Group in Congress pushing for more Epstein transparency

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

Nearly eight months after the Epstein Files Transparency Act became law, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is demanding additional federal disclosure of records related to the deceased sex trafficker and his associates.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act II would allow state attorneys general, victims of Epstein or his co-conspirators, and members of Congress to sue the Department of Justice for “unlawfully withholding, redacting, delaying, concealing, removing, or failing to publish Epstein-related records.”

It also gives victims the right to obtain “full, unredacted records concerning themselves or the harm they suffered” and requires the DOJ to provide prosecutors handling Epstein-related cases with unredacted versions of relevant records.

Led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the group has vowed that if the House does not consider the legislation by Monday, it will circulate a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the bill.

“Since the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law on November 19, 2025, the Department of Justice has flagrantly and consistently ignored EFTA’s disclosure requirements,” Massie stated.

“The Department of Justice continues to unlawfully withhold over 3 million Epstein files that should be released to the public … State attorneys general and victims should have the right to sue the Attorney General of the United States to compel compliance with a transparency law President Trump signed.”

Massie and others have accused the DOJ of bungling the release of the Epstein files. The department missed the legal deadline to release the files, failed to redact the personal information of some victims, and made excessive and incorrect redactions.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act expressly forbids the DOJ from redacting relevant information unless it could potentially jeopardize victim privacy, national security, or prosecution efforts. The DOJ apparently violated that edict, however, in at least one of the documents.

One of the incorrect redactions included information on how Epstein attempted to pay off witnesses of his sex trafficking operations and destroy evidence of his crimes.

As a result, the DOJ Office of the Inspector General initiated an audit in April into whether the department legally complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The OIG has yet to release any audit progress or results.

In the meantime, the House Oversight Committee has conducted 19 depositions and interviews with high-profile figures connected to Epstein and named in the files.

In the over 3 million files on Epstein that the Department of Justice released on orders from Congress, dozens of high-profile figures are mentioned, including Trump; former president Bill Clinton; billionaires Elon Musk, Les Wexner, and Bill Gates; current Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, former Harvard University president Larry Summers, and others.

As of July 24, the committee has made zero criminal referrals. Every former Epstein associate who has appeared before the committee – including Clinton, Gates, and Wexner – has denied knowing of Epstein’s sex trafficking during their association with him, despite several having close relationships with Epstein for more than a decade.

Most recently, billionaire and long-time Epstein associate Leon Black voluntarily appeared before the committee and denied knowledge of the convicted sex offenders’ trafficking crimes.

Yet once lawmakers began probing him on the details of nondisclosure agreements related to Epstein’s victims, as well as Black’s own extramarital affairs and the abuse accusations against him, Black refused to answer and left.

As a result, the committee subpoenaed Black, who will appear before them again on Sept. 3, this time under oath.