Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has called the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files “not satisfied” after seeing heavily redacted documents and a piecemeal release that fell short of the law.
Murkowski Voices Discontent
In a Tuesday interview with Alaska’s News Source, Murkowski repeated her frustration, saying, “I’m not satisfied. I’m not satisfied.” She pointed to pages that were “completely black, completely black” and criticized the incremental release of records that began on Friday.
Murkowski also expressed anger at the Justice Department’s failure to publish all unclassified files by the Dec. 19 deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed overwhelmingly last month.
She said, “That’s not what we passed,” and added, “What we passed was you have 30 days to release the files. You have 30 days to open it all up. And yes, we expect the confidentiality of the victims to be respected. But what we didn’t expect is to see the extent of the redaction, but also – again, the fact that it is not coming in a complete way. This is not a surprise here, folks.”
Murkowski emphasized that Republicans must challenge the administration if it fails to comply with the law or sidestep congressional prerogatives.
“We have to challenge the administration when they either cross the threshold into our jurisdiction under Article I, or if they fail to follow the law. And that requires us as lawmakers to push back and say, ‘No, I may have voted for you, I may respect what goes on in the administration, but on this issue, what you’re doing is not right and it needs to be challenged.'”
She also said she and Senate colleagues will ask the inspector general to review what has been released and confirm whether the department has complied with the law, stating, “And let us know if it has complied with the law, because I don’t believe that they have complied with the law.”
Department’s Response and New Documents
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the point person for discussing the files, said on Sunday that the department is carefully reviewing the documents to protect victims’ identities.
Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the Justice Department is “a very methodical process with hundreds of lawyers looking at every single document and. Making sure that victims’ names and any of the information from the victims is protected and redacted.”
On Wednesday, the department announced that officials in New York discovered an additional 1 million documents potentially linked to Epstein that could take “a few more weeks” to be released to the public.
The Justice Department’s statement added that it will “continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.”
Despite the department’s assurances, Murkowski remains unconvinced that the release meets the law’s requirements.
Congressional Actions and Legal Challenges
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also weighed in, noting that the Trump administration has released “less than 40,000 pages many of them redacted since the deadline on Dec. 19.”
Schumer posted on social media, “When they say they’ve released hundreds of thousands it defies credulity,” and is pushing the Senate to sue the Justice Department over the partial disclosure.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, criticized the redactions by editing part of his annual Festivus rant on social media, highlighting the extent of the omissions.
Key Takeaways
- Senator Murkowski is dissatisfied with the Justice Department’s heavily redacted, incremental release of the Epstein files.
- Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says the department is reviewing documents to protect victims’ identities, but an additional 1 million documents remain pending.
- Congressional leaders, including Chuck Schumer, are calling for legal action to ensure full compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The debate underscores the tension between the Justice Department’s release schedule and the statutory requirements for transparency and victim confidentiality.
