Two Democratic senators have announced that they will attempt to block any pending civilian nominations before the Senate in response to what they describe as the Trump administration’s “failure to provide a briefing to lawmakers” on the release of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, who both sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, said in a statement on Tuesday that “there can be no business as usual until justice is delivered for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes”.
Earlier this month, a group of lawmakers from both parties, including Luján and Merkley, called on Pam Bondi, the attorney general, to provide a briefing and status update on the department’s efforts to comply with the act , which requires it to release files related to disgraced financier by 19 December.
The group of lawmakers had said that they wanted a briefing as they were “particularly focused on understanding the contents of any new evidence, information or procedural hurdles that could interfere with the department’s ability meet this statutory deadline”.
But Tuesday’s announcement indicated that Bondi never provided this briefing. The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The Trump administration’s lack of transparency about its plans to release the Epstein files signals it is gearing up to disregard the law we led the fight in the Senate to pass, which overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Congress,” Merkley and Luján said.
“Without full transparency and accountability, there can be no ‘equal justice under the law’. Until the administration reverses course and provides a commonsense briefing, which lawmakers from both parties requested, we are blocking the Senate from carrying over any outstanding civilian nominations into next year.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by Congress in mid-November. It requires the justice department to release all “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” in its possession relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors, by 19 December.
