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Lawmakers Stunned By Epstein Files Citing 9-Year-Old Victim And Powerful Foreign Figure
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell posing closely at a social event, related to Epstein files and scandal.

Lawmakers Stunned By Epstein Files Citing 9-Year-Old Victim And Powerful Foreign Figure

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Lawmakers who have reviewed unredacted Epstein files are continuing to call for transparency after revealing a 9-year-old girl was named in the documents.

The Justice Department released 3.5 million documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein late last month, but a significant amount of those have been redacted.

The Epstein Transparency Act, passed by lawmakers and signed by President Donald Trump last year, allowed for redactions in limited circumstances.

RELATED:
    Highlights
    • Lawmakers reviewing unredacted Epstein files found a 9-year-old girl named, sparking calls for greater transparency.
    • The DOJ released millions of Epstein documents, but heavy redactions limit what lawmakers can access under the Epstein Transparency Act.
    • Rep. Jamie Raskin criticized the DOJ for providing only four computers to review the files, calling it a cover-up.
    • Representatives Massie and Khanna found six redacted men implicated in the files in just two hours, including a senior foreign government official.

    Rep. Jamie Raskin said a girl as young as 9 was named in the Epstein files

    Image credits: Al Drago/Getty Images

    Members of Congress are now allowed to view those unredacted files at the DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C., but only four computers are available.

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    Rep. Jamie Raskin on Monday viewed some of those files and told reporters that a girl as young as 9 was mentioned.

    “You read through these files, and you read about 15-year-old girls, 14-year-old girls, 10-year-old girls. I saw a mention of a nine-year-old girl today. I mean, this is just preposterous and scandalous,” Raskin said.

    In a post on X, he also criticized efforts made to allow lawmakers to view those unredacted files.

    “The DOJ is giving Members of Congress just four computers in a satellite office to read the unredacted Epstein File of more than 3 million documents,” he wrote.

    “Working 40 hours a week on nothing else but this, it would take more than seven years for the 217 Members who signed the House discharge petition to read just the documents they’ve decided to release (and there are 3 million still being withheld).

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    “This is what a cover-up looks like.”

    Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who spearheaded the Epstein Transparency Act, urged the DOJ to reconsider redactions at a press conference on Monday after spending two hours reviewing the unredacted files.

    According to Massie, in those two hours, the pair managed to find at least six men who are implicated, one of whom is a senior member of a foreign government.

    Massie and Khanna spearheaded the Epstein Transparency Act

    Image credits: Heather Diehl/Getty Images

    “What we’re after is the men who Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women to; we want those names published,” Massie said.

    “There are six men—we went in there for two hours, there’s millions of files—and in a couple of hours, we found six men whose names have been redacted, who are implicated in the way that the files are presented.”

    When questioned on what fields those men work in, Massie said, “One is pretty high up in a foreign government.”

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    Khanna added, “One of the others is a pretty prominent individual.”

    “The point is that these six are just what we found in two hours of a review of the files that aren’t redacted,” Khanna told reporters. “The broader issue is why so many of the files they are getting are redacted in the first place.”

    It comes after Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, invoked her Fifth Amendment right in a sworn deposition Monday.

    Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking at a Texas prison camp dubbed “Club Fed,” refused to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee.

    In a statement to the committee, Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said she would only speak if granted clemency by President Donald Trump.

    Maxwell is refusing to answer questions unless Trump grants her clemency

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    Image credits: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

    “If this Committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path,” he said.

    “Ms. Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump. Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters.

    “For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”

    Markus also cited ongoing legal proceedings when explaining why Maxwell invoked the Fifth.

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    Kaitlin Easton

    Kaitlin Easton

    Author, News Reporter

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    Kaitlin is a Current Affairs Journalist at Bored Panda. She is based in Scotland and has previously worked for ABC News Australia, the Daily Record and the Press and Journal. In her spare time you can find her enjoying a good book and keeping active.

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    Kaitlin Easton

    Kaitlin Easton

    Author, News Reporter

    Kaitlin is a Current Affairs Journalist at Bored Panda. She is based in Scotland and has previously worked for ABC News Australia, the Daily Record and the Press and Journal. In her spare time you can find her enjoying a good book and keeping active.

    What do you think ?
    Multa Nocte (she/her/8647)
    Community Member
    11 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Trump. Trump is in the Epstein files and is trying to distract everyone from this by getting loudly upset at US Olympics athletes and Bad Bunny, while also angrily yelling at people to get off his lawn and then wandering off to yell at a few clouds.

    Multa Nocte (she/her/8647)
    Community Member
    11 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Trump. Trump is in the Epstein files and is trying to distract everyone from this by getting loudly upset at US Olympics athletes and Bad Bunny, while also angrily yelling at people to get off his lawn and then wandering off to yell at a few clouds.

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