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Washington — Lawmakers who led the push to compel the discharge of the recordsdata associated to late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein criticized the Justice Division’s launch of an preliminary tranche of recordsdata and pictures Sunday, advocating for survivors looking for extra key paperwork about people concerned within the abuse.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California referred to as the discharge a “slap within the face of survivors.”
“It isn’t in regards to the timeline, it is in regards to the selective concealment,” Khanna mentioned on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
On Friday, the Justice Division started disclosing 1000’s of recordsdata, going through a deadline to launch all of the recordsdata in accordance with a legislation signed earlier this yr. The recordsdata included new pictures of distinguished figures and of Epstein’s travels and varied properties. Additionally they embody grand jury transcripts from the assorted circumstances introduced towards Epstein and his associates. Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche mentioned the Justice Division would proceed to launch the recordsdata over the following couple weeks.
The disclosures sparked scrutiny from survivors and a few lawmakers, who argue that the recordsdata ought to have been launched in full by the Dec. 19 deadline.
Khanna clarified that for him, the issue is not “that it is taking too lengthy,” however slightly that the Justice Division hasn’t hasn’t launched “key paperwork” that survivors are looking for that Khanna mentioned implicate the “wealthy and highly effective males who visited Epstein’s rape island and coated up the abuse.”
Khanna additionally referred to as the redactions to the launched recordsdata “extreme.” CBS Information discovered that not less than 550 pages within the preliminary launch of the paperwork had been totally redacted. The Justice Division has defended its launch and claimed the redactions made had been required by legislation.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who appeared alongside Khanna on “Face the Nation,” mentioned the Justice Division is “flouting the spirit and the letter of the legislation.”
“It’s totally troubling the posture that they’ve taken,” Massie added. “And I will not be glad till the survivors are glad.”
CBS Information has reached out to the Justice Division for remark and can replace this story with any response.
Friday’s launch got here after years of strain from lawmakers and survivors, which ramped up in current months as they sought transparency across the authorities’s investigations into Epstein after the Justice Division mentioned in a July inner evaluate that it discovered no “consumer record.” Khanna and Massie led the cost in Congress, incomes help on a discharge petition to pressure a vote on a measure that compelled Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi to launch the recordsdata. President Trump signed the invoice into legislation final month.
Massie outlined the attainable subsequent steps Sunday, saying “the quickest approach, and I believe most expeditious approach, to get justice for these victims is to deliver inherent contempt towards Pam Bondi.” The Kentucky Republican mentioned he and Khanna are “speaking about and drafting that proper now.” Khanna added that the 2 males are “constructing a bipartisan coalition, and it will effective Pam Bondi for day by day that she’s not releasing these paperwork.”
“We would like the recordsdata out.” Khanna mentioned. “There is a fairly easy level: Who raped these younger ladies, who coated it up, and why are they getting away with it?”
Massie has pointed to twenty alleged co-conspirators, a quantity he mentioned he heard from the survivors’ legal professionals. Massie mentioned the legal professionals have “solely given me a kind of names,” which he mentioned throughout a congressional listening to in September was Jes Staley, the previous CEO of Barclays Financial institution. Staley has denied wrongdoing and mentioned he regrets befriending Epstein.
Khanna mentioned “there are wealthy and highly effective individuals who both engaged on this abuse, coated it up, or had been on this island. And what the American individuals wish to know is who’re these individuals?”
“As a substitute of holding them accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the legislation, and that is the corrupt system, the Epstein class, that individuals are sick of,” Khanna mentioned. “So I consider we’ll get bipartisan help in holding her accountable. And a committee of Congress ought to decide whether or not these redactions are justified or not.”
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