Dispute Over Release of Epstein Files
The government's justice department has declared that it has made public all files necessitated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. However, this assertion has been challenged by lawmakers who believe the disclosure is inadequate.
An official communication was dispatched to congressional members last weekend by the US Attorney General and her assistant. The letter stated that all documents in the possession of the justice department have been disclosed and also included a roster of names featured in the files.
Call for More Transparency
A prominent Republican Representative from Kentucky, a co-author of the law, has demanded the justice department to reveal internal memorandums, detailing previous deliberations on whether to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices.
A multitude of new documents, pertaining to the late sex offender Epstein, was made public by the justice department earlier this month. At that time, the assistant attorney general disclosed that about three million pages were withheld. The reason given for this was the presence of private medical records, explicit portrayals of child abuse, or other data that could potentially jeopardize ongoing investigations, as explained by the assistant attorney general on the day of the document release.
The Latest Communication
In the most recent letter, the Attorney General and her assistant stated, "In line with the stipulations of the Act, and as elaborated in various Department submissions to the courts of the Southern District of New York assigned to the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions and related orders, the Department has released all 'records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department' that 'relate to' any of nine different categories."
The letter lists individuals who "are or were a government official or politically exposed person", and whose name featured at least once in the files.
The names appear in the files in a "broad range of contexts", including some individuals who had "extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell" and others who were merely mentioned in documents or news articles included in the files, as noted by the Attorney General and her assistant.
Several high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Bill Clinton, who had documented past relationships with Epstein and Maxwell, are included in the list. However, it's important to clarify that being mentioned in the documents doesn't imply any wrongdoing, and all of these individuals have fervently denied any participation in Epstein's crimes.
A Push for Further Disclosure
In a recent television interview, the Republican Representative argued that, despite the justice department's claim to have completed this document release, there are more critical files that ought to be disclosed.
He stated, "The issue here is that the bill that we authored clearly states that they must disclose internal memos, notes, and emails regarding their decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, or whether to investigate or not investigate."
Reacting to the letter, a Democratic Representative from California, who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accused the justice department of "deliberately obfuscating who was a predator and who was merely mentioned in an email".
He pointed out the glaring issue of including a name like Janis Joplin, who passed away when Epstein was only 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, a convicted sex offender, with no clarification of how each was mentioned in the files. This, in his view, is preposterous.