Indian-American congressman Ro Khanna accuses Justice Department of ‘improperly redacting’ six names in Epstein files, seeks transparency

Indian American Democrats Rokana Claiming on Monday that six names had been “improperly” redacted, he said they were “potentially incriminating” because they were included in Epstein’s dossier.MPs have been allowed to begin reviewing unredacted versions of some 3 million pages of documents released under EFTA since December, BBC News reported.“The core issue is they’re not following…my laws because those laws were rolled back by Donald Trump’s FBI back in March,” Democratic Representative Khanna told MS NOW.At least one document has been left unredacted since lawmakers filed the complaint, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on X: “The Department of Justice is committed to transparency.”The redaction of the documents came under intense scrutiny last week after lawyers for Epstein’s victims said the latest batch of documents included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of potential victims could be identified.Survivors released a statement calling the revelation “outrageous” and saying they should not “be named, scrutinized and re-traumatized”.The Justice Department said it had removed all flagged files and that the error was due to “technical or human error.”After reviewing the unredacted documents, Massey and Khanna told reporters they had a list of about 20 people whose names had been redacted except for Epstein and his convicted sex trafficker associate Ghislaine Maxwell.Massey said outside the Justice Department on Monday night that six of the names might even belong to men “who could be charged for being included in these documents,” before posting a screenshot of the redacted documents online and demanding an explanation.Khanna told MS NOW the names had been “inappropriately” edited.In response to their concerns, Branch said his department “has just removed the redaction of all non-victim names in this document. The Department of Justice is committed to transparency.”He linked to what appears to be a new version of the document, which he said contains the names of Epstein victims, whose identities EFTA law requires the government to conceal, with only two names currently blacked out.Branch also responded to two other documents Massey highlighted, saying they did not obfuscate any substantive information.But Khanna said steps taken since the documents were released remain inconsistent with EFTA law, which passed Congress almost unanimously and was signed by President Trump in November.“Trump’s FBI deleted these documents in March,” Khanna said on social media. “DOJ (Department of Justice) documents [received] There were edits made by the FBI at the time.“They need to clean up the FBI files so we know who the rich and powerful men are who raped underage girls.”Massey said the erroneous redactions showed the Justice Department “needs to do more homework” in handling the documents.“We discovered that these 302 forms had been redacted before they were sent to the Department of Justice,” violating the law’s order that the FBI, which is part of the Justice Department, unredact the information before sending it to Blans and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office.Among the redactions flagged by Massey late Monday was a document showing an email exchange between Epstein and an unidentified person discussing “torture videos” and travel between China and the United States.Massi claimed that “it seems to have been sent by a sultan” and demanded that the hidden identity be revealed.Branch cited Massie’s post on X, saying the blacked-out text was an email address.“The law requires the redaction of personally identifiable information, including information in email addresses. You know the Sultan’s name is found in the document without redaction,” he said.“Stop grandstanding,” he added.Massey also complained that the name of a “well-known retired CEO” was missing from a document released by the FBI listing potential Epstein accomplices.Within hours, Branch said, the name, which had appeared elsewhere in the document, was discovered.“The Department of Justice is not hiding anything,” he wrote.