Lawmakers push for DOJ compliance with Epstein disclosure law

Ryan Tarinelli, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 9, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Lawmakers sought to ensure the release of more information about Jeffrey Epstein this week, after the Justice Department last month blew through a statutory deadline for the production of documents about the deceased sex offender.

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., main backers of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, asked a judge to appoint a “Special Master and/or Independent Monitor” to compel the further release of Epstein-related files, pointing to the department’s public noncompliance with the law.

“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the lawmakers wrote.

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee called for Attorney General Pamela Bondi to testify on the topic. And the same panel secured a subpoena for Les Wexner, a billionaire businessman who Democrats say was a longtime benefactor of Epstein.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said Friday that the Justice Department’s handling of the rollout has been illegal, sloppy and disgraceful. Blowing past the December release deadline has been a failure of the DOJ and the Trump administration, he added.

“Why the cover-up? Who are we covering for? We want to know who the co-conspirators are,” Garcia said.

In November, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation ordering the release of documents by a mid-December deadline. The department released a trove of investigative documents on the deadline date and published further documents afterward but hasn’t met the statute’s demands that all the records be released by the December deadline.

The rolling document release has been plagued with issues that have exacerbated questions about the department’s efforts. In particular, Massie and Khanna wrote in their letter that the department has missed the deadline, overly redacted documents and is asserting privileges that the law doesn’t allow for.

Department officials told a judge earlier this week that they have released approximately 12,285 of the potentially 2 million documents that could potentially be covered by the statute Congress passed last year. Massie and Khanna wrote to the judge to ensure the documents are released under the terms of the statute.

“The conduct by the DOJ is not only a flagrant violation of the mandatory disclosure obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but as this Court has recognized in its previous rulings, the behavior by the DOJ has caused serious trauma to survivors,” the lawmakers wrote.

The department, the letter said, had also not complied with a provision of the law that requires the department to submit a report to both Judiciary committees “identifying the categories of records released and withheld and summarizing all redactions and their legal bases.”

“To date, no such report has been provided. Without it, there is no authoritative accounting of what records exist, what has been withheld, or why, making effective oversight and judicial review far more difficult,” the letter states.

Garcia’s office said the Wexner subpoena would direct him to sit for a deposition before the House Oversight panel.

During the press availability Friday, Garcia acknowledged there were limits on their minority power but said Democrats would continue to push on the topic by working with certain Republicans on more subpoenas.

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