The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has said it has released all documents required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but lawmakers from both parties have argued the disclosure remains incomplete.
In a letter sent to members of Congress on Saturday, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department had made public all Epstein-related materials in its possession and provided a list of names referenced in the files.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who co-wrote the legislation, said the release failed to include internal Justice Department memoranda explaining past decisions on whether to investigate or prosecute Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Millions of documents connected to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released earlier this month.
In the letter, Bondi and Blanche wrote: “In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and as described in various Department submissions to the courts of the Southern District of New York assigned to the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions and related orders.”
They added that the Department released all “records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department” that “relate to” any of nine different categories.
The letter added that no records were withheld “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity”.
According to the DOJ, the list includes individuals who “are or were a government official or politically exposed person” and whose names appeared at least once in the documents.
Bondi and Blanche said the references span a “wide variety of contexts”, ranging from extensive email correspondence with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to passing mentions in documents or news articles contained in the files.
Among those named are Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Bill Clinton, all of whom have acknowledged past associations with Epstein and Maxwell. The letter notes that inclusion in the files does not imply wrongdoing, and each has denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
However, the list also includes the names of deceased musicians Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley, prompting criticism from lawmakers.
The letter was addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dick Durbin, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and ranking member Jamie Raskin.
Speaking on ABC This Week on Sunday, Massie said that despite the DOJ’s assertion that it had completed its document production, key materials remained undisclosed. He accused the department of invoking deliberative process privilege to withhold records.
“The problem with that is the bill that Ro Khanna and I wrote says that they must release internal memos and notes and emails about their decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate,” Massie said.
California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who also co-wrote the law, accused the DOJ of “purposefully muddying the waters” over who was a perpetrator and who was merely referenced in the files.
“To have Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, who went to prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women and child pornography, with no clarification of how either was mentioned in the files is absurd,” Khanna wrote on X on Saturday.
“Release the full files,” he added. “Stop protecting predators. Redact only the survivor’s names.”
Lawmakers have previously said some Epstein-related files were improperly redacted ahead of their release, prompting at least one document to be corrected following congressional criticism.
Lawyers representing Epstein’s victims have also said recent releases included email addresses and nude photographs that could allow potential victims to be identified.
At the time, the DOJ said the errors were the result of “technical or human error” and that all flagged files had been removed.
