A bipartisan group of senators asked the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday to review how the Justice Department handled the release and redaction of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, escalating congressional scrutiny over whether the department followed a law signed by President Donald Trump and adequately protected victims.
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the Justice Department may have failed to release all records required by law and improperly exposed identifying information about victims while shielding information about powerful people described as possible co-conspirators or material witnesses.
In a letter to acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, the senators asked the GAO to examine how the department reviewed and redacted the files, how many people were assigned to the work, and what guidance the administration provided as officials moved to comply with the disclosure law.
"Contrary to Congress's explicit directive to protect victims, these records included email addresses and nude photos in which the names and faces of publicly-identified and non-public victims could be identified," the lawmakers wrote.
"But when it came to information identifying powerful business and political figures who are alleged co-conspirators or material witnesses, DOJ appears to have heavily redacted those records," the letter stated, according to CNBC.
The push adds to bipartisan pressure on the department more than a month after most of the files were made public.
The law at the center of the dispute, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, was signed on Nov. 19, 2025. The White House said the measure requires the attorney general to release Justice Department records related to Epstein.
The Justice Department said on Jan. 30 that it had published more than three million additional pages, bringing total production to nearly 3.5 million pages.
The department has faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress over whether that production was complete and properly redacted.
Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 24-19 to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi, with five Republicans joining Democrats, in another sign that frustration has crossed party lines.
Bondi has defended the department's handling of the files.
Testifying last month before the House Judiciary Committee, she said, "This administration released over three million pages of documents, over three million, and Donald Trump signed that law to release all of those documents."
The Justice Department also made public more records last week that it said had previously been withheld because they were wrongly treated as duplicates.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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