Trump Spirals as Katie Phang Wins Knock Out Injunction Forcing Release of Epstein Files

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1:29Michael Popok:In breaking and welcome news, Katie Fang has prevailed against the Trump administration in its attempts to continue to cover up the Epstein scandal. She has won a preliminary injunction from Judge Emmett Sullivan, senior judge in the District of Columbia, him finding that she is entitled to a preliminary injunction. She has standing. She has Article III injury. She has informational injury. She has reputational and economic injury, as do the rest of us. She can't do her job of reporting by being spoon fed less than the entire compliance with the Epstein Transparency Act and that she has the right under the Administrative Procedures Act on behalf of all Americans and those that are interested in bringing those predators to justice to seek relief from a court.

2:19Michael Popok:Finally, after watching federal court after federal court after federal court in New York and in Florida, refused to intervene on behalf of the Epstein survivors and the public who need to know this information and need to bring the Justice Department and the Department of Justice to account and the Trump administration to account for its failure to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act and Records Act. Finally, a judge and a plaintiff and Katie Fang came together and brought forth this fantastic new ruling. Later today, I'm going to have an interview exclusively with Katie Fang, close friend of mine, of course, and a fellow collaborator and contributor here on the Midas Touch Network.

3:05Michael Popok:Let's get to the filing. It is up on Substack for Legal AF. F, what's it all about? Katie Fang was the only person to sue as a plaintiff to obtain all of the documents under the Epstein Transparency Act, alleging a violation, not of the Epstein Transparency Act per se. This was the gift. This was the art of the lawsuit, the genius of the lawsuit. with Public Integrity Project and Katie Fang joining forces to bring the suit. It was that she was a plaintiff proper under the Administrative Procedures Act because the acts of Todd Blanche announcing to the world, it's all done, we've produced everything.

3:51Michael Popok:There are redactions that we're not unredacting. We're not gonna do certain productions. That constituted final agency action. And that's a term of art in administrative law. If there's final agency action and you have standing to object to final agency action, you have an Administrative Procedures Act claim. See, the Trump administration and Todd Blanche, who was the defendant here in his professional capacity, he tried to argue, she doesn't need to sue under the Epstein Transparency Act. She can't sue. There's no private right of action. You can't sue under it. They said, aha, we didn't sue under it.

4:32Michael Popok:We sued under the Administrative Procedures Act because you took final agency action in announcing that you were done making your production. Now we have the right to go to court and have it reviewed. And that's what Emmett Sullivan, Judge Emmett Sullivan, did. They also said she doesn't have the appropriate amount of harm. What's her harm? And she said, I'm a journalist. I'm a commentator. I've been following the Epstein files from day one. I'm going to read to you from the order in a minute. She said, I can't do my job. If I'm spoon-fed documents and things are being withheld, this is, for instance, an international child sex trafficking ring.

5:06Michael Popok:Where are all the foreign language documents? Oh, it was too hard. We didn't want to translate them. What? And that's why you didn't produce them? I don't think so. She's got a job to do on the Katie Fang News Channel and otherwise, which comes on and talks to me. She's got to have the documents. That's informational. That's reputational. That's economic. and that gives her standing and injury to come into court. Let me read to you from two pieces of paper. One, the memorandum opinion, which is 48 pages, and the order, which is just a page and a half. It starts this way by Judge Emmett Sullivan.

5:42Michael Popok:By the way, you're on the Legal AF YouTube channel. Did I mention that? Hit our subscribe button. We need help. Responding to public demands for information, Congress with near unanimity passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. It is an unprecedented disclosure law requiring the attorney general, with few exceptions, to make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable database all, all unclassified Department of Justice files related to its investigation of the notorious sexual predator and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, the child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. there, finally, branded, branded again, not the person that should be pardoned, not the best friend of Donald Trump and Todd Blanche, the child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and their associates.

6:28Michael Popok:And it requires timely, timely production. On page two, Katie Fang brings this action against Todd Blanche in his official capacity, claiming that he has improperly withheld information and failed to comply with other requirements. Penning before the court is her motion for preliminary injunction in which she seeks relief from a limited list of violations. I'll talk to you about that in a moment. And for the reasons discussed above and below, I grant Ms. Fang's motion. Now let's go to page 11. Page 11. This is getting to final agency action which supports her standing as an Administrative Procedures Act injured plaintiff.

7:10Michael Popok:It says that starting on page 10 over to 11. On February 14, 2026, Todd Blanche, the attorney general, issued the report required in Section 3 of the Epstein Act, sending a letter to the chairman and ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. That includes Jim Jordan and Jamie Raskin. With regards to withheld records, the letter stated that the only category of records withheld were those records where permitted withholdings under Section 2C and privileged materials were not segregable from material responsive, and the privileges that applied to the withheld documents were deliberative process privilege, work product privilege, and attorney-client privilege.

