January 16, 2026
I want to give you a quick legal update on the Epstein files.
The Trump administration says no one, no judge, no court and at least right now – not even congress can force them to release the Epstein files any faster. As I have been reporting the fact is the DOJ is currently – as we speak – violating the Epstein Transparency Act because the full Epstein files were supposed to be released to the public almost a month ago.
Well today — Attorney General Pam Bondi submitted this letter to a federal judge in New York in response to the letter that these two lawmakers wrote to the judge saying that the Trump DOJ “can’t be trusted” to release the Epstein files as required under the law and asked the judge to appoint what’s called a special master to go through the files and release what is required whether the DOJ likes it or not.
Well – it is clear based on the letter from Bondi – she did not take kindly to that. She writes “with no standing and no cause of action, the representatives are unable to seek the relief they request, and, respectfully, the court is without authority to issue it.”
That’s legals speak for Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie who wrote the Epstein Transparency Act – who are duly elected lawmakers need to butt out and “respectfully” the judge needs to butt out too.
So why is Bondi able to take that really aggressive stance? Well –she brings up a bunch of legal issues like – from her perspective — Khanna and Massie have no legal standing to interfere in this case because they were never a party to the original case before the judge. On top of that she says the judge can’t legally grant relief to them and appoint a special master because that’s is really not an issue that’s relevant for this judge to consider in this case. And most importantly – she says that Khanna, Massie and the judge cannot force the DOJ to release the Epstein files any faster or put in a court appointed monitor to make sure they’re following the law because the law itself “does not provide a cause of action.” Meaning as individuals – and even as lawmakers they don’t have the right to seek the release of these files because there was no enforcement mechanism written into the Epstein transparency act to begin with.
Now – that is an issue you raised from the very beginning. You asked – what happens if the DOJ does not release the files? And the answer is – there is no consequence written in the law. And that’s what AG Bondi is telling the judge in this letter…and then she takes it one step further and tells the judge that it wouldn’t be legal for him to create a consequence like appointing a special master.
We will have to see how the judge rules on this issue. I have reached out to Representative Khanna’s office to see what his response to Bondi’s letter is. When I hear back from him I will let you know.
Read Bondi’s letter here.
