Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said they spotted at least six names of individuals \u201clikely incriminated\u201d by their inclusion in the Epstein files after the two reviewed an unredacted tranche of the documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of Congress were permitted for the first time Monday to review the unredacted versions of all the Department of Justice (DOJ) files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Massie and Khanna were the two lead sponsors of the bill that forced the public release of the files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are six men. We went in there for two hours. There\u2019s millions of files, right? And in a couple of hours, we found six men whose names have been redacted, who are implicated in the way that the files are presented,\u201d Massie told reporters outside the Justice Department office where lawmakers can review the files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two lawmakers did not name the men but said one is a high-ranking official in a foreign government while another is a prominent individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNone of this is designed to be a witch hunt. Just because someone may be in the files doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re guilty. But there are very powerful people who raped these underage girls \u2014 it wasn\u2019t just Epstein and [his close associate Ghislaine] Maxwell \u2014 or showed up to the island or showed up to the ranch or showed up to the home knowing underage girls were being paraded around,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie said he would not be releasing the names himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we need to give the DOJ a chance to go back through and correct their mistakes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey need to themselves check their own homework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The law that mandated the release of the files allowed for narrow redactions, but lawmakers and victims of Epstein have raised questions about the breadth of what was blacked out and the fact that some names of victims were not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie described an FBI form that listed conspirators in which the Justice Department redacted the name and photo of one of the men who was listed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawmakers also shed light on one email in the latest tranche that garnered significant attention, in which one redacted individual thanked Epstein for a \u201cfun night\u201d and added, \u201cYour littlest girl was a little naughty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie said that email was sent by a woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was a woman that wrote that, and and so it may be proper to redact it. It may not be, I don\u2019t know. It seems like part of their algorithm for redaction was just to redact every woman in there, pretty much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t parse if the person who sent that was a victim or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The duo also said in reading through the unredacted files they learned that some items came to DOJ completely redacted. While the Justice Department was given parameters about what content they could redact, the review team was supposed to have unfettered access to all files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe documents produced to Justice from the FBI, from the grand jury, was redacted when they got it. \u2026 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s nefarious on the career attorneys that were reviewing it, but they obviously haven\u2019t gotten the production because our law says that the FBI and the original grand jury [material] needs to be unredacted,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n