Federal Democrats on the House Oversight Committee claim that the majority of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's case, released by the Department of Justice, were already publicly accessible.
The Justice Department (DOJ) has taken a significant step in the Jeffrey Epstein case, releasing a batch of files related to the disgraced financier and a transcript of an interview with his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
On Friday, the House Oversight Committee received the Epstein files from the DOJ. According to reports, only 3% of the documents are new, with the majority being previously released records. Rep. Ro Khanna made this observation, stating that the new disclosures are limited to fewer than 1,000 pages from Customs and Border Protection's "log of flight locations of the Epstein plane" dating from 2000 to 2014.
The DOJ also released a transcript of Maxwell's interview on the same day. This transcript, along with the Epstein files, is part of the committee's ongoing review. However, the Oversight Committee has not provided an update on the progress of their review, and the timeline for the public release of the Epstein files remains unclear.
The committee has subpoenaed high-profile witnesses to testify, including the Clintons. Despite this, there are no publicly confirmed high-ranking officials within the U.S. Department of Justice who were directly connected to Epstein or in possession of undisclosed information.
The release of the Maxwell transcript and Epstein files has sparked accusations of a cover-up. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia has suggested that the DOJ's actions are an attempt to distract from a potential White House cover-up. However, the DOJ has not yet commented on these allegations.
CNN has reached out to the DOJ for comment regarding the release of the Maxwell transcript and Epstein files, but the department has not responded.
The committee plans to make the Epstein files public after a thorough review to ensure sensitive matters are redacted. The files handed over by the DOJ include video from the correctional center the night of Epstein's death, a DOJ inspector general report on Epstein's death, communications between the Bureau of Prisons and DOJ about Epstein's death, Attorney General Pam Bondi's memo on releasing the Epstein files, court documents from Maxwell's trial, and Epstein's criminal case in Florida.
Rep. Summer Lee, another member of the Oversight Committee, claims that the DOJ's files are "largely thousands of pages of recycled content." However, the committee continues to review the 34,000 pages of documents and has no further update at this time.
As the review progresses, the public awaits the release of the Epstein files and the transcript of Maxwell's interview, hoping for more clarity in the ongoing investigation into Epstein's crimes and the alleged cover-ups surrounding his death.