7:52Michael Popok:No records, said the letter, were withheld or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignity. And then had a summary of redactions and the legal basis made. This is how the judge says effectively, this is the final agency action. That Katie Fang on page 12 is an attorney and an independent journalist based in Miami, Florida. Shout out to Miami, Florida. She's worked as a legal analyst for a variety of media outlets hosting the Katie Fang News Show. And she has reported on major domestic and international events with a focus on legal and political news.

8:33Michael Popok:Her reporting on the Epstein files has realized more than 9.7 million views on her YouTube channel. Shout out to Katie Fang. She says that she is, on page 13, that she is a journalist covering the Epstein story. She owes her audience, the public, and the victims of Epstein and Maxwell and others the most accurate and comprehensive reporting possible. And she's being injured as a result. The judge then catalogs exactly what Katie was asking for on page 15. She asked, she wanted an order requiring that the attorney general show cause why the redactions of and then lists a group of redacted documents.

9:16Michael Popok:We know they redacted certain 302s on the FBI of people who accused Donald Trump himself of having sexually abused them. We know that they didn't produce foreign language documents claiming that they didn't have to it, even though this is an international child sex trafficking ring. They never published or provided a redaction log of what they exactly did not produce. It continues. He completely, as a judge, Judge Sullivan, rejects the Trump administration's argument that she's nothing more than a Freedom of Information Act, a FOIA request person. She's got to go through FOIA. And everything in FOIA is the same as the Epstein Act, and everything in the Epstein Act is the same as FOIA.

10:04Michael Popok:The judge says, no, FOIA and the Epstein Act are not coextensive. The Epstein Act stands alone and therefore is the proper basis for an Administrative Procedures Act claim. He then goes through her informational injury as a journalist, which she needs in order to do her job and bring to light these heinous crimes. Economic injuries, she can't do her job, she can't make her videos and the rest. And then when they try to go after her, for instance, here's what the judge says on page 35 about Katie's likely to prevail on her APA claim. And here's the examples the judge uses on page 35. First, the Attorney General has violated the Epstein Act by redacting the names of senders and recipients in at least eight email exchanges with Mr.

10:58Michael Popok:Epstein regarding a torture video and sexual activity with young women, including minors. Second, the Attorney General has violated the Epstein Act by redacting the names of co-defendants in a draft indictment, the names of individuals identified as co-conspirators, and the sender and recipients in a department briefing email. Third, the attorney general has violated the Epstein Act by withholding certain materials mentioning President Trump, especially notes from FBI interviews with a victim who has alleged that in the 1980s, when she was 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump, who in turn assaulted her.

11:32Michael Popok:Yeah, we need that. We need the redaction logs. In fact, the attorney general, the judge says, does not respond substantively to any of these arguments. He just makes jurisdictional arguments that it fails as a matter of law. But by not responding substantively, the judge says, the attorney general has conceded the merits arguments in the pending motion. You can't just go, well, on procedural grounds, she shouldn't be here. Because if she is here, you needed to have opposed the substance. That is law school, second week of law school stuff, everybody. And then at the end, when he's done making his ruling, he then issues an actual order, which I have here.

12:19Michael Popok:We'll put it up on Legal AF Substack for you to read. It says, ordered that Ms. Fang's motion for preliminary injunction is granted. I'm sure this is going to be framed now. I'm going to ask Katie this in my interview with her later today on her wall. It should be. ordered that no later than July 2nd. Yeah, you don't get the three-day weekend, everybody. The attorney general shall either produce to the public the emails bearing Bates numbers or show cause why they should not be removed. Either produce to the public the DOJ documents or show cause why the redaction should not be removed. In other words, you got to come up with a reason.

12:57Michael Popok:Produce the FBI interview notes related to Donald Trump's victim or purported victim or show cause why the note should not be produced. Initiate a review and a production of foreign language materials that may be subject to the act and provide notice to the court that the such review is underway. Get cracking on translating and either publish in the Federal Register the redaction log and update it concurrently or show cause why you cannot. Signed, so ordered, Emmett G. Sullivan, United States District Judge on June 25, 2026. This is big, folks. This is big. For people that were snickering behind Katie's back like, she'll never get standing.

13:38Michael Popok:She's just a podcaster. She's just a YouTuber. She's just an independent journalist. No, she's a stand-in for all of America. She's a stand-in for the Epstein survivors and the Epstein victims. She's a stand-in for all of us who believe in the rule of law and that the Trump administration and its Department of Justice and its nominee to be attorney general are corrupt. And that's why you bring this case. Even if there was a snowball's chance in hell that it won, everybody, snow is in hell. We got the ruling, the right judge, the right analysis, the right facts. I'm so glad she did it. I can't tell you enough how pleased I am to know her as a person and now as a victorious litigant in this case.

14:24Michael Popok:And later today, I'm interviewing her in about an hour about the case. You'll get all the nitty gritty behind the scenes stuff. you can only find on Legal AF YouTube channel. So while you're here, hit the free subscribe button. And thank you. We just had in the last 48 hours, our best viewership ever, over 5.2 million views of our work in the last two days. And it's all because of you. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack.

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