Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution on Monday to compel his chamber to take legal action against the Department of Justice over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein documents after it failed to meet the Dec. 19 deadline that legally required the files be released in full.
“The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full so Americans can see the truth,” Schumer said in a news release. “Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law.”
Congress voted overwhelmingly in November to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which gave the Justice Department 30 days to release “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to the investigations into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
That 30-day deadline came and went on Friday, and the Justice Department did not come close to releasing all of the files mandated by the Transparency Act. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would instead continue to release the files on a rolling basis throughout December, drawing bipartisan pushback from the lawmakers who passed the act almost unanimously.
The act also required the files be redacted to protect victims of Epstein’s sex-trafficking enterprise, but not powerful figures who may face public or political embarrassment from appearing in the files.
Friday’s release, however, was heavily redacted, and more than a dozen files that initially appeared on the Justice Department’s website have since been taken down, raising questions about whether the files had been altered beyond what is allowed by the law.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Blanche said the removal of the files, one of which included a photo of President Donald Trump, had “nothing to do with” protecting Trump. The Justice Department took down the files because they had not been properly redacted to protect the women who appeared in them, Blanche said. He added that the photos would go back up once they cleared a Justice Department investigation.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the House lawmakers who co-sponsored the Transparency Act, said on Sunday that they were speaking with members of Congress about holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt for failing to release all of the required files by the Friday deadline. Khanna also floated the possibility of impeaching Justice Department officials over the partial release of the files.
Congress is out of session until the new year, leaving lawmakers with limited options for seeking accountability from the department until the chambers reconvene. Schumer said he plans to “force the Senate” to consider his resolution in January.
Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.