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Bondi criticised after saying all Epstein files have been released
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has said it has released all of the files required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but lawmakers have argued the release is insufficient.
A letter sent to members of the US Congress on Saturday from US Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy said all documents held by the DoJ had been released. It contained a list of names appearing in the files.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who co-wrote the law, called for the DoJ to also release internal memos outlining past decisions on whether to charge Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Millions of new files relating to the late sex offender Epstein were released by the DoJ earlier this month. At the time, the deputy attorney general said three million pages were not released.
This was due to the existence of personal medical files, graphic depictions of child abuse or other material that would jeopardise investigations, said Todd Blanche on the day of the documents dump.
In the latest letter, Bondi and Blanche wrote: "In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and as described in various Department submissions to the courts of the Southern District of New York assigned to the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions and related orders, the Department released all 'records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department' that 'relate to' any of nine different categories."
No records were withheld from the DoJ's release "on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity", the letter added.
The individuals listed in the letter include people who "are or were a government official or politically exposed person", and whose name appeared at least once in the files, the letter says.
The names appear in the files in a "wide variety of contexts", including some people who had "extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell" and others who were merely referenced in documents or news articles contained in the files, Blanche and Bondi wrote.
Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Bill Clinton - who are included in the list - all had documented past relationships with Epstein and Maxwell. There is no suggestion that appearing in the documents implies any wrongdoing and each has denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.
But the list also includes the names of deceased musicians Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley.
The letter was addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dick Durbin, as well as the House Judiciary Committee's chairman Jim Jordan and ranking member Jamie Raskin.
In an interview on ABC This Week on Sunday, Massie argued that, even though the DoJ "wants to say they are done with this document production", there are more crucial files that should be released.
The DoJ was "signing deliberative process privilege in order not to release some of the documents", he said.
The problem with that is the bill that Ro Khanna and I wrote says that they must release internal memos and notes and emails about their decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate.
In response to the letter, California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who co-wrote the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accused the DoJ of "purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email".
"To have Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, who went to prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women and child pornography, with no clarification of how either was mentioned in the files is absurd," Khanna wrote on X on Saturday.
Release the full files," he added. "Stop protecting predators. Redact only the survivor's names.
The BBC has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.
US lawmakers previously said files on Epstein were improperly redacted ahead of their release, leading to at least one document being unredacted after their criticism.
Lawyers for Epstein's victims have also said the latest tranche of files included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of potential victims could be identified.
At the time, the DoJ said mistakes were due to "technical or human error" and they had taken down all the flagged files.
Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
Source: BBC
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