As acting Attorney General Todd Blanche gets ready to face senators for his confirmation hearing next week, lawmakers are putting his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files back into the spotlight.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — the leading sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act — wrote a letter to Blanche on Thursday raising concerns about the Justice Department’s failure to release all the unredacted Epstein documents in its possession.
“Congress passed the EFTA to provide disclosure, answers, and accountability,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, first obtained by MS NOW. “By delaying release and relying on broad redactions, the DOJ is making it harder for journalists and the public to understand the truth.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
In January, Blanche said the Justice Department reviewed six million pages of documents related to the Epstein files. But the DOJ only released 3.5 million pages — and lawmakers have raised issue with the redactions in the files, concerned that victim information was left out in the open.
The letter comes weeks after a judge ordered the Justice Department to remove redactions from more than a dozen Epstein files, including email exchanges and interviews. It’s part of a civil lawsuit independent journalist Katie Phang brought against Blanche, which argues the Justice Department’s lack of compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act has hampered her work as a journalist.
On July 2, hours before the judge-ordered deadline, the Justice Department declined to produce the unredacted documents, arguing the Trump administration shouldn’t be ordered to release those documents and contending that it has already complied with the law.
The Justice Department noted that it made redactions in line with the legislation, which allows information to be hidden to protect victims and their families.
The judge has ordered Phang to respond by July 13, and the Justice Department to respond by July 20.
In a statement to MS NOW, Khanna pointed to the Justice Department’s inaction in the wake of the judge’s order.
“The DOJ has ignored Judge Sullivan’s July 2nd deadline and has openly defied the law with its botched redaction and failure to release the remaining files,” he said. “The survivors and the public deserve answers.”
Khanna and Massie echoed that sentiment in their letter.
“We urge you to comply fully with Judge Sullivan’s order and the EFTA by releasing all non-exempt records, reviewing foreign-language documents, and providing document-specific explanations for every redaction,” they said.
The pair also raised concerns with the lack of information provided to Congress about the redactions made in the Epstein files. The law allows for redactions to protect victims and their families but requires that the omissions be explained. Khanna and Massie argue the Justice Department hasn’t complied in that respect.
“Victim privacy must be protected, but that protection cannot be used as a blanket excuse to withhold records Congress required to be released,” they wrote.
