Members of Congress will be able to begin reviewing the unredacted version of the Justice Department’s files on Jeffrey Epstein on Monday morning, according to two sources familiar with the DOJ’s plans.
The review process will take place in person at the DOJ, according to a letter to members of Congress obtained by NBC News. The members will be able to review the material on computers at the DOJ offices but not the physical documents themselves.
The letter states that members can review the documents in person, provided they give the DOJ 24 hours’ notice. The option at this point is only available to members of Congress — and not their staff. They may take notes but can’t bring in any electronic devices, the letter said.
The review will only be of the 3 million files currently available to the public, not the extensive trove of more than 6 million documents in total that the DOJ says it has in its possession.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche promised members of Congress access to the material when he announced the release of all the documents officials planned to make public last Friday.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the co-authors of the law that resulted in the DOJ releasing the massive trove of documents, wrote Blanche a letter later that day asking for access to the unredacted files.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee also sent Blanche a letter last week asking for the opportunity to review the material as soon as possible.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to appear before the committee next Wednesday, and members want the opportunity to review the material before she appears.
Leadership and members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees will be given priority in their review, but all members of Congress will have access at some point.
Epstein, a politically connected convicted sex offender, was charged in 2019 in Manhattan federal court with sex trafficking of minors. He died in his jail cell while awaiting trial and his death was ruled a suicide.
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November, following backlash to a July memo from the FBI and the DOJ declaring they had completed an exhaustive review into the case, that no other people would be charged and that they would not be releasing any more information about the case.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on Nov. 19, giving the attorney general 30 days 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” involving Epstein, “including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters.”
The Justice Department has faced criticism from victims and lawmakers over the amount of information redacted in the files, as well instances of not redacting enough information about victims, who the Justice Department has said number over 1,000.
“We have seen a blanket approach to redactions in some areas, while in other cases, victim names were not redacted at all,” Khanna and Massie said in a joint letter to the DOJ.
Blanche said last week that the department has still “withheld or redacted files covered by various privileges, including deliberative process privilege, the work-product doctrine, and attorney-client privilege. In total, approximately 200,000 pages have been redacted or withheld based on various privileges.”
Khanna and Massie have said that’s a violation of the law enacted in November, which requires the release of “Internal DOJ communications, including emails, memos, meeting notes, concerning decisions to charge, not charge, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates.”
