The US Justice Department opened the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files to review by members of Congress on Feb 9 as several lawmakers expressed concern that some names have been removed from the publicly released records, according to AFP.
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.
But it said 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 17 January 2013 email to Epstein is blacked out in the released files.
“New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute. She is 9 years old,” the message said.
The name of the sender of a 11 March 2014 email to Epstein is also redacted. “Thank you for a fun night,” the message said. “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.
Republican committee chairman James Comer said Maxwell had invoked her right to not incriminate herself, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
“As expected, Ghislaine Maxwell took the fifth and refused to answer any questions,” Comer told reporters. “This is obviously very disappointing.”
“We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed as well as questions about potential co-conspirators,” he said.
Maxwell's lawyers told the House panel that the former British socialite was prepared to testify only if she was first granted clemency by President Donald Trump, Comer said.
The lawyers had pushed for Congress to grant her legal immunity in order to testify, but lawmakers refused.
Trump fought for months to prevent 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 release of all the records.
