(AFP) – The US Justice Department’s internal watchdog said Thursday it will investigate its compliance with a law mandating the release of millions of pages of documents in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The law passed last November obligated the Trump administration to exhibit total transparency on the politically explosive case file of Epstein, the billionaire playboy who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
But after making reams of documents public in a process that culminated with a drop of some three million pages in late January, the Justice Department (DOJ) came in for heated criticism. Lawmakers from both parties complained about information being withheld, in particular the redaction of parts of the massive case file. At the same time, the department released names and photos of Epstein victims who until then had not been named publicly, triggering outrage. These sensitive parts of the file were later removed from the public domain.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act compelled the DOJ to release all documents in its possession related to Epstein within 30 days. It required redaction of names or other personally identifiable information about Epstein’s victims, who numbered more than 1,000, according to the FBI. But powerful figures who were friendly with Epstein could not be shielded “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity,” the law states.
The department’s Office of the Inspector General announced Thursday it was opening a probe into how the department complied with the law called the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The probe will “evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the Act.” A final report will be issued.
In February, lawmakers from both parties who were allowed to view the fully unredacted Epstein files at DOJ facilities complained that some information in the publicly released files was still improperly shielded. Simply being mentioned in the Epstein files does not denote the commission of wrongdoing. But since the huge document drop on January 30, prominent people around the world have been rocked by revelations of their ties with Epstein. This has led to criminal probes, arrests, and resignations, mainly in Europe.
© 2024 AFP
