Several redactions have been lifted from documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) accused the Justice Department of improperly blacking out names of possible co-conspirators, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Monday night.
After viewing unredacted files, the lawmakers told reporters earlier in the evening that the names of “six men” potentially “implicated” in the sex trafficking scheme orchestrated by Epstein and convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell had been redacted from documents released by the DOJ late last month.
“The document you cite has numerous victim names. We have just unredacted all non-victim names from this document. The DOJ is committed to transparency,” Blanche wrote on X, in response to one specific document referenced by Massie.
The document — a list of 20 names, of which 18 were previously redacted — now contains only two redactions.
Another document — an Aug. 15, 2019, FBI list of Epstein “family and associates” — removed the redaction of billionaire businessman Les Wexner’s name.
Wexner is referred to as a “co-conspirator” in the document, along with Maxwell, French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel and Epstein’s longtime executive assistant Leslie Groff. Blanche noted that Wexner “already appears in the files thousands of times.” “DOJ is hiding nothing,” the deputy attorney general added.
Massie further argued that the name of a “Sultan” who received an email from Epstein in which a “torture video” is discussed should have also been unredacted.
“You looked at the document. You know it’s an email address that was redacted. The law requires redactions for personally identifiable information, including if in an email address,” Blanche shot back.
The deputy AG went on to note that the “Sultan’s name is available unredacted in the files,” suggesting it is Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
“Be honest, and stop grandstanding,” Blanche chided Massie.
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