Republican congressman says Epstein files ‘likely incriminated’ six more men | Jeffrey Epstein

US congressman Thomas Massie says he knows the identities of six more men “likely to be indicted” for being included in the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files after seeing an unredacted version of documents relating to the disgraced financier and sexual abuser.

The Kentucky Republican suggested that if the justice department continues to conceal the identities of these people in public copies of still-redacted documents, he could release their names under congressional privilege.

The six men include at least one U.S. citizen, a person he said was “highly placed in a foreign government,” a foreigner and “three or four other individuals” whose nationalities were not immediately clear, Massie told reporters Monday after reviewing documents at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

“What bothered me was the redacted names of at least six men who were probably indicted because of their inclusion in these files,” said Massie, the lead sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced Donald Trump’s administration to release a vast trove of documents about the president’s former friend’s connections and activities.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in prison. He is said to have taken his own life in prison in Manhattan in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges including child sex trafficking.

The ensuing scandal engulfed countless rich and powerful people and cast a long shadow over Trump’s second presidency, which Democrats sought to capitalize on.

On Tuesday, Democratic U.S. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer appeared in Washington, D.C., with a small group of Epstein survivors to announce legislation aimed at eliminating the statute of limitations for certain sexual crimes.

“The bill exists because people refuse to accept silence as the end of the story,” Schumer said from New York. “It’s that simple.”

Schumer said the bill was named in memory of Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s survivors who died by suicide in April 2025.

“Justice must not end because recovery for survivors does not run on the government’s clock,” he said. “For years, survivors of Epstein’s abuse were ignored… Even when the world finally listened, many survivors were still told by the law, ‘It’s too late, your justice is overdue.’ It was said.

“Virginia law changes that.”

A small group of Democrats who reviewed the papers on Monday, the first day they were available to lawmakers, also accused the justice department of covering up “mysterious redactions” they saw in the documents. The transparency law allows only limited redactions, mostly to protect the identities of Epstein’s victims.

“I was able to detect, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions in addition to the omission of the names of the victims,” ​​said Democrat Jamie Raskin, the House’s judicial ranking member.

Raskin has previously complained that nearly 3 million documents in the Epstein files have not been released, despite the justice department’s insistence that its review of the Epstein case is “over” and despite the White House’s “” efforts.Continue” scandal.

Massie, meanwhile, hinted he may yet reveal the names of the six during his run in the House, where the constitution provides near-absolute immunity from defamation suits under the speech or debate clause.

“There is no reason in our legislation that allows these men to remove their names,” he said at a press conference in front of the justice ministry building.

“I want to give the DOJ a chance to say they made a mistake and overcorrected, and let these guys correct their names. That would probably be the best way to do it.”

Massie said he spent about two hours on Monday looking at the files with Ro Khanna, California’s Democratic congressman and a co-sponsor of the Epstein transparency bill. Massie said the duo had to do “some research” before coming up with new names.

Accordingly CNNdidn’t waste time looking for references to Trump, whose name appears thousands of times In files in various contexts. The president has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s activities and said the investigation into him was a “hoax.”

Separately, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced growing bipartisan calls to resign after his extensive ties to Epstein were revealed in dossiers. The pair’s 2012 correspondence showed arrangements were made for Lutnick to travel to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, one of several residences where abuse of minors allegedly occurred.

Testifying before the U.S. Senate appropriations committee on Tuesday, Lutnick admitted to having lunch with Epstein on that private island. Lutnick has previously said he spent “zero time” with Epstein.

In any event, Massie said his fellow Republican “has a lot to answer for” and should stand down.

Khanna reiterated Massie’s call after reviewing the files on Monday. He noted that the scandal has troubled the government of UK prime minister Keir Starmer and led to at least two resignations, from Britain’s former ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, and Starmer’s former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.

“Based on the evidence, [Lutnick] He should be out of the cabinet,” Khanna said He told Politico Playbook.

“I know Keir Starmer, I was excited when he won. But I still believe that he should be held responsible for what happened to Mandelson. We have not made this calculation in our country.”

In another development on Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice who abused many of his victims, refused to testify to the House oversight committee investigating the Epstein case.

Before the hearing, in which he exercised his constitutional right to resist self-incrimination and remained silent, Khanna expressed a desire to meet with Trump’s deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, last summer. This was shortly before Maxwell was transferred to a lower-security prison in Texas to serve the remainder of her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.

“He should be immediately returned to the maximum security prison where he belongs,” Khanna wrote in a post In Bluesky.

Miami Herald reported On Monday, quoting 2019 FBI interview He spoke to Michael Reiter, who was Palm Beach police chief at the time, and that Trump called him in 2006 to warn him that Maxwell was an agent of Epstein and was “evil.” Reiter’s statement contradicted Trump’s later claims that he knew nothing about Epstein and Maxwell’s activities.