Little new in Epstein files given to Congress, top House Democrat says

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The ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee on Saturday criticized the Justice Department’s initial release of files from the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying it consisted mostly of materials that had already been made public.

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Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California) said in a statement that the “overwhelming majority” of the roughly 33,000 pages of materials the Justice Department sent the committee on Friday contained information the department and other law enforcement agencies had already disclosed.

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The only new disclosure, Garcia said, was less than 1,000 pages from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s record of flight locations of Epstein’s plane from 2000 to 2014.

“DOJ’s limited disclosure raises more questions than answers and makes clear that the White House is not interested in justice for the victims or the truth,” Garcia said in a statement. “Democrats forced a bipartisan vote to subpoena the Epstein files in their entirety, and the Administration must comply.”

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A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee’s Republicans said in a statement that a review was ongoing. “It’s important to note that this is the first batch of documents from the DOJ, with more to come,” the statement read.

Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) said Friday that he would not release the files to the public until they go through a “thorough review to ensure any victims’ identification and child sexual abuse material are redacted.”

Earlier this month, the committee subpoenaed all files from the Justice Department’s investigation of Epstein and his imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein and Maxwell were charged with sex trafficking and other crimes in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide.

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According to Garcia, the files that the committee received Friday include video from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan from the night of Epstein’s death, court filings and an inspector general report – all of which were previously accessible to the public. He said they also contained a memo from Attorney General Pamela Bondi to FBI Director Kash Patel on releasing the Epstein files and court papers from Maxwell’s case.

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Garcia’s statement.

Separately, the Justice Department on Friday released a full transcript of the interview Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted in July with Maxwell, in which she praised President Donald Trump and said she never saw him do anything inappropriate. She also offered no new information when asked about dozens of other famous and connected people who knew Epstein.

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Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein groom, traffic and abuse dozens of underage girls. She is asking the Supreme Court to hear her appeal of her sex-trafficking conviction, and her lawyer has repeatedly discussed the possibility of asking for a pardon from Trump.

Days after her interview with Blanche near the federal prison in Tallahassee, where she was incarcerated, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

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