The Justice Department has sent Congress a six-page report explaining why portions of the newly released Jeffrey Epstein records were blacked out — and attaching a sweeping list of “government officials and politically exposed persons” whose names appear somewhere in the material, sometimes without any explanation of context.
In a letter to Congress, which includes Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, the department said that it released documents across nine categories related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which include investigation and prosecution documents, flight and travel documents, communications regarding charging decisions, and documents regarding Epstein’s detention and death.
The letter, which includes a signature from Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, was required to be sent to Congress in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and can be read here in a PDF: Department of Justice letter.
The department said that the only documents that were withheld were those that were covered by privilege and could not be separated from other documents, and that there were no documents withheld or redacted to avoid embarrassment, reputational damage, or politics regarding any individual, public figure, or foreign dignitary.
As for redactions that were made, DOJ said it removed information to protect victims and sensitive content. The letter cites categories that include personally identifying victim information and medical details, child sexual abuse material, narrowly tailored redactions tied to an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, and material depicting death, physical abuse, or injury.
Perhaps the most contentious part of the letter is the list of names. DOJ stated that reviewers were to note if there was a government official or PEP “named or referenced” in the document, including videos and images, and that the names could be related to a range of activities from direct contact to casual references in documents such as press clippings.
Rep. Ro Khanna spoke out against the method, stating that it creates confusion between the predators and the references to the names. “To have Janis Joplin… in the same list as Larry Nassar… with no clarification… is absurd,” he stated in a post on X.
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