U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined forces with U.S. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to call on Attorney General Pam Bondi to provide a briefing on the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and fully release the Epstein Files by December 19, 2025—as required by the law.
Luján, Merkley, Murkowski, Massie, and Khanna’s letter comes as the Justice Department is legally required to release all the Epstein Files within the law’s 30-day requirement.
“We write as the bipartisan lead sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act to express our shared interest in supporting the Department of Justice’s efforts to carry out the provisions of this critical new law,” the bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote. “In light of the short 30-day deadline to release the Epstein Files, we are particularly focused on understanding the contents of any new evidence, information or procedural hurdles that could interfere with the Department’s ability meet this statutory deadline.”
They demanded, “In the interest of transparency and clarity on the steps required to faithfully implement the Epstein Files Transparency Act, we request a briefing either in a classified or unclassified setting, to discuss the full contents of this new information in your possession at your convenience, but not later than Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.”
The Epstein Files Transparency Act overwhelmingly passed Congress and was signed into law by President Trump on November 19, 2025. The landmark transparency legislation includes strong protections to redact appropriate information to protect victims’ privacy and national security, while explicitly prohibiting redactions based on reputational harm or political sensitivity.
“In addition, we underscore that protecting survivors’ privacy is central to the law’s intent. We share concerns about the Department’s ability to accurately identify and redact victims’ names. The victim’s lawyers have far greater knowledge of who these individuals are, and they are prepared to confidentially transmit names that must be redacted to prevent privacy violations. We urge the Department to coordinate directly with these attorneys to establish a secure process to fully protect all victim identities,” the lawmakers emphasized.
Luján and Merkley introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act earlier this year to ensure full transparency for the American people, accountability for those involved with Epstein, and justice for victims.
Full text of the letter can be found by clicking here.