A pair of US lawmakers have threatened legal action against US Attorney General Pam Bondi after her deadline to release all government files relating to recently convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was only partially met.
The release of the Department of Justice (DoJ) documents was highly anticipated, but in the end only a portion of the available materials were made public.
A leading campaigner on the issue, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, said he may seek contempt proceedings against the attorney general as a result.
The Justice Department insists it is complying with its legal obligations, and Bondi herself has said she is part of “the most transparent administration in American history.”
The phrase “Epstein files” refers to the trove of information collected by the US Department of Justice during two criminal investigations into Epstein.
The law mandating the release of all the treasures was signed by US President Donald Trump in November after pressure from his supporters and members of his own Republican Party. Friday was the deadline for the material to be released.
While some material was published, it was heavily redacted and other information was suppressed, angering Massie and his allies, as well as survivors of Epstein's abuse. Trump himself has not yet commented.
The Justice Department said more material would follow in the coming weeks.
But speaking Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation, Massie suggested the Justice Department was “disregarding the spirit and letter of the law.”
He went on to say, “The fastest and I think most expedient way to get justice for these victims is to hold Pam Bondi in contempt, and that does not require going to court.”
Inherent contempt is a little-used legal tool that can be used by either the Senate or the House of Representatives—the upper and lower houses of Congress, respectively—and which, it is argued, has not been used in nearly a century. American Bar Association.
Massey added that “Ro Khanna and I are discussing and preparing this right now,” referring to the Democratic congressman who was also active in the campaign for the release of Epstein's complete files.
Speaking on the same programme, Khanna detailed how contempt proceedings might work. “We're building a bipartisan coalition, and Pam Bondi will be fined for every day she doesn't release these documents,” he said.
Unlike an impeachment attempt – another option that would theoretically be available to Bondi's critics – a contempt move would only require House support, Massey noted.
Bondi's deputy, Todd Blanche, was defiant during an interview with another television station on Sunday.
Asked on NBC News' “Meet the Press” whether he takes threats from members of Congress seriously, the deputy attorney general replied: “Not one bit.” Let's. We do what we have to do to comply with the law.”
Blanche pointed out the enormity of the task. “You're talking about a million or so pages of documents,” he said. “Almost all of them contain information about the victims.”
He continued, “And if, in keeping with the law, we don’t produce everything on Friday, but produce something next week and the week after that, that’s still keeping the law.”
Speaking on the same program, another member of Khanna's party, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, said attempts at contempt or impeachment would be “premature.”
“We have tools in the appropriations bills and other tools to force compliance if someone drags their feet, and I'd rather focus on those tools,” Kaine said.
Blanche said Sunday that some Epstein-related files that were initially released Friday were later removed by the Justice Department from its website due to concerns raised by victims.
One of those files, an image of Trump, was later recovered after an audit, Blanche said.
