More than a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein are demanding immediate congressional action Monday following the Justice Department’s botched release of files on the disgraced financier — a release they said failed to comply with a newly enacted law.
“We call upon Congress to stand up for the rule of law. We urge immediate congressional oversight, including hearings, formal demands for compliance, and legal action, to ensure the Department of Justice fulfills its legal obligations,” reads the joint statement signed by 18 Epstein survivors, released on Monday.
“This is not a partisan issue. Just as the Epstein Files Transparency Act was supported across party lines, we now ask elected officials from both parties to take decisive action to enforce the law, compel full compliance, and ensure meaningful transparency without further delay.”
The DOJ has faced scrutiny over its release of the Epstein files, which were mandated by law to be released, in full and with limited redactions, on Friday. Instead, the DOJ released only a small percentage of its files on Epstein, withholding hundreds of thousands of files, and made redactions outside the scope of what the Epstein Files Transparency Act permitted.
The DOJ has also been accused of accidentally exposing the identity of one of Epstein’s victims, with growing calls among lawmakers and survivors for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be held in contempt and forced to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Survivors deserve truth,” the joint statement reads. “Survivors whose identities are private deserve protection. The public deserves accountability. And the law must be enforced.”
One Epstein survivor, Jess Michaels – who also signed the joint statement – said recently that she and other victims have knowledge of Epstein-related files that they believe should be in the DOJ’s possession, but were not included in the agency’s file release on Friday.
When asked Sunday whether she and other survivors were prepared to publicly identify potential Epstein co-conspirators themselves, Michaels said that, at least for now, they are
withholding that information in order to demonstrate “negligence” by the DOJ.
