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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
House Oversight Committee Democrats say most Epstein files turned over | |
by DOJ were already public | |
By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN | |
Updated: | |
11:13 AM EDT, Mon August 25, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are decrying what they say | |
is a lack of new records in the Jeffrey Epstein files that the Justice | |
Department Friday. | |
“Only 3% of the documents given to the Oversight Committee are new. | |
The rest are already in the public domain. Less than 1% of files have | |
been released. DOJ is stonewalling,” Rep. Ro Khanna of California | |
said in a statement Saturday as he called for the full release of the | |
files. | |
Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee also claimed in a that the DOJ’s files | |
are “largely thousands of pages of recycled content already made | |
available to the public.” | |
A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN in a statement that the | |
department provided 33,000 pages to the House Oversight Committee, | |
saying it was “more than was ever requested by the committee when the | |
Ranking Member’s party was in the majority.” | |
“This DOJ will continue to work closely with Congress in pursuit of | |
transparency while adhering to protections afforded to victims of | |
heinous crimes,” the spokesperson added. | |
The oversight committee earlier this month the Justice Department for | |
any Epstein-related files, along with communications between former | |
Biden administration officials and the DOJ related to Epstein, as many | |
of President Donald Trump’s supporters seek more information and | |
transparency about the case. The committee has also high-profile | |
witnesses to testify, including the Clintons. | |
According to Lee, the “only new disclosure” is fewer than 1,000 | |
pages from Customs and Border Protection’s “log of flight locations | |
of the Epstein plane” dating from 2000 to 2014 and “forms | |
consistent with reentry back” to the United States. | |
Lee said the other records DOJ handed over that were already released | |
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, and court documents from Epstein accomplice Ghislaine | |
Maxwell’s trial and Epstein’s criminal case in Florida. | |
Asked to respond to the claims from Khanna and Lee, a House Oversight | |
spokesperson told CNN that the committee “continues to review the | |
34,000 pages of documents and has no further update at this time.” | |
“It’s important to note that this is the first batch of documents | |
from the DOJ, with more to come,” the spokesperson said in a | |
statement. | |
The committee had it plans to make the Epstein files public after a | |
“thorough review” to ensure victims’ identities and other | |
sensitive matters are redacted. It remains unclear how soon the records | |
will be publicly released. | |
The DOJ turned over the records to the committee the same day it | |
released a that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with | |
Maxwell. | |
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight | |
panel, accused the DOJ of releasing the Maxwell transcript “to | |
distract from their continued White House cover-up.” | |
This story has been updated with a statement from the Department of | |
Justice. | |
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