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Epstein Files Under Scrutiny as Senators Request GAO Investigation (3/13/26)

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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has called for a formal investigation into how the Justice Department handled the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, arguing that the department may not have fully complied with the law requiring the disclosure of those files. The lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent review of the process used to collect, review, and release the records. Their request focuses on whether the Justice Department followed the requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated that the government make Epstein-related investigative records public while limiting redactions to specific categories such as protecting victims. Senators involved in the request raised concerns that the files released so far appear incomplete and contain inconsistent redactions, prompting questions about how decisions were made regarding what information was withheld or disclosed.


The senators also asked investigators to examine the internal procedures used by the Justice Department when reviewing the Epstein materials, including staffing levels, guidance given to reviewers, and the transparency of the redaction process. Their concerns mirror earlier criticism from members of the House who helped write the disclosure law and have questioned why some documents appear heavily redacted while sensitive information about victims was reportedly left insufficiently protected in some cases. Attorney General Pam Bondi has defended the department’s handling of the files, stating that more than three million pages of records have been released and describing the effort as an unprecedented level of transparency. Nevertheless, lawmakers from both parties say the continuing questions surrounding the disclosures justify an outside audit to determine whether the Justice Department properly followed the law when releasing the Epstein files.



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Senators seek review of Justice Department’s handling of Epstein files - The Washington Post

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Epstein Files Under Scrutiny as Senators Request GAO Investigation (3/13/26)

Beyond The Horizon

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Beyond The HorizonEpstein Files Under Scrutiny as Senators Request GAO Investigation (3/13/26). Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

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Se le dio directamente a las autoridades y las personas siendo abusadas en el futuro. Y no es nadie, ¿verdad? Me he entendido que el tiempo ha pasado. Y todos sabemos que, como vas a investigar algo en el tiempo, cosas han pasado en la evidencia y se ha estado bloqueando. ¿Cuáles es por negologías o por design? ¿Dónde es eso? ¿Dónde es lo que se puede hacer? ¿Dónde es lo que es imposible para ellos para ignorar si estamos viendo esto? ¿Es la forma que el Departamento de Justice conducta a ellos desde el very beginning? Y creo que si queremos llegar a la parte de todo esto, eso es donde tenemos que empezar. Porque tenemos que tenerlo accountable por lo que se ha hecho o lo que se ha hecho. Y ahora, claro, se ha agregado en un colegio que se ha agregado a lo que se debe, el behest de el presidente de Estados Unidos. Así que sí, tenemos algunas preguntas. Y no es la única cosa.

Y eso es porque algunos senators están volviendo a review el Departamento de Justice de los Files. Y eso es exactamente lo que se ha pasado. Y ningún hombre que no es un cumplimiento con la ley, se puede ser contigo. Y si si los crimes están convidados, los que se están convidados y en un mundo perfecto, eso es lo que ha pasado. Pero estamos hablando de que no vivimos en un mundo perfecto y, de hecho, no vivimos en un país perfecto. Hoy el article es de Washington Post y el headline. Senators se revenen de Justice Departamento de los Files. El article fue adorado por Theoderick Meyer. El grupo de los sentadores de Partisan

Bueno, sí, si no es un victim. ¿Por qué es su nombre adorado? Eso es lo que la ley dice. La ley dice que no se puede ver a nuestros amigos. No se puede ver que hay menos puestos de embaracimiento. Es decir, protecta las naciones de los niños abuelos. Eso es lo que dice. Pero como usual, esta administración no se puede dar un adorado de lo que la ley dice. Ellos van a hacer lo que quieran. Y hasta si alguien se está en el STOP, eso va a seguir. Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat from Oregon, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Republican, Benre Luzon, Democrat from New Mexico, and Dick Durbin, Democrat from Illinois, as the GAO, and independent agency that's part of the legislative branch on Wednesday to examine how the department reviewed the files and the resulting failure of the department to follow the law. Respond to Congress and protect victims. And so Lisa Murkowski's the only person

that signed off on this. Murkowski's the only Republican that's willing to play ball. Makes sense. Considering the way they're protecting these people, considering the fight they're putting up when it comes to transparency and considering the warpath they're on, when it comes to anybody asking questions, it's not a shock that more members of the GOP seem disinterested when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein. The senators are seeking details, including how many people were tasked with reviewing and redacting the files as the Justice Department scrambled to comply with the law and any guidance the administration provided them. In a letter to Orice Williams-Brown, the GAO's Acting Comptroller, they echoed concerns by Representative Rocana and Thomas Massey, the authors of the law, requiring the files to be made public about how the files were redacted. That should be concerning to anybody. I don't understand how it's an issue. How has this become a wedge issue?

