Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a leading sponsor of the law requiring the Trump administration to release the full Jeffrey Epstein files, said Friday that the Justice Department is “grossly” violating its legal obligations.
In a social media post, Massie said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her chief deputy, Todd Blanche, who orchestrated Friday’s document release, are skirting the law that President Trump enacted exactly a month ago.
“Unfortunately, today’s document release by @AGPamBondi and @DAGToddBlanche grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law that @realDonaldTrump signed just 30 days ago,” Massie posted on X.
He referred to a similarly critical post that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the lead sponsor of the Epstein transparency law, had published shortly beforehand, which accused the DOJ of using heavy-handed redactions without explanation.
“One document, 119 pages of Grand Jury testimony, was completely redacted,” Khanna said.
“@RepRoKhanna is correct,” Massie wrote in response.
Khanna and Massie had joined forces on legislation to release the full Epstein files, which was initially opposed by Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. That changed over the summer, when the pair brought a number of alleged victims of the late sex offender to Capitol Hill, where they pressed GOP leaders to stage a vote on the legislation.
It didn’t work initially. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refused those entreaties, saying the better strategy for investigating Epstein’s associates was through the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is conducting its own probe.
The tipping point came in November, after the government shutdown, when Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) was sworn in to replace her late father and immediately signed a discharge petition to force the Khanna bill to the floor.
Hellbound and Down 