After the Justice Department announced Thursday that its Office of the Inspector General intends to audit the department’s response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one small detail tended to go unremarked: President Donald Trump recently put forward his own nominee to lead the office conducting that audit.
William Blier, a DOJ employee of roughly 40 years, is currently the acting inspector general in charge of the office. Blier, the longtime deputy inspector general, has served in that office for almost 20 years and, prior to that, was a career federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., for two decades.
But just days ago, Trump nominated a former acting inspector general, Don Berthiaume, to fill the role permanently. Whether the audit can be completed before Berthiaume can be confirmed — and how he will continue that work when and if he becomes inspector general — is unknown.
The Office of the Inspector General has said the audit’s “preliminary objective” is to “evaluate DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records” and to assess how the department responded to “post-release publication concerns.”
That has been greeted with a range of reactions, from cautious optimism among survivors and their lawyers to calls for a more probing review from people experienced with inspector general audits.
If no internal oversight at all is the Trump administration’s best-case scenario, an audit is the next best thing, says Michael Bromwich, who served as the Justice Department’s inspector general from 1994 to 1999.
“The Epstein files fiasco is one of the most highly publicized scandals in the recent history of DOJ,” Bromwich said. “Over the past 30 years, allegations of this magnitude have been dealt with by the OIG almost exclusively through special investigations conducted by the Oversight and Review Division, which is staffed by lawyers, investigators and other personnel experienced in conducting complex investigations.”
But the Office of the Inspector General conducts both audits and investigations, Bromwich said, and the difference between them is significant. “An audit is an insufficient response to the Epstein mess, and with no disrespect to the OIG’s auditors, this is not an assignment suited to the Audit Division’s training or experience.”
Bromwich suggested that any responsible examination of the department’s handling of the Epstein files must include interviews of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, current acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel. But those kinds of interviews “are not within the Audit Division’s wheelhouse,” he clarified.
Lawyers for many of the survivors continued to call for accountability, tempering their welcome of the audit with skepticism.
Brittany Henderson, who with her partner Brad Edwards represents more than 100 Epstein survivors, told MS NOW, “It should not have taken this long to begin holding the U.S. Department of Justice accountable, but this audit will bring a long-awaited sense of temporary relief to many victims of Epstein.”
“We can only hope this audit is conducted in a meaningful way — one that leads to real accountability and ultimately reparations for the victims who were revictimized and harmed by these failures,” she added.
Arick Fudali, who represents roughly 10 Epstein survivors, was more critical, telling MS NOW that he hopes “this is not just another partisan performance for this administration to pretend they care about Epstein’s survivors,” but that he is eager to see “what the audit recovers from this clear attempt at thwarting transparency and accountability.”
Jennifer Freeman, who represents sisters Maria and Annie Farmer, also noted the DOJ and FBI’s prior failures. “The first batch of Epstein files [released] under the Epstein Files Transparency Act confirmed that the FBI dismissed and otherwise failed to meaningfully address Maria Farmer’s 1996 report of Epstein’s crimes, including possession and distribution of child pornography.” So while Freeman hopes the inspector general will learn why the department over-redacted some documents while publishing others, including nude photographs, she also wants the audit to ensure that “all documents relating to this horrific failure by the FBI and DOJ have been produced.”
Danielle Bensky, who first met Jeffrey Epstein when she was 17 and has alleged he groomed and abused her at his New York townhouse, was buoyed by news of the audit, calling it “amazing news! A little spark of hope.”
That hope might also be stoked by the fact that all audits culminate in public reports and can occasionally lead to internal, or even criminal, investigations. But whether the audit ever reaches those stages, much less comes to satisfying conclusions, is an open question.
Indeed, Bensky herself has been especially critical of the Justice Department in recent months. Last month she said, “I wish I could understand how this continues to happen, even after there has been so much attention around improper redactions after each disclosure.”
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