WASHINGTON — Rep. Thomas Massie threatened Monday to disclose extra names of highly effective males tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s sick antics — because the Justice Division claimed it’s nonetheless keen to prosecute the late pedophile’s pals following outrage over redactions in a Friday doc launch.
Massie (R-Ky.) was the lead co-sponsor of the Epstein Information Transparency Act, which required Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi to launch case recordsdata final week, albeit with huge redactions.
Massie informed The Submit that “proper now the DOJ is violating the regulation to guard these people.”
“We’ll first pursue all choices to pressure the DOJ to launch these names, and a number of other choices stay,” stated Massie, who alongside invoice sponsor Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is contemplating a legislative motion to carry Justice Division leaders in contempt for no more absolutely releasing recordsdata.
“Studying the names into the Congressional Document is a viable backup plan,” Massie stated.
Massie claimed in September that the FBI has a listing of 20 highly effective males who allegedly victimized younger ladies and ladies — naming only one, Barclays financial institution CEO Jes Staley, who rapidly resigned his place — and describing others by career.
The Structure’s Speech or Debate Clause grants members of Congress authorized immunity in the event that they share info throughout their official duties — a privilege famously utilized by then-Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), when he launched the “Pentagon Papers” on the Vietnam Conflict in 1971.
Massie stated, nevertheless, that he was solely informed Staley’s title and would must be knowledgeable of the opposite alleged wrongdoers earlier than taking such an motion.
“To be clear, I don’t have the names myself. They reside with the survivors and their legal professionals,” he stated.
At a September congressional listening to, Massie stated, “paperwork within the FBI’s possession… element at the very least 20 males, together with Mr. Jes Staley, CEO of Barclays Financial institution, who Jeffrey Epstein trafficked victims to.”
“That listing additionally contains at the very least 19 different people: one Hollywood producer price a couple of hundred million {dollars}, one royal prince, one high-profile particular person within the music trade, one outstanding banker, one high-profile authorities official, one high-profile former politician, one proprietor of a automotive firm in Italy, one rock star, one magician, and at the very least six billionaires, together with a billionaire from Canada,” Massie stated.
Bondi sought to quell the most recent outcry over the Epstein case by insisting that any males who have been eligible for prosecution can be held accountable.
“The Division of Justice beforehand acknowledged we’ll convey costs towards anybody concerned within the trafficking and exploitation of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. We reaffirm this dedication, and ask any sufferer to please come ahead with any info pertaining to any people who engaged in illicit exercise at their expense,” Bondi tweeted Sunday.
“We now have met with many victims and victims’ teams, and can proceed to take action if extra attain out. Please contact myself, [Deputy Attorney General Todd] Blanche, or the FBI and we’ll examine instantly. We consider within the equal customary of justice on this nation and can make sure that Justice is served.”
Bondi helped kick off a firestorm of curiosity within the case by suggesting in a February interview that she was reviewing an Epstein shopper listing, earlier than saying in a July memo that no shopper listing exists and that “[w]e didn’t
uncover proof that would predicate an investigation towards uncharged third events.”
The Justice Division stated within the memo that there are “over one thousand victims” — drawing incredulity that none of his highly effective pals have been concerned in misconduct.
Epstein died in jail awaiting trial in 2019. The one particular person presently incarcerated within the case is Epstein’s girlfriend-turned-madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year sentence.
DOJ defends redactions as litigation proceeds
The Epstein Information Transparency Act, which mandated final week’s disclosure, allowed solely restricted cases of redactions and was signed by President Trump after he initially opposed the laws, calling it a Democratic “hoax” designed to smear him for his personal affiliation with Epstein.
Blanche wrote in a Friday letter: “The Evaluate Protocol… instructed attorneys to redact or withhold materials that (1) contained personally identifiable info of victims; 2) depicted or contained little one sexual abuse supplies… (3) would jeopardize an energetic investigation or prosecution; (4) depicted pictures of dying, bodily abuse, or harm; and/or (5) correctly categorised nationwide protection or international coverage info.”
Blanche stated recordsdata additionally have been redacted to guard victims and as a consequence of “numerous privileges, together with deliberative-process privilege, work-product privilege, and attorney-client privilege.”
Information within the cache have been so closely redacted that in lots of instances it was inconceivable to know what they contained — in a single occasion, 100 pages have been solely blanked out.
Different redactions don’t seem like in keeping with the described requirements for overview — for instance, Epstein’s personal apparently bare rear finish was lined with a black field in a pair of seaside images to protect his modesty, and a picture beforehand revealed by The Submit from Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s marriage ceremony in 2002 confirmed former President Invoice Clinton’s face however lined Epstein’s personal.
Along with congressional pushback, there’s an ongoing authorized wrestle for the recordsdata.
The conservative transparency group Judicial Watch has two ongoing Freedom of Data Act lawsuits searching for paperwork — one towards the Justice Division and FBI and one other towards the CIA.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, a pal of Trump’s, stated the congressional transparency regulation had “loopholes sufficiently big for a airplane with Invoice Clinton to fly to Epstein’s island” and that the group is hopeful it would obtain a special, probably much less censored set of knowledge.
The FOIA course of requires officers to specify why every bit of knowledge is being withheld and permits for judicial overview. Fitton stated he believes alleged Epstein co-conspirators may very well be named.
“The large concern is privateness. Privateness is just not an computerized exemption. You weigh the general public curiosity in understanding what the data and studying what the data is versus the privateness curiosity of the person concerned,” Fitton stated.
“I feel… the general public curiosity is excessive sufficient to outweigh the privateness curiosity of the boys who seem.”
Fitton’s group repeatedly reveals personal info and cover-ups, together with the Biden White Home’s concealment of canine assaults that severely injured Secret Service officers, however he says that a lot of the success of his litigation is determined by the Trump administration.
“In the event that they take the place they’ll solely course of 500 pages a month, it might take a decade,” Fitton stated. “The truth that we needed to sue in court docket is troubling. Not one doc has been launched to us but beneath FOIA.”
