(Adnkronos) – U.S. Representatives Ro Khanna (Democrat, California) and Thomas Massie (Republican, Kentucky), co-authors of the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” have announced their intention to initiate “contempt of Congress” proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing her of failing to comply with the law that required the Department of Justice to fully publish documents related to the case of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of sex offenses. The law, approved almost unanimously by Congress and signed last month by President Donald Trump, set a 30-day deadline – which expired on Friday – for the release of the records, but according to the two representatives, the administration allegedly carried out a “selective concealment” of relevant materials.
Khanna and Massie argue that the contempt procedure could be initiated directly in the House, without passing through the Senate, and could include daily financial penalties until the complete release of the files, as well as the possibility for a parliamentary committee to verify the legitimacy of the redactions. The Department of Justice has so far published over 100,000 pages of documents, many with large sections redacted, and states that it will take several more weeks to complete the review work. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has rejected the accusations, assuring that the administration is “doing everything necessary to comply with the law”.
Adding to the tensions was the temporary removal of at least 20 files from the Department’s website, as revealed by a Washington Post analysis, including an image depicting Trump with women in bikinis, which was later re-published without changes after internal checks. The handling of the documents continues to draw bipartisan criticism: Democratic and Republican figures are demanding explanations for the delays and omissions, while political pressure is growing to ensure full transparency on the files related to Epstein, his former accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and the circumstances of Epstein’s death in prison in 2019.
