'It's Not a Crime to Party With Mr. Epstein': The Empty New Defense from Trump's DOJ [View all]

When Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s former personal defense attorney and now Deputy Attorney General, said on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle that “it’s not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein,” he was technically correct—and revealing just how empty that defense is.

Criminal law sets the minimum threshold for prosecution; it does not set the standard for leadership, competence, or judgment—least of all for the presidency of the United States. When a senior Justice Department official retreats to the narrowest possible legal framing to defend social association with a convicted child sex offender, he is not answering the question being asked. He is avoiding it.

The question is not whether it was illegal to attend a party. The question is what it says about judgment when powerful adults continue to associate with a man whose abuse of minors was widely known and publicly documented by the mid-2000s. Saying “it’s not a crime” is not a defense of competence. It is a concession that no higher standard is being asserted.

Blanche’s response relies on a category error. Yes, social association is not, by itself, a crime. It never has been. It is not a crime to email a criminal. It is not a crime to attend a dinner where a criminal is present. The law is deliberately narrow, because it must be. Guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and association alone cannot satisfy that standard.

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