(AFP) – The US Justice Department opened the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files to review by members of Congress on Monday as several lawmakers expressed concern that some names have been removed from the publicly released records. The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed overwhelmingly by Congress in November, compelled the Justice Department to release all of the documents in its possession related to the convicted sex offender.
It required the redaction of the names or any other personally identifiable information about Epstein’s victims, who numbered more than 1,000 according to the FBI. However, it stated that no records could be “withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, is among the members of the House of Representatives questioning some of the redactions in the more than three million documents released by the Justice Department. Khanna posted examples on his Facebook page. The name of the sender of a January 17, 2013 email to Epstein is blacked out in the released files. “New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute, =9yo,” the message says.
The name of the sender of a March 11, 2014 email to Epstein is also redacted. “Thank you for a fun night,” the message says. “Your littlest girl was a little naughty.” Khanna said the names of the senders of the emails need to be revealed. “Concealing the reputations of these powerful men is a blatant violation of the Epstein Transparency Act,” he said.
Epstein, who had ties to business executives, politicians, celebrities, and academics, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minor girls. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, is the only person convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein. She was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking underage girls to the financier and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
On Monday, Maxwell testified from prison to Congress but refused to answer any questions while stating that she would speak if President Donald Trump granted her clemency. The Justice Department has said no new prosecutions are expected, but a number of political and business leaders have already been tarnished by scandal or resigned after their ties with Epstein were revealed in the files.
Trump fought for months to prevent the release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein—a longtime former friend—but a rebellion among Republicans forced him to sign off on the law mandating the release of all the records. The move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump’s own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up to protect rich and powerful men in Epstein’s orbit.
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