It's wild to me that anybody could look at this and say to themselves, you know what? This is a one-sided or the other issue. It's both sides. It's everybody with power. And the more the pitchforks and torches fight with each other, the better these people are. Contrary to Congress's explicit directive to protect victims, these records, including email addresses and nude photos, in which the names and faces of publicly identified and non-public victims could be identified. The senators wrote, but when it came to information, identifying powerful business and politics figures who are allegedly co-conspirators or material witnesses, the DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those records. Not appears, that's what they did. Gotta make sure you protect the bag, man, right? Gotta make sure Leon Black doesn't get put on blast. Gotta make sure Les Wexner is still swimming around that money like Scrooge McDuck and all those girls who were victimized who gives a shit. They don't matter. Not to these people.

The letter comes as lawmakers and both parties have continued to scrutinize the department's handling of the files more than a month after most of them were made public. And I think that everybody's scrutinizing them. And I don't know how anyone being honest with themselves can say that this has been a transparent process because in my opinion, it's been the complete opposite. But the good news is the Dow was over 50,000. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer accused the department last month of orchestrating a massive cover-up to protect Trump and Epstein's associates. The House Oversight and government reform committee voted last week to subpoena attorney general, Pam Bondi, with five Republicans joining Democrats and voting to impeller to appear for a closed-door deposition. Well, it's about time. I mean, you would think that Pam Bondi of all people should be answering some questions, right? Probably a good idea.

But unfortunately, what we're gonna get is another performance. She's gonna get up there, act indignant, and act like she's the one who's being victimized. Well, at the same time, not even recognizing the actual victims. Now, think about that and think about how that makes those survivors feel. Bondi has defended the department's compliance with the law, the department made public more records last week that it said were not released before because they were wrongly determined to be duplicates of other records. Sure they were. I'm sure that's exactly what happened. Have you noticed that all the records they quote-on quote forget to release? Are damning? I know, I know, just another coincidence that it happens to be those documents that get forgotten about. This administration released over three million pages of documents over three million and Donald Trump signed that law to release all those documents. Bondi testified last month in a contentious appearance

before the House Judiciary Committee. He's the most transparent president in the nation's history. Wow. Like, for that alone, she should be charged with perjury. That's an obvious lie. The most transparent president of all time, yes, so transparent, that he had to get dragged kicking and screaming and designing the bill. Super transparent. The senator's request is not lawmaker's first effort to unearth more details about how the department has handled the massive task of reviewing and redacting the files. A dozen senators, including Mercury, Murkowski and Urban, wrote in December to Don Bertha Yume, the Justice Department's acting inspector general to ask him to audit the department's compliance with the law. The inspector general's office did not immediately respond to a request about whether it has undertaken such an audit. Look, I doubt that they will, and even if they do, do you really trust the OIG? After everything that we've seen,

after all the reports we've read, I don't trust them at all. So that's why I continue to call for a special counsel or some kind of tribunal, something, because what we're doing now is not working, and we can't trust the DOJ to police themselves. And that's why I'm so against the OIG when it comes to situations like this, because the past is proven that they're more interested in covering for the government, rather than holding the government responsible for their misconduct. Now that said, at least the Senate is making this move, but if they really want to have some teeth, if they really want to get people nervous at the DOJ and they really want to force compliance, the way to do that is with the special counsel. So the question is, will we ever get there? Will we ever have a special counsel appointed to take a look at what's happened here, going all the way back to the first Clinton administration? I don't know, but I think we should. And I think that if we ever want to get any kind of clarity,

if we ever want to get to the bottom of what truly happened, then I think a special counsel is a vehicle to get us there. And that's why I don't think we'll ever see it. So what do you folks think? Do you think we're going to ever get real transparency here? Do you think the Senate or Congress is going to force the hand of the DOJ? Or do you think it's going to be more of the same? Shoot me some emails and let me know. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.

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