Democrats and Republicans criticized the most recent action by the US Department of Justice, which guaranteed this weekend that it had already released all the files required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, stating that the documents already publicized are insufficient.
“In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and as described in the Department’s various submissions to the courts in the Southern District of New York handling the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions and related orders, the Department has disclosed all ‘records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the Department’s possession’ that ‘relate’ to any of nine different categories,” reads a missive sent to Congress by the Department of Justice and signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, who further added that no records were withheld based on embarrassment. harm to reputation or political sensitivity.”
The missive — sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senior Fellow Dick Durbin and House Judiciary Committee Leader Jim Jordan and Democratic Senior Fellow Jamie Raskin — also contained a list of “politically exposed persons” in the millions of Epstein files, although the Justice Department did not specify the context in which they appear in the files or the degree of connection (if any) to the sex offender. It is said only that the names appear in a “wide variety of contexts,” including people who had “extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell” and others mentioned only in documents or news articles contained in the files.
The list includes names with recognized links to Jeffrey Epstein, such as President Donald Trump, his former advisor Steve Bannon, former President Bill Clinton, former Prince Andrew or millionaires Les Wexner and Bill Gates. But also names of deceased figures such as Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson or Princess Diana.
For Republican congressman Thomas Massie, despite the Department of Justice having said that it “has completed the production of these documents”, there are files that must still be released, noting that they are “invoking the privilege of the deliberative process to not disclose some of the documents”.
“The problem is that the bill that Ro Khanna and I drafted requires the disclosure of memos, notes and e-mails internal decisions about whether or not to prosecute, whether to investigate or not,” Massie noted in an interview with ABC on Sunday night, referring to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which he drafted with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and which was passed in a bipartisan effort.
The Republican also commented on Pam Bondi’s hearing on Wednesday in the House of Representatives, during which the two were protagonists of heated exchanges about the Epstein files, saying that the attorney general did not provide any answers to what was asked of her. “I don’t think Pam Bondi trusts herself,” Massie said on ABC. “She didn’t have enough confidence to do anything other than swear during a hearing. So, no, I don’t trust her.”
And he did not forget the role of the President of the United States in this entire case. “Donald Trump told us that even though he had dinner with these people in New York and West Palm Beach, he would be transparent. But he’s not. He’s still tied to the Epstein crowd. This is the Epstein administration.”
Ro Khanna, for his part, accused the Department of Justice of “purposefully confusing who the predator was and who was mentioned in the emails.” “It is absurd to include Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, on the same list as Larry Nassar, who was arrested for sexually abusing hundreds of young women and child pornography, without clarifying how any of them were mentioned in the files,” continued the Democrat on X. “Release the complete files. Stop protecting predators. Just hide the names of the survivors.”
In another publication, Khanna assured that he and Massie “are campaigning for accountability from the Epstein class and the Epstein administration”, suggesting that they “start with Lutnick!”, referring to the Secretary of Commerce of the current White House.
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