Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has been grilled on unhinged conspiracy theories involving sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by MAGA podcast host Katie Miller.
Miller, married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, introduced the latest episode of her podcast by saying she was “so excited” because “all my favorite conspiracy theories involve Jeffrey Epstein.”
MAGA has long held an interest in the Epstein files, with Trump claiming through his 2014 election campaign that he “would” release the documents relating to his former friend. Republicans including Thomas Massie and former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene kept applying political pressure that led to a discharge petition that saw them finally issued.
Right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec also claimed the MAGA obsession over Epstein was due to “deep state” theories about him being part of a “shadowy system that actually has control over our government.”
Many of the ongoing theories around Epstein revolve around his death in jail in 2019 and the belief that he did not take his own life, as the coroner determined. Miller seemed to be firmly in the camp that questioned how he died and claimed in the podcast that she had “read all the pages” of the files.
The host, who is pregnant with her fourth child, hit Blanche with a tricky question less than one minute into the podcast.
“The moms are desperate to know because they want to be protector of kids and they kind of feel like you’ve failed them thus far,” Miller told Blanche. “Do you think you failed the kids?”
Blanche said “I mean, no, not in any way, shape or form,” stating, “When I hear this narrative that we are letting down victims or that we are failing victims... I want to make sure people know that every day we fight for victims.”
Last month, Blanche’s boss, Attorney General Pam Bondi, refused to face survivors of Epstein during a congressional testimony. Her Department of Justice has been criticized for revealing the identities of victims during the botched release of the Epstein files, while censoring the names of many of the sex trafficker’s associates.
While her podcast generally adopts a soft touch for MAGA figures, Miller was uncharacteristically dogged, asking Blanche about a string of online theories surrounding Epstein’s death, which she seemed to be fascinated by.
“You’ve said twice now that he died,” Miller said to Blanche during the 55-minute interview. “Do you believe he committed suicide or do you believe that somebody else killed him?”
Blanche said after “reviewing all the available evidence,” he agreed with the verdict of suicide.
“Now, was I there? Were you there? Nope,” he told Miller. “And so, um, but... the evidence that has been accumulated and reviewed since that time says yes, he did commit suicide.”
Miller also asked Blanche, “Do the cameras in the jail fail frequently or just in this specific case.” Surveillance video on the night of Epstein’s death was missing key footage when released by the Department of Justice last year.
Diving deep into the conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death, Miller said, “No time of death was ever determined, only that his body was discovered 6:30 the next morning. Why couldn’t investigators establish a clearer timeline?”
“That’s a good question,” Blanche said, “and it’s one of the failures, right?”
Blanche also dismissed theories that a body double was taken out of the jail and that Epstein was still alive. He said the Metropolitan Correctional Center in which Epstein died in is now closed and noted, “what happened with Epstein leads to these type of fair questions about what happened that night.”
Miller even raised the Pizzagate conspiracy theory-promoted by Posobiec-that falsely claimed top Democratic officials were involved in a child sex ring operating out of a Washington pizzeria.
“Did investigators check for any connection between Epstein and the Pizzagate controversy?” Miller asked, with Blanche replying, “Well the Pizzagate conspiracy theory has been debunked repeatedly by law enforcement, not by me, by law enforcement.”
“Sure, it was totally debunked,” Miller said. “And then you look at what happened with Epstein, where a wealthy, well-connected man was actually trafficking underage girls in elite circles. And then you begin to think, ‘hmm, maybe things aren’t a real conspiracy theory?’”
Blanche also claimed that all of the Epstein files had been released, adding reports that the DOJ had only released 3.5 million of the 6 million pages of evidence associated with the criminal were untrue.
Even Miller asked Blanche, “there’s still three million held back, not all of them are public.”
“No they’re all public,” Blanche insisted. “There’s a narrative that there’s three million pages that are being held back. They have nothing to do with Epstein. What we did to make sure we didn’t leave a single page out we over-collected.”
He said “every single page” that has anything to do with Epstein “has been produced” unless there was a legal reason to redact it.
An investigation by NPR last month into “dozens” of withheld pages, including files relating to allegations President Trump had sexually abused a minor, saw further pages released. Trump has denied the allegations.
The Justice Department repeatedly told NPR that any documents still being withheld were “privileged, are duplicates or relate to an ongoing federal investigation.”
Miller then reeled off a list of powerful figures and asked if they had been to Epstein’s infamous island.
“I don’t know there’s evidence” that Gates went to Epstein’s island or ranch, Blanche said, adding and “he was not aware” of any proof former President Bill Clinton made the same journey.
However he said he “believed” billionaire and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman admitted he had been to the island.
Blanche said he was not aware of any documentation proving underage women were present on the island when Hoffman was there.
Gates admitted to two ex-marital affairs but said of his time with Epstein “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit.” Clinton has said he “did nothing wrong” and had “no idea” about Epstein’s crimes, while Hoffman said he was deeply regretful of going to Epstein’s island. “Yes, interacting with Epstein post-conviction is something I deeply regret,” Hoffman wrote on X last month. He had also previously funded a primetime ad calling for the full release of the files.
Miller then asked if the men are “completely absolved of any wrongdoing” and if the DOJ had closed the case.
“When it comes to the trafficking of underage women, there’s no statute of limitations,” he said. “So this case is never closed. If there’s evidence that we learn of that we can act on, we will act on it immediately like we do every single day. So no, it’s not closed.”
Miller also pressed Blanche on why only Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein were the only people in his circle who have been charged over crimes.
“I don’t think the American people are wrong to want to see people go to jail beyond just Jeffrey Epstein and her.”
Miller also asked Blanche, “how is it that the U.K. can do more on Prince Andrew than we can for any single one of these wealthy elite billionaires and people in government?
Blanche said “Well, because you need provable evidence.”
