BREAKING: Federal Prosecutors Had Enough to Stop Epstein in 2005

Federal failures let Epstein offend for years, Blanche threatened to arrest Democrats, the DOJ altered translations to extradite a left-wing donor, and the US may lose its measles elimination status

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.

A congressional investigation found that federal prosecutors could have stopped Jeffrey Epstein years before his death and chose not to. Attorney General Todd Blanche is threatening to arrest Democratic members of Congress for their “rhetoric.” The Trump administration deliberately altered translated legal documents to strengthen its case against a left-wing donor. And the United States may officially lose its measles elimination status this week.

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Federal Prosecutors Could Have Prevented Epstein’s Crimes, but Didn’t

It took Congress 15 months to confirm what the victims said on day one.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Tuesday released its final report on the Epstein investigations. The committee concluded that federal prosecutors had enough evidence to stop Epstein as early as 2005, but instead struck a deal that allowed him to avoid federal charges.

The committee found that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida struck a deal in 2007 with Epstein to avoid federal prosecution, instead of fully investigating allegations in other states. The report says this was the result of poor judgment and what it describes as Epstein’s “pervasive and wide-reaching influence.”

Investigators also scrutinized Epstein’s 2019 death in a New York prison, attributing it to institutional failures at the facility, including staffing shortages, overworked employees and lax security practices. The report says testimony was “unable to definitively dispel certain theories” surrounding the death, including a gap in surveillance footage.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, called the report the product of “an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings.” Garcia accused the Justice Department of withholding more than 2.5 million pages of documents and said Democrats will take over the investigation when they take control of Congress in January.

Attorney General Todd Blanche Threatens to Arrest Democrats for ‘Rhetoric’

Todd Blanche used to be Trump’s defense lawyer. He still is.

Attorney General Todd Blanche went on Fox & Friends Monday and threatened to bring criminal charges against Democrats in Congress. He said the incoming majority’s plans to investigate the administration could be prosecuted as crimes.

Blanche said his role is “to defend the administration.” He vowed he would not allow what he called “vile rhetoric” from incoming Democratic lawmakers to spill over into “actual criminal conduct.” He didn’t name one instance of criminal behavior by any Democratic lawmaker.

Blanche was also on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, where he said the Justice Department would represent administration officials in any congressional investigations. He left open the door for Democratic lawmakers to be investigated by the DOJ after Trump demanded an investigation into what the president called “lawfare” against his allies.

Blanche told NBC News earlier this year that Trump directing the DOJ to target political opponents should “make every American happy.” He has also bragged about putting “roadblocks” within the department to ensure no future administration can prosecute Trump after his presidency.

Trump Accused of Altering Translations to Strengthen Extradition Case

The administration couldn’t make the charges stick in English, so they tried again in Spanish.

Lawyers for jailed leftwing donor James “Fergie” Chambers accused the Trump administration of deliberately changing legally required translations in its extradition request to Spain. The Spanish translations added words like “violent,” “detonate,” and “fires” not found in the original English text.

In one example cited by the defense, the original English text refers to “direct action events” at Elbit Systems facilities, which the Spanish translation renders as “acts of direct violence.” In another, “the three” activists who “caused significant damage to the building” are rendered as “three fires,” despite no fires occurring during the protests.

Chambers’ lawyers filed a 21-page petition with the National Court of Spain asking for a new translation and for the court to recognize what the attorneys called “bad faith” actions by the U.S. government. He is due to appear at an extradition hearing on November 13.

Chambers has applied for political asylum in Spain and cannot be extradited until his case is heard. Chambers, who describes himself as a communist and anti-imperialist, is heir to the Cox family, owners of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, and has been funding about 100 progressive and humanitarian projects in 20 countries.

The United States May Officially Lose Its Measles Elimination Status This Week

North Korea still has its measles elimination status.

Officials with the Pan American Health Organization are meeting this week to decide whether the United States has had enough endemic spread of measles to warrant revoking the elimination status the country earned in 2000. Public health experts say the loss is all but certain, and would amount to a public health failure of the highest order.

There have been 5,182 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. so far this year, up from 2,289 in all of 2025 and just 285 in 2024. Local health departments have tied the outbreaks this year to eight deaths, and the disease has been detected in almost every state.

Many public health experts blame the Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spent years sowing doubt about vaccine safety. Before taking office, Kennedy recommended chicken soup and vitamin A as a “cure” for measles, and has refused to mount a national vaccination campaign in the 18 months since.

Nationally, the percentage of kindergartners who are vaccinated against measles has fallen to 92.4 percent, below the 95 percent needed to sustain herd immunity. Eighteen states have MMR vaccination rates below 90 percent, with Idaho at just 75.2 percent.

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