By Shane CroucherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberRepublican Representative Thomas Massie, who spearheaded the petition that led to the House vote on the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files, accused FBI Director Kash Patel of a "troubling deflection" when answering whether the administration would meet its 30-day deadline to make those documents public.
Massie, in a post on X, was reacting to an interview with Patel by the journalist Catherine Herridge, who asked him directly if the FBI would meet the deadline. Patel replied that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) are committed to producing what they could "lawfully, legally" and cited court orders that "prohibit the disclosure of information".
The congressman from Kentucky named the FBI's FD-302 forms, which summarize interviews with witnesses, as of particular interest. Massie, who believes there are previously unknown names of individuals related to the Epstein case within those forms, said the victims' names could be redacted from them before they are released.
Newsweek has contacted Massie's office and the FBI via email outside of normal business hours for comment.
...Epstein Files Transparency Act
Epstein, a former friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, was a wealthy and well-connected financier convicted of child sex offenses. He maintained an elite network of powerful contacts across politics, business, law, and academia, even after his conviction. Epstein died by suicide in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Survivors of Epstein's abuse believe the government has kept hidden the full extent of what it knows about his activities and with whom, leaving many unanswered questions. The Trump administration pledged full transparency of the Epstein files, but delays to their release and the president's playing down of their significance frustrated his supporters, who suspect a cover-up.
Trump signed The Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, the same day it passed the Senate. Trump clashed with Massie over the House petition that led to the act, before backing down and telling Republicans to vote for it when it became clear the bill would pass anyway. California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna worked with Massie on the petition.
Its passage set the clock ticking on a 30-day deadline for Attorney General Pam Bondi to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice" the various Epstein investigation files, per the act.
The act gives the DOJ some grounds for withholding certain files or information within them, such as anything that identifies a victim or child witness; images that show injury, abuse or death; or details that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or prosecution.
FBI's Patel on Epstein Files Release
When Herridge asked Patel on her "Straight to the Point" show if the deadline would be met, he replied: "We are working with our partners at the Department of Justice to produce, as we have always committed to producing, what we can lawfully, legally produce."
"And we will continue to meet those metrics," Patel continued, "reminding the public that there are court orders in place, protective orders, orders to seal in place, that legally prohibit the disclosure of information related to any investigation when there's a court order of that fashion. So we're working with DOJ to see if we can produce anything more."
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