Another pledge to release Epstein files as Justice faces House subpoena deadline

A massive cache of Jeffrey Epstein files is set to be released to the public after the Justice Department hands them over Friday to a House committee — the latest development in the long-running saga to shed light on the disgraced financier’s abuse of underage girls, powerful connections and death in federal custody.

The DOJ is expected to turn over its first tranche of Epstein files after being subpoenaed by the House Oversight panel. A committee spokesperson said the files will be made public after sensitive information is redacted.

It’s unclear what new information will be among the 100,000 pages of files but much of its contents has never been released.

“My guess, from what I’ve heard from victims, lawyers and others, is 90% [of the files] is still private,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California told McClatchy. Khanna sits on the Oversight committee. He and Republican Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky are leading a bipartisan effort to make the files public.

“I do think there is a lot of new information in there,” Khanna noted.

The Miami Herald has examined which documents from years of lawsuits and investigations remain private, including footage from the security cameras in Epstein’s residences, information on his two computers and 22 FBI files containing over 500 pages of information about the investigation.

Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the Oversight panel, said his staff will conduct a review of the DOJ files as quickly as possible.

“This is sensitive information,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. “We want to make sure we don’t do anything to harm or jeopardize any victims that were involved in this, but we’re going to be transparent. We are doing what we said we would do.”

Comer is the latest public official to pledge to release the federal government’s voluminous files on Epstein, accused of preying for years on underage girls. President Donald Trump’s administration has struggled to put the Epstein issue behind it after his supporters were angry when Attorney General Pam Bondi declined last month to release new information.

Friday’s handover of files will return Bondi to the spotlight. She has sought to redeem her public image after promising to release explosive documents only to say months into her tenure as attorney general that there was nothing the public would gain from it.

She has returned her focus to her law enforcement duties, including leading the administration’s effort to crackdown on crime in Washington D.C. Bondi joined Trump at the White House when he announced he was deploying the National Guard in the nation’s capital.

The president expressed his confidence in her at that event. In the past few weeks, she has traveled around the District of Columbia to meet with guard members, posting photos on social media of her serving them food and petting security dogs.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Pressure from Congress and Judges

Meanwhile, lawmakers have taken up the charge when it comes to making the Epstein files public

It’s unclear what time on Friday the Justice Department files will arrive to the Oversight Committee or how many will be in that first batch.

The subpoena was for “all documents and communications” but it’s expected DOJ will need more time to gather all the information. The department already got a three-day delay. The original subpoena had demanded the files on Tuesday.

“We’re just going to see what they send us and we’ll go from there,” Comer said.

Additionally, the House of Representatives will face a vote on the issue when lawmakers return to Washington after Labor Day weekend.

Khanna and Massie are co-sponsoring a discharge petition designed to force the release of the Epstein files. The California Democrat said they have enough support from both Republicans and Democrats to get the petition passed within a few weeks of returning to session.

He said his goal with making the files public is that “we need to get it before Thanksgiving, and I think that passing the bill will really help with it.”

To keep the public pressure on, Khanna and Massie will host an event with 10 Epstein victims at the Capitol building on Sept. 3.

The Trump administration has stayed quiet on the congressional moves.

But it received a blow on Wednesday when a federal judge in New York refused to release grand jury transcripts from Epstein’s sex-trafficking investigation, the third rejection the Justice Department faced as it tried to satisfy the calls for more information.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote that he made his decision to withhold the files, in part, because “the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.”

He pointed out that DOJ’s 100,000 pages of Epstein materials “dwarf” the roughly 70 pages of grand jury material. He accused Bondi of pushing for the release of grand jury material to cause a “diversion from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the government’s possession.”

“The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein files,” Berman wrote. “The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”

Bondi, at Trump’s direction, requested grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell — convicted on sex-trafficking charges — be released in an attempt to satisfy those who remain outraged over the lack of new information in the case.

There is a never-ending list of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein and questions remain about an Epstein “client list,” details on how he made his fortune and whether or not he blackmailed powerful officials.

In July, the attorney general filed motions in Florida and the Southern District of New York to have the testimony released.

Florida swiftly denied the request, with the judge citing the rules of grand jury secrecy — and saying that the government had failed to prove that the release of the material was necessary to address the intense public interest in the case.

And, last week, a New York judge ruled against releasing the Maxwell transcripts for a similar reason, saying the information in them didn’t merit breaking the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.

Epstein died in 2019 in federal custody in New York while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide but it’s been subject to countless conspiracy theories that claim he was murdered in order to avoid implicating his rich and powerful friends in any crimes. After stoking suspicions, Bondi’s DOJ declared that Epstein had indeed killed himself in a memo announcing that it would not release any further documents.

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

She is appealing her case and cooperating with administration. Maxwell was interviewed for two days in Florida last month by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Shortly thereafter she was transferred from federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security women’s facility in Texas.