This weekend saw a series of worrisome escalations between Israel and Iran, with the battered, beleaguered ceasefire in the region threatening to give way entirely. On Sunday, Israel carried out strikes against Hezbollah forces in Beirut, prompting Iran to fire missiles at Israel for the first time since April. President Donald Trump urged Israel not to return fire and for both sides to “stop shooting,” but Israel nevertheless responded, launching airstrikes against Iran itself early Monday morning. As we put this newsletter to bed, however, the growing tit-for-tat escalations seemed to have ended for now: Iran announced a “suspension” of further attacks within the last few hours. Happy Monday.

Join Sam Stein and Will Sommer on Substack and YouTube today at 10 a.m. EDT for MAGA Mondays.

Blanche → Epstein

by William Kristol

There are many, many Republican lawyers in America. Many, sadly, are also pro-Trump. But it is Todd Blanche who has been selected by the president to be attorney general of the United States. He has this distinction: He is the prime orchestrator and key executor of the Trump administration’s Jeffrey Epstein coverup.

As former Attorney General Pam Bondi told the House Oversight Committee recently, it was Blanche who, as deputy attorney general, “supervised [the] entire process” of dealing with the Epstein files. “He was leading the Epstein matter and the release of everything from the beginning,” she testified. Blanche has also been the most visible public defender of the coverup, and of the decision not to investigate or prosecute anyone else for crimes.

Blanche stepped boldly into the Epstein spotlight on July 24, 2025, when he traveled to Florida to interview convicted Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. The meeting was initiated by Maxwell, and she received limited immunity via a proffer agreement.

But Maxwell didn’t use her immunity as an opportunity to be more forthcoming than she’d been previously about anything to do with Epstein. As every sentient observer familiar with the Epstein case agreed, she simply continued to stonewall and lie. But Blanche wasn’t sure. He told CNN a couple months later that deciding if Maxwell was a “credible” witness is “an impossible question to answer.”

Really?

In any case, Blanche explained, “The point of the interview was not for me to pressure test every single answer she gave.”

Why not?

Because “the point of the interview was to allow her to speak, which nobody had done before.”

This was laughable. But the real point of the interview became clear a few days later, when Maxwell was moved, contrary to Bureau of Prison guidelines for sex offenders, to a comfortable minimum-security prison.

The point of both the interview and the move was to encourage Maxwell not to talk about Donald Trump—and to hold out the prospect of even more favorable treatment in the future. Since the interview, Trump has continued to refuse to rule out the possibility of a pardon or commutation for Maxwell.

Since then, Blanche has been assertively pushing back against widespread public unhappiness with the botched and selective release of the Epstein files. For example, in early February 2026, Blanche had this exchange with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham:

Ingraham: Is there any chance that any of these individuals who partied with Epstein and engaged in relations with minors will be prosecuted? Any chance?

Blanche: I’ll never say no, and we will always investigate any evidence of misconduct, but as you know, it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it’s also the kind of thing that the American people need to understand that it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.

“It isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.” But “Mr. Epstein” (it’s kind of striking that Blanche added the honorific) pled guilty in 2008, and then was indicted again in 2019, for horrible crimes arranged or committed or celebrated at some of those parties. The Justice Department could now be following up on the testimony of scores of survivors to finally, properly investigate those crimes and their perpetrators. But Blanche’s Justice Department hasn’t even pretended to be seeking further evidence. Blanche’s DOJ has no interest at all in investigating or prosecuting the men who have done truly horrible things. After all, “it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”

Trump rewarded Blanche for arranging and managing the Epstein coverup. First he made Blanche acting Attorney General. Now he wants to place him in that post outright. And that requires Senate confirmation.

Which means the Senate will debate and vote. Last November, thanks to a discharge petition, and over the opposition of the Trump administration and Republican leadership, Congress was forced to engage on the Epstein matter. Opposition to legislation requiring the release of the Epstein files collapsed when the issue emerged into broad daylight, and Congress voted almost unanimously to order the Justice Department to release the files. At the time, everyone from both parties could look as if they were in favor of the truth coming out.

But now we’ve had only a partial release of those documents and no follow-up investigations. Trump has gone out of his way to punish Republican critics of his administration’s Epstein coverup. Republicans have been happy to avoid further engaging on the issue.