Ex-GOP insider urges DOJ official to 'get pardon from Trump' after legal violation flagged

A former GOP strategist urged Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Saturday to get a "pardon from Trump sooner than later" because the president may soon die.

The disagreement began with a report that Dem. Rep. Ro Khanna had mistakenly read the names of innocent men on the floor of the House, as he asked why their names were redacted from the Epstein files released by the DOJ.

"Reps Khanna and Massie pushed the DOJ to unredact a file in the Epstein files. Then Khanna read four men's names from it in a House floor speech, calling them 'wealthy and powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason.' The only problem is that file is a SDNY photo lineup, and the 16 people on it have no known ties to Epstein, the DOJ confirmed," Jacqueline Sweet reported. "We identified 12 of the people on the list, and spoke to two of the men Khanna named, who denied any connection to Epstein and were seeking answers as to why their names were in the news. The lineup simply included people apparently arrested for various unrelated crimes over two decades in NYC, who resembled Maxwell and Epstein."

Khanna responded, saying, "The problem is DOJ illegally redacted names without explanation and then refused to give context for the names once they redacted. This is why Rep. Thomas Massie and I have been pushing for the full release of the files with context and protecting survivors. Thanks for your reporting."

That's when Blanche chimed in, saying, "The 'problem' is that you didn’t come to us, but immediately ran to X and the House floor and made false accusations about four men, while we were checking the facts."

X's community-sourced fact checker said such a lineup "may be redacted with explanation per the law," but noted that "DOJ failed to provide that context in violation of EFTA."

Enter conservative activist Rick Wilson, who recently predicted that "accountability is coming in hot" for fellow Trump appointee Pam Bondi. This time, he took aim at Blanche.

"Congress owes you nothing, Todd. DOJ from top to bottom is clearly engaged in a massive coverup and violations of the law," Wilson wrote. "You should get that pardon from Trump sooner than later. You never know when the actuarial tables will catch up to him."