DOJ Opposes Monitor for Epstein Files Release

The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to block a request by two members of Congress for a court-appointed independent monitor to oversee the release of millions of documents related to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, arguing that federal courts lack the authority to intervene in the process.

In a filing submitted Friday to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, the DOJ contended that Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, do not have legal standing to seek such oversight. The lawmakers, who co-sponsored the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law in November 2025, asked the court last week to allow them to submit a brief as friends of the court and appoint a special master. They accused the DOJ of failing to comply promptly with the law's mandate to disclose unclassified investigative materials, including records from Epstein's and Maxwell's cases, and claimed the delays amounted to violations causing trauma to survivors.

The DOJ's opposition letter, signed by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, emphasized that the...