Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary panel, has accused the US Department of Justice of making “mysterious redactions” to documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, which obscured the names of abusers while exposing the identities of victims. Raskin made the comments after reviewing unredacted files at a government facility in Washington DC on Monday, the first day they were made available to lawmakers.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November, the justice department has publicly released millions of files related to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The law allows redactions in limited circumstances, such as to protect victims’ names, but Raskin said some documents still contained identifying details of victims.
Raskin told reporters he saw “tons of completely unnecessary redactions” and accused the department of being “in a cover-up mode” and breaking the law. He said the release of victims’ names was either “spectacular incompetence” or a “deliberate threat” to other survivors considering coming forward.
Raskin noted that around 3.5 million files have been released, with a further 3 million awaiting release. He was only able to review 30 to 40 unredacted files at one of four computers set up at the facility, which lawmakers must enter without electronic devices or staff. He said names of many people were redacted for “mysterious” reasons, including Les Wexner, the Victoria’s Secret founder whose association with Epstein is public.
One redacted document Raskin saw was an email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell containing a lawyer’s account of a conversation with attorneys representing Donald Trump around 2009. Trump was quoted as saying Epstein was never a member of his Mar-a-Lago club but was a guest who was never asked to leave, contradicting Trump’s statements that he had barred Epstein.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify before the House judiciary committee on Wednesday, and Raskin said he would raise the redactions with her. He also wants a commitment from the department to “clean it up” and release the remaining documents. Separately, Maxwell refused to answer questions during a deposition by the House oversight committee.
