1. United States
2. Maine
3. Letter

Enforce the Law You Passed: Start the Lawsuits   I am writing to express my deep frustration at Congress's failure to enforce the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA, Pub. L. 119-38), which passed 427-1 in the House and unanimously in the Senate and was signed into law on November 19, 2025.   The facts are not in dispute:   — The law required full release of unclassified Epstein files by December 19, 2025. That deadline was missed.   — As of today, approximately 2.5 million of the roughly 6 million documents DOJ identified as responsive have not been released. Of the 3.5 million that have been released, a substantial portion are so heavily redacted as to convey little information.   — The DOJ's own Inspector General has been the subject of multiple formal complaints by the Democracy Defenders Fund documenting alleged violations including: failure to publish required Federal Register justifications for redactions, surreptitious re-redaction of already-released documents without notice, and failure to release documents in the categories Congress explicitly mandated.   — Yesterday's New York Times Magazine report by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, drawn from their forthcoming book "Regime Change," documents that senior White House officials including Vice President Vance held multiple Situation Room meetings to manage the Epstein files controversy as a political problem — not a compliance obligation. The reporting describes the President himself as the primary internal obstacle to a straightforward release. The reasons this White House would treat a law enforcement transparency matter as a crisis requiring Situation Room-level damage control are worth examining carefully.   Further, Epstein's executive assistant Lesley Groff testified before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday.  According to members present, she testified that she arranged phone calls between Epstein and Donald Trump approximately once a quarter. The full scope and timeline of that relationship remains unestablished — and 2.5 million unreleased documents that might shed light on it remain withheld, as might the investigation of the heavy redactions in those documents that were released.   Congress passed a law. The executive branch is not complying with it. The appropriate responses are well within Congress's existing authority:   1. Initiate civil contempt proceedings in federal court to enforce the outstanding Oversight Committee subpoena, which has been defied since August 2025.   2. Direct the House or Senate Judiciary Committee to file suit to enforce EFTA compliance directly — the law is clear, the deadline has passed, and the partial-release defense does not hold up against the statute's plain language.   3. Subpoena Acting AG Blanche to testify specifically about the Epstein files — what was withheld, why, and on whose direction. His May appearance before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee was a budget hearing, not an examination of his decisions as the official Bondi identified as personally responsible for the redaction and release process.   4. Demand an independent audit of DOJ's compliance by the Inspector General, as requested by outside organizations and not yet ordered.   With respect to DOJ's claim that the remaining documents are duplicates, ongoing investigation materials, or victim-identifying information: that claim is unverified, is contradicted by members of Congress who have viewed unredacted files, and cannot be accepted on DOJ's word alone given the documented pattern of non-compliance. The law provides specific, narrow grounds for withholding. Congress has both the right and the obligation to verify that those grounds are being applied lawfully.   This is not a partisan issue. The EFTA passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support. Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes deserve the accountability that law promised. The American public — across the political spectrum — has not accepted the administration's explanations for why 2.5 million documents remain out of public view.   I urge you to move beyond letters and hearings and use the legal tools available to enforce the law Congress already passed.