BREAKING: Massie unveils bill letting Epstein victims and state AGs sue the DOJ for hiding over 3 million files
Thomas Massie is done asking the Justice Department nicely. Now he wants to give Epstein’s victims the power to drag them into court.
The Kentucky Republican, joined by Democrats Ro Khanna and Teresa Leger Fernández in the House and Senators Jeff Merkley and Ben Ray Luján in the Senate, has introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, a bill that would give state attorneys general, Epstein’s victims, and members of Congress legal standing to sue the DOJ for unlawfully withholding, redacting, delaying, or concealing Epstein-related records.
“Since the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law on November 19, 2025, the Department of Justice has flagrantly and consistently ignored EFTA’s disclosure requirements,” Massie said. “The Department of Justice continues to unlawfully withhold over 3 million Epstein files that should be released to the public.”
The bill has real teeth. It would subject DOJ and FBI officials to federal criminal penalties for knowingly concealing, destroying, or falsifying files. It would force the DOJ to hand unredacted records to state and local prosecutors for their own investigations. And it explicitly bans the department from hiding behind legal privileges to dodge disclosure. If House leadership refuses to bring it up within seven legislative days, Massie says a discharge petition will start circulating to force a vote.
The timing could not be more pointed. The bill dropped as Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, sat before the Senate for his confirmation hearing to become attorney general, the same Blanche whose department missed the legal deadline to release the files, blacked out hundreds of pages, quietly retracted documents after publishing them, and then declared its own compliance complete.
Senator Merkley didn’t mince words about who is behind the stonewalling: “At Trump’s bidding, the Department of Justice’s highest-ranking officials continue to break the law, denying justice to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims with an unprecedented cover-up.”
Massie has already paid the price for refusing to drop this. Trump backed a primary challenge against him for daring to force the files into the open. He kept pushing anyway, alongside survivors who told a federal judge they don’t trust the DOJ to follow the law without a watchdog.
Congress passed a law. The DOJ broke it. Now Massie and his allies want to make sure the victims themselves can hold the most powerful law enforcement agency in America accountable in court. That’s what it looks like when someone actually means it.