Epstein Document Release Triggers Criticism in US

(MENAFN) The partial disclosure of documents connected to the late convicted financier Jeffrey Epstein has stirred controversy in the US, with lawmakers and public figures accusing the Justice Department of withholding legally required information.

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the released material represents only a fraction of the full Epstein record. “Even with everything in this Epstein drop, remember: this is a minority of the files. This is still just what they were willing to release – in violation of the law, which requires release of all files. Pam Bondi’s DOJ is still hiding most of them. We need them all,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on US social media company X, referring to the US attorney general.

Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, a member of the House Oversight Committee, described the limited disclosure as “outrageous and incredibly concerning.”

Republican Representative Thomas Massie claimed that the document release triggered political pressure against him. “Within hours of the Epstein file release, a superPAC funded by Israel-first billionaires Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer, and John Paulson, who himself appears in Epstein’s black book, bought another $800,000 of TV ads against me. I’ll still win, but if I lose, it was worth it,” Massie said.

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk also spoke out, denying any association with Epstein and accusing unnamed parties of attempting to shift blame. “They are trying to deflect responsibility to me from the truly guilty. I have not been to any of Epstein’s party, his plane or his island. But many others have. Those who have committed serious crimes need to be prosecuted,” Musk said.

Epstein died in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had previously pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution, a conviction critics have described as a "sweetheart deal."

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