new line of defense

Amid the fallout from the partial and inept release of the government’s files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the sycophants in President Donald Trump's Department of Justice have concocted a new defense to absolve their Dear Leader and his associates of culpability in Epstein's crimes.

"It's not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—yes, he of giving Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell a cushy prison upgrade—said Monday night on Fox News. "It's not a crime to email with Mr. Epstein."

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Blanche debased himself to make the argument after Trump, multiple members of his administration, and other powerful figures have been exposed as having close relationships with Epstein, who was charged in 2019 with sex-trafficking minors but was found dead in a prison cell before he faced the trial.

In fact, some of the men featured in the files spoke about traveling to the island where Epstein would "party"—as Blanche put it—with the underaged girls he allegedly trafficked.

Trump was once a close friend of Epstein’s, and he, his wife, his Mar-a-Lago estate, and other words relevant to him are referenced more than 38,000 times in over 5,300 files, according to an analysis from The New York Times.

Meanwhile, GOP benefactor Elon Musk was exposed as having sought multiple times to visit Epstein’s island, inquiring about when the “wildest party" would take place and once lamenting that he was "disappointed" he couldn't travel to the island due to a scheduling conflict because he was, “really looking forward to finally spending some time together with just fun as the agenda." 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was also exposed as a liar. Despite claiming he had ended his ties to Epstein in 2005, Lutnick is shown in the files to have planned a visit to Epstein’s island in 2012. “Nice seeing you,” Epstein said to Lutnick in 2012, via an assistant’s email.

And Kevin Warsh, Trump's new nominee to chair the Federal Reserve Board, appears in the files in an email that listed him as someone who spent Christmastime in St. Barths at the same time as Epstein in 2010.

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Blanche may be right that it isn't necessarily a crime to have been at parties with Epstein or to have emailed with him. But on a basic human level, it looks horrible to have been Epstein's pal and to have traveled to the very place where his alleged crimes took place—and to have done so after Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

I'd venture to guess that the public—which disapproves of Trump’s handling of the files—won't be so receptive to Blanche's defense that partying with Epstein isn't a crime. In fact, it’s easy to imagine that very video clip being used in campaign attack ads in the 2026 midterms.

Indeed, Democrats have already slammed Blanche for the comment.

“[Blanche] dismisses what happened as men partying with Epstein. That is offensive to survivors,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, co-author of the legislation that forced the release of the Epstein files, said on CNN. “These are men making plans with Epstein, a pedophile, to go to Epstein's island where young girls are being raped and paraded naked at parties. There should be an investigation where they are asked under oath what they saw and who raped and abused these girls.”

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Democrat of New Mexico, echoed those sentiments.

"This is the Dept Attorney General of the U.S. saying 'it is not a crime to party with Epstein' in response to a question about prosecuting men who engaged in relations with minors. Sir, yes it is a crime. And, prosecuting these crimes is your job. It’s time for Blanche to go," Stansbury wrote in a post on X.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California called Blanche's comments "gross" and "sick."

"Todd Blanche should be ashamed of himself. He should apologize to all the survivors," Garcia said in an appearance on CNN.

Ultimately, the latest dump of Epstein files looks really bad for Trump and the people he surrounds himself with. And Blanche’s tone-deaf defense won’t do anything to change that.

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