Lawmakers Push for Release of Epstein Investigation Documents

In Washington, a bipartisan group of lawmakers made a formal request to a federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, seeking to compel the release of all investigative materials linked to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. This comes after the Justice Department revealed that a staggering 99% of related documents haven’t been released yet.

Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are urging U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer to appoint a special judge to oversee the document disclosure process, aligning with a law signed by President Trump on November 19.

In their statement, attorneys for Massie and Khanna emphasized that the Department of Justice is falling short on its disclosure obligations. They proposed that the court appoint an independent body to manage the document releases from the DOJ.

Since the Epstein File Transparency Act came into effect on December 19, the Trump administration has disclosed 12,285 documents, amounting to around 125,575 pages of investigative materials.

This appointed special counsel would provide regular updates to judges regarding the release of documents and could also summon testimonies from members of the U.S. attorney’s office involved in the process.

On Monday, Judge Engelmayer indicated that Massie and Khanna can submit a legal brief outlining how the Justice Department has “failed in multiple respects” to adhere to the Epstein File Transparency Act, which mandates an independent monitor’s installation.

Federal prosecutors were due to respond to this motion by Friday, and the judge has asked the Justice Department to clarify whether the lawmakers are indeed in compliance and if the Southern District of New York is the right venue for this case.

Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving time alongside Epstein’s offenses, could also submit a response by January 20.

In a letter dated January 8, Massie and Khanna claimed that the Justice Department may have committed a “criminal violation” by not fulfilling its mandatory disclosure obligations. They also asserted that Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to provide Congress with the necessary report categorizing which records should be public, redacted, or withheld.

Just two days ago, the Justice Department mentioned that over 2 million documents related to Epstein remain under review. However, officials have not responded to inquiries for further comment.

A January 6 filing from the Justice Department indicated that about 400 lawyers are handling this extensive workload, with at least 125 from the Southern District of New York alone, which is over half of U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton’s staff in Manhattan.

On Christmas Eve, authorities announced the discovery of an additional 1 million documents that could be tied to Epstein.

Clayton explained that the initial review of these newly found documents suggests that many are duplicates of already collected materials. Nevertheless, these will still need to be processed to ensure accuracy.

The overarching aim of these efforts is to ensure a swift release of materials under the Act, while also prioritizing the privacy of victims as much as possible, in line with the Act’s intent and Department policies.

Officials have stressed that the slow release of these files is crucial for safeguarding victims and avoiding any potential complications in ongoing litigation.

Interestingly, an amateur web sleuth has recently found a method to uncensor edited files. By copying a file from Adobe Acrobat and pasting it into a word processing software, they managed to reveal the hidden content.

This editorial issue was examined by The Post last month.