Lawmakers suggest at least a half-dozen men are being protected by over-redactions in Epstein files

By Annie Grayer, Ellis Kim, CNN

(CNN) — Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna charged Monday that powerful men are being protected by redactions to the Epstein files after viewing the documents in full.

“What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files,” Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said, adding that “it took some digging to find them.”

But the pair would not reveal the names of the men and only said the six included at least one US citizen, a foreigner, along with “three or four” other individuals whose nationalities they could not immediately determine. Massie said one individual was “pretty high up in a foreign government,” and Khanna said “one of the others is a pretty prominent individual.”

The lawmakers are now calling on the Justice Department to un-redact the names of the six individuals, but left open the possibility of revealing their identities through a committee hearing or on the House floor in the future.

“I would like to give the DOJ a chance to say they made a mistake and over-redacted, and let them un-redact those men’s names. That would be, probably be the best way to do it,” Massie said.

Massie said that he did not search for Trump in his initial review of the unredacted files, but he indicated he did not see Trump listed as a potential co-conspirator.

Monday marked the first day that lawmakers had the opportunity to view the unredacted files the DOJ had released so far. But Massie and Khanna said they found redacted documents even in this unredacted setting. Instead of blaming DOJ outright, the pair questioned whether the agency had received the files already redacted from the FBI or a grand jury and said they hoped the issue could be fixed.

In the viewing, members cannot bring their phones or staff. There are only four computers set up. Raskin predicted it would take lawmakers seven-and-a-half years to review all the documents if there are members at all four of the computers during every minute that DOJ is making them available.

Massie said he was “disappointed” in particular to not see the unredacted versions of what are known as 302 forms, which are used by FBI agents to summarize interviews with witnesses, victims or suspects in an investigation.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who also went to view the unredacted files on Monday, said he viewed “lots of examples” of over-redactions.

“We didn’t want there to be a cover up and yet, what I saw today was that there were lots of examples of people’s’ names being redacted when they were not victims,” Raskin told CNN.

The redactions the lawmakers described do not line up with the law passed by Congress, which was co-authored by Massie and Khanna. DOJ was supposed to limit redactions to the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active criminal investigation. And Congress has not yet received a privileged log from DOJ explaining why certain redactions were made, which DOJ is compelled to provide 15 days after its January 30 release of documents.

President Donald Trump’s name was redacted in multiple places where it shouldn’t be, Raskin said, adding that included an email thread between Epstein’s lawyers and Trump’s lawyers in 2009 about Epstein’s visits to Mar-a-Lago.

Paraphrasing the email chain, Raskin said, “Epstein’s lawyers synopsized and quoted Trump as saying that that Jeffrey Epstein was not a member of his club at Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago and he had never been asked to leave. And that was redacted for some indeterminate, inscrutable reason.”

Trump has long denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and Trump has previously said that what triggered his breakup with Epstein was that Epstein poached some of his former Mar-a-Lago employees who were young women who worked in the spa. The White House said in July that Trump barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club “for being a creep.”

Trump has not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing or charged with any crimes in connection with Epstein

Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz emerged from viewing the unredacted documents saying there are “lots of co-conspirators.”

“I mean it’s disgusting,” Moskowitz told reporters. “There are lots of names, lots of co-conspirators and they’re trafficking girls all across the world.”

“Look at what’s happening in Britain,” Khanna said. “You have the British monarchy having to answer questions … and yet in our country we have not had that reckoning. People in power whether they’re in government, whether they’re in finance, whether they’re in technology if they have been implicated in the files in morally embarrassing ways and in ways that shock the conscience, should be held accountable and it should be regardless of party.”

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