Newly released documents from disgraced late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including a set of completely redacted pages, are seen in handouts released by the Justice Department and printed and arranged for a photo taken by Reuters on December 19, 2025 in Washington.
Jonathan Ernst | reuters
A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate the Justice Department’s release and redaction of documents related to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The letter, signed by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, alleges that the DOJ did not follow a law intended to compel the release of the Epstein files while protecting the victims.
“Contrary to Congress’s clear direction to protect victims, these records included email addresses and nude photographs in which the names and faces of publicly identified and non-publicly identified victims could be identified,” the lawmakers wrote. “But when it came to information identifying powerful business and political figures who are alleged conspirators or material witnesses, DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those records.”
GAO is an independent, nonpartisan legislative branch agency with the authority to audit and investigate the federal government. A GAO spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the agency has received the request and is reviewing it.
The DOJ has been repeatedly criticized for withholding parts of the Epstein files from the public in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed in November after months of protest. That law mandated complete release of documents by December 19.
A DOJ spokesperson called these claims “a tired narrative” that the agency was not complying with the law.
“Just because you want something to be true, doesn’t mean it is true. This department has produced millions of pages in compliance with the law, told the public and Congress what things were not amenable, and allowed members of Congress to review unredacted and duplicative files at their convenience in the name of full transparency,” the spokesperson said in an email Wednesday.
While the DOJ has released millions of documents so far, the December deadline has passed and entries in many other Epstein files have yet to be made public, drawing outrage from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have asked the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate the way the department handled the Epstein files. The House Oversight Committee voted last week to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi as part of its investigation into Epstein, who died in 2019.
The letter asks Acting Comptroller General Orris Williams Brown to review the “protocols and practices” used by the DOJ for the review, redaction and release of the Epstein files and report back to Congress. It specifically asks GAO to investigate whether “the release of the files constituted a concealment of child sexual abuse.”
“This horrific scandal is one where powerful, wealthy people groomed, abused, and raped young women, men, and children,” the senators wrote.