WASHINGTON — Lawmakers sad with Justice Division selections to closely redact or withhold paperwork from a legally mandated launch of information associated to Jeffrey Epstein threatened Saturday to launch impeachment proceedings in opposition to these accountable, together with Pam Bondi, the U.S. legal professional normal.
Democrats and Republicans alike criticized the omissions, whereas Democrats additionally accused the Justice Division of deliberately scrubbing the discharge of a minimum of one picture of President Trump, with Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggesting it may portend “one of many greatest coverups in American historical past.”
Trump administration officers have mentioned the discharge totally complied with the legislation, and that its redactions had been crafted solely to guard victims of Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender accused of abusing a whole lot of ladies and ladies earlier than his demise in 2019.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), an writer of the Epstein Information Transparency Act, which required the discharge of the investigative trove, blasted Bondi in a social media video, accusing her of denying the existence of most of the information for months, solely to push out “an incomplete launch with too many redactions” in response to — and in violation of — the brand new legislation.
Khanna mentioned he and the invoice’s co-sponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), had been “exploring all choices” for responding and forcing extra disclosures, together with by pursuing “the impeachment of individuals at Justice,” asking courts to carry officers blocking the discharge in contempt, and “referring for prosecution those that are obstructing justice.”
“We’ll work with the survivors to demand the total launch of those information,” Khanna mentioned.
He later added in a CNN interview that he and Massie had been drafting articles of impeachment in opposition to Bondi, although that they had not determined whether or not to deliver them ahead.
Massie, in his personal social media put up, mentioned Khanna was right in rejecting the Friday launch as inadequate, saying that it “grossly fails to adjust to each the spirit and the letter of the legislation.”
The lawmakers’ view that the Justice Division’s doc dump did not adjust to the legislation echoed related complaints throughout the political spectrum Saturday, as the total scope of redactions and different withholdings got here into focus.
The frustration had already sharply escalated late Friday, after Fox Information Digital reported that the names and identifiers of not simply victims however of “politically uncovered people and authorities officers” had been redacted from the information — which might violate the legislation, and which Justice Division officers denied.
Among the many critics was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who cited the Fox reporting in an exasperated put up late Friday to X.
“The entire level was NOT to guard the ‘politically uncovered people and authorities officers.’ That’s precisely what MAGA has at all times wished, that’s what drain the swamp really means. It means expose all of them, the wealthy highly effective elites who’re corrupt and commit crimes, NOT redact their names and defend them,” Greene wrote.
Senior Justice Division officers later known as in to Fox Information to dispute the report. However the removing of a file revealed within the Friday night launch, capturing a desk in Epstein’s residence with a drawer stuffed of images of Trump, bolstered bipartisan considerations that references to the president had been illegally withheld.
In a launch of paperwork from the Epstein household property by the Home Oversight Committee this fall, Trump’s title was featured over 1,000 instances — greater than another public determine.
“In the event that they’re taking this down, simply think about how way more they’re attempting to cover,” Schumer wrote on X. “This may very well be one of many greatest coverups in American historical past.”
A number of victims additionally mentioned the discharge was inadequate. “It’s actually type of one other slap within the face,” Alicia Arden, who went to the police to report that Epstein had abused her in 1997, advised CNN. “I wished all of the information to return out, like they mentioned that they had been going to.”
Trump, who signed the act into legislation after having labored to dam it from getting a vote, was conspicuously quiet on the matter. In a protracted speech in North Carolina on Friday evening, he didn’t point out it.
Nevertheless, White Home officers and Justice Division leaders rejected the notion that the discharge was incomplete or out of compliance with the legislation, or that the names of politicians had been redacted.
“The one redactions being utilized to the paperwork are these required by legislation — full cease,” mentioned Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche. “In line with the statute and relevant legal guidelines, we’re not redacting the names of people or politicians until they’re a sufferer.”
Different Republicans defended the administration. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the Home Oversight Committee, mentioned the administration “is delivering unprecedented transparency within the Epstein case and can proceed releasing paperwork.”
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial on intercourse trafficking expenses. He’d been convicted in 2008 of procuring a baby for prostitution in Florida, however served solely 13 months in custody in what many condemned as a sweetheart plea deal for a well-connected and wealthy defendant.
Epstein’s acts of abuse have attracted huge consideration, together with amongst many inside Trump’s political base, partly due to unanswered questions surrounding which of his many highly effective buddies might have additionally been implicated in crimes in opposition to youngsters. A few of these questions have swirled round Trump, who was buddies with Epstein for years earlier than the 2 had what the president has described as a falling out.
Proof has emerged in current months that means Trump might have had information of Epstein’s crimes throughout their friendship.
Epstein wrote in a 2019 e mail, launched by the Home Oversight Committee, that Trump “knew concerning the ladies.” In a 2011 e mail to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of conspiring with Epstein to assist him sexually abuse ladies, Epstein wrote that “the canine that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my home with him … he has by no means as soon as been talked about.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
The information launched Friday contained few if any main new revelations, however did embody a grievance in opposition to Epstein filed with the FBI again in 1996 — which the FBI did little with, substantiating long-standing fears amongst Epstein’s victims that his crimes may have been stopped years earlier.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of many president’s most constant critics, wrote on X that Bondi ought to seem earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee to elucidate beneath oath the intensive redactions and omissions, which he known as a “willful violation of the legislation.”
“The Trump Justice Division has had months to maintain their promise to launch all the Epstein Information,” Schiff wrote. “Epstein’s survivors and the American individuals want solutions now.”
