Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) sent a letter to a federal judge, requesting that a special master be appointed to address the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files.
Writing to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, the representatives said, “We are writing to suggest the appointment of a Special Master and Independent Monitor to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make mandatory production under the Act.”
“As the leads of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, we have urgent and grave concerns about DOJ’s failure to comply with the Act as well as the Department’s violations of this Court’s order,” the letter explains, going on to claim that the Department of Justice “released only a portion of responsive materials,” many of which “did not comply with the statue as written.”
“The Department failed to meet the Act’s requirements in multiple respects, including missing the statutory deadline, asserting common-law privileges that the Act does not permit, and applying extensive redactions that appear inconsistent with the Act’s expressed prohibition on withholding or redacting records to protect politically exposed persons,” the letter continues.
The representatives reiterated that Engelmayer “appoint Special Master and/or Independent Monitor for the purpose of ensuring all the documents and electronically stored information are immediately made public to be in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”
“We also suggest the Independent Monitor be given authority to notify and prepare reports to this Court about the true nature and extent of the document production and if improper redactions or other improper conduct is taking place,” the lawmakers pressed. “We also suggest this Court compel testimony from the person or persons most knowledgeable from the DOJ SDNY office about the production that has been made, the pending productions, and the representations that have previously been made to this Court.”
