Epstein 'mistakes' and Trump ties: Key takeaways from Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing

The Epstein files are the biggest challenge to face the Justice Department since Trump's return.

After public outcry, Congress mandated that the Justice Department release its trove of millions of files related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. However, the slow pace of their release and extensive redactions have drawn criticism from lawmakers and survivors.

Blanche faced probing questions from both parties about the justice department's handling of the files.

About a dozen women, wearing t-shirts that featured images of the redacted files, attended the hearing to register their protest.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the panel, asked Blanche about "problematic redactions", "insufficient effort" on following investigative leads" and "refusal to meet with victims", as well as questions surrounding the transfer of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower-security prison.

Blanche responded that millions of files within a short time-frame was a "Herculean task".

"We reviewed over six million pages," he said, describing the process department attorneys followed to "apply appropriate redactions".

"There were mistakes that were made, and so approximately 1% of the redactions had to be fixed," Blanche added. "We had dozens of lawyers on call."

During one exchange, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal asked if Blanche would "apologise" to Epstein survivors for "the mishandling and mistakes that were made by the United States Department of Justice?

"I will absolutely say that any mistake that we made should not have been made," Blanche said. "And I very much. I very much apologise."