Despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act becoming law last year, millions of files related to Jeffrey Epstein remain withheld by the Trump administration, but a new effort from a bipartisan congressional duo could be a “game-changer” in forcing their full release, one legal expert said Monday.
The Justice Department released millions of Epstein-related files last year following the passage of the EFTA, but withheld millions and redacted many of them beyond what was permitted by law, critics have argued. Last month, outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) promoted what could be his last legislative win in Congress, a “sequel,” he called it, to the EFTA, one that attorney Oleg Nekritin said could be a breakthrough.
“Under the first Epstein Files Transparency Act, people were permitted to search for various records, but people criticized those specific records, because a lot of them were redacted, they were difficult to read, and critics said they didn’t even disclose individuals who may have been involved … in various criminal acts,” Oleg told The Guardian for its report Monday.
“If passed, [the successor to the EFTA] will be a gamechanger for individuals who want to investigate further or learn more about Epstein or individuals associated with them.”
Under the proposed legislation, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) – who co-sponsored the original EFTA alongside Massie – the U.S. attorney general would be forced to cooperate with state attorneys general who want to prosecute potential Epstein co-conspirators.
The New Mexico Democratic attorney general, Raúl Torrez, claimed to have asked the DOJ nearly half a dozen times over the past five months to hand over files from its trove of Epstein-related documents, but has yet to receive a single response. He accused the DOJ of “causing real and escalating harm” to his state’s own probe into Epstein’s activity.
Were Massie and Khanna’s new bill to become law, it would force the DOJ to cooperate with state-led probes into Epstein’s activity, such as in New Mexico.
The bill would also bar the DOJ from citing privilege exemptions – deliberative-process, attorney-client, and work-product privilege among them – as grounds to withhold Epstein-related files, a tactic the department has repeatedly employed.
The only question, noted Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law, was whether such a bill could make its way to Trump’s desk for final approval.
“Can it pass?” Tobias asked, speaking with The Guardian. “Can they move it in the House or maybe even more difficult, in the Senate?”
The post Epstein ‘gamechanger’ flagged by legal expert in fight to force full file release appeared first on Raw Story.
