A Manhattan federal judge denied an effort by two House lawmakers Wednesday to appoint a neutral monitor to oversee the release of the Justice Department’s investigative files on late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — despite calling their attempt “important” and “timely.”
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer found that Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) did not have legal standing to make their request after the DOJ admitted in December it had only released 1% of all potential documents related to the Epstein case.
“This court lacks authority to grant the representatives’ request for relief,” wrote Engelmayer, who oversaw the 2021 trial of Epstein’s accomplice and former lover Ghislaine Maxwell.
But the judge added that “the questions raised by the representatives and the victims are undeniably important and timely.
“They raise legitimate concerns about whether DOJ is faithfully complying with federal law,” he added.
Massie and Khanna, the co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), had asked Engelmayer to appoint a so-called “special master” to regularly report to the judge about the pace of the document release — and who would have power to demand testimony from DOJ officials overseeing the effort.
The Justice Department has released 12,285 documents, comprising around 125,575 pages of investigative material, on its Epstein Library webpage since the act took effect on Dec. 19.
Federal prosecutors have acknowledged in court filings that there are “millions” of pages yet to be reviewed.
Engelmayer noted in his ruling that Massie and Khanna could file a separate lawsuit seeking the appointment of a neutral party to oversee the Epstein files release rather than piggybacking on the criminal case against Maxwell.
“The Representatives are also, of course, at liberty to pursue oversight of DOJ via the tools available to Congress,” the judge pointedly concluded his seven-page ruling.
Massie and Khanna did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
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