U.S. SENATE News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to a request from U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and bipartisan Senators, the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) opened an investigation into the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) practices in redacting information from the public release of the Epstein Files.

“The American people deserve accountability, transparency, and a process they can trust. But under this Department of Justice, the Trump administration has failed to release the Epstein files as required by law. This audit is a necessary step toward transparency and justice,” Sen. Luján said. 

Sen. Luján, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) led the request to GAO.

“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” GAO officials wrote. “As applicable, we will also be in contact with the cognizant Inspector General’s office to ensure that we are not duplicating efforts.”

Last week, the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (DOJ IG) also announced it was performing an audit of the DOJ’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The Epstein Files Transparency Act—which was led by Luján, Merkley, and Murkowski in the Senate—was signed into law by President Trump late last year.