Washington, DC — The Department of Justice said it will begin allowing members of Congress to review unredacted versions of the Jeffrey Epstein files starting Monday, following bipartisan criticism that the agency improperly shielded identities in the public release.
In a letter obtained by The Hill, Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis informed all 535 lawmakers that unredacted copies of more than 3 million pages of documents will be made available for in-person review at a DOJ reading room. Lawmakers will not be permitted to bring electronic devices but may take handwritten notes.
The move comes after members of Congress questioned whether the DOJ fully complied with the Epstein Transparency Act, which mandates public disclosure of records with only narrow redactions, primarily to protect victims’ identities. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrote last month that the department claimed to have identified more than 6 million potentially responsive pages but released only about half, including hundreds of thousands that were redacted or withheld.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche previously announced the release of a final tranche of documents, which included unverified allegations involving public figures and correspondence showing Epstein communicating with Elon Musk and Bill Gates. However, lawmakers raised concerns that the senders of several explicit emails were redacted.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who sponsored the transparency legislation, demanded a meeting with DOJ officials, arguing that concealing identities for reputational reasons violates the law. The act allows redactions only in limited circumstances, such as protecting victims’ personal information.
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