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Congressman pushing for release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein told independent The Justice Department is sidestepping legal provisions it passed mandating the release of documents.
In November, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) filed a removal petition to force the House to vote on their legislation requiring the Justice Department to release all documents related to Epstein. that vote Passed almost unanimously and It passed the Senate unanimously.
But Massey criticized the release of the documents almost from the beginning of the process. In fact, Trump officials acknowledged that they were still scrutinizing the documents to make appropriate changes and that not everything had been released by the Dec. 19 deadline imposed by federal law.
Massey said he wanted to see the 302 form the FBI used to describe the interview. Massey also said he wants to see the full preliminary documents from the late sex offender’s 2008 case, which would allow him to Convicted of lesser state charges in Florida After an agreement is reached between the attorneys.
“They need to provide the same initial draft charging documents that were in the old case in Florida,” he told independent. “In the 2019 case, there were some very specific documents that were not released.”
Massey and Khanna also sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmeyer for the Southern District of New York asking him to compel the release of the documents. Their letter calls for the appointment of a special master to ensure the complete documents are released.
“Simply put, the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to make mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the letter reads. “While we believe a criminal violation occurred and must be addressed, the most urgent need now is for the Department of Justice to provide all documents and electronically stored information required by the bill.”
The Kentucky Republican has become a fierce critic of the Trump administration, criticizing the Justice Department for trying to overturn parts of the law that say the documents cannot be redacted out of personal embarrassment.
“So that’s what I focus on, not the fact that they clearly missed the deadline,” he said. “Of course they shouldn’t be doing this. They’ve been waiting a long time.”
Rep. Theresa Leger Fernandez, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, who held a vigil with the victims as the Senate passed the resolution, also criticized the nature of the releases. Specifically, she criticized the fact that many men’s faces were edited, but women’s faces were not.
“Everything they did was the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do,” she told The Independent. “We should be trying to protect those who have already been victimized. All they do is victimize themselves again.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are continuing their investigation into the Epstein case in the House of Representatives. Although Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are in the minority, they secured subpoenas from Les Wexner, the billionaire who managed Epstein’s money, and Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, the two executors of Epstein’s estate.
Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) told The Independent he supported Khanna and Massie’s request for a special master. He also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the documents.
“So we’re very supportive of that and we continue to interview people and survivors and ask Bundy to come up with documents,” he told independent.
But Democrats have fewer allies in pushing for the release of the documents. This week, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene officially resigned from Congress after a public conflict with President Donald Trump over her support of releasing the documents.
Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Nancy Mace of South Carolina were the only original Republicans on the release petition pushed by Massey and Khanna that led to the law requiring the release of the documents.
Late last month, Trump vetoed legislation sponsored by Boebert Providing clean drinking water to parts of her region. Boebert strongly suggested that her vote on Epstein’s removal petition played a role in the veto.
The House voted against it on Thursday but failed to overturn the veto. Only 24 Republicans voted to override the president’s veto.