• Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Congress a letter listing over 300 “politically exposed persons” mentioned in the Epstein files, including celebrities who died decades before Epstein’s crimes began
• A Channel 4 News investigation found the DOJ may have released only 2 percent of the total Epstein data, contradicting Bondi’s claim that all files have been disclosed
• Republican lawmakers including Reps. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene joined Democrats in rejecting the DOJ’s assertion that its legal obligations have been fulfilled

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to close the book on the Jeffrey Epstein files saga Saturday by sending Congress a six-page letter declaring the Department of Justice had released all records required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The letter included a list of more than 300 “politically exposed persons” mentioned in the files — a roster so broadly compiled that it featured Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Janis Joplin alongside known Epstein associates and convicted sex offenders.

The result was the opposite of what the Department of Justice presumably intended. Instead of quieting months of bipartisan criticism over redactions, delayed releases and questions about the scope of disclosure, the letter ignited a fresh firestorm from Republicans and Democrats alike — all questioning whether the nation’s top law enforcement agency is protecting powerful people while burying evidence behind legal privilege claims.

Dead Celebrities and a Misspelled Congresswoman

The list, required under Section 3 of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in November 2025, was supposed to catalog all government officials and politically exposed persons named in the released materials. What Congress received instead was a document that lumped convicted sex offenders next to long-dead musicians with no context explaining how any individual appeared in the files.

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Monroe died in 1962, when Epstein was 9 years old. Joplin died in 1970, when he was 17. Both appeared on the list simply because Epstein had mentioned their names in documents — not because they had any connection to his criminal enterprise.

“The DOJ is once again purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email. To have Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, who went to prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women and child pornography, with no clarification of how either was mentioned in the files, is absurd.”

That was Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), one of the co-sponsors of the Transparency Act, responding on X within hours of the letter’s release. His demand was blunt: release the full, unredacted files and stop protecting predators.

The list also included former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — with her name spelled incorrectly. Greene’s daughter, Lauren Greene, noticed the error and called it out publicly. Greene herself demanded full transparency, writing on X that the DOJ should unredact all 31 pages of files containing her name if it was going to include her on the list.

“If you are going to put my name on your fake ‘Epstein List’ DOJ letter, then REDACT ALL 31 PAGES OF THIS FILE WITH MY NAME IN IT!!!!!!!!!! What is there to hide???”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE THE DUPREE REPORT

Greene, who resigned from Congress in November after clashing with the Trump administration over her push to release the files, went further in a podcast interview released the same weekend, claiming Trump had called her in September to yell about her support for the discharge petition that forced the Transparency Act to the floor.

Bipartisan Rejection of Bondi’s Claims

The letter, co-signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, stated the DOJ had fulfilled its legal obligations and that no records were withheld based on embarrassment, reputational harm or political sensitivity. It cited deliberative process privilege, attorney-client privilege and work product privilege as justification for ongoing redactions.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), one of four Republicans who signed the discharge petition to bring the Transparency Act to a vote, rejected the claim outright.

“Despite the memo released by DOJ last night, not all the Epstein files have been released. And the excuses provided for not releasing all the files will not hold up in a court of law. This isn’t going away until people go to jail.”

Mace also pointed to an internal FBI email from March 2025 in which agents requested specific guidance on redacting photographs depicting former presidents, a Secretary of State and other celebrities from the Epstein files — directly contradicting Bondi’s assertion that no redactions were made to protect powerful figures.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the other co-sponsor of the Transparency Act, has been the most persistent Republican critic of the DOJ’s handling of the files. During Bondi’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Feb. 11, he walked the committee through documents showing that the name of retail billionaire Les Wexner — listed as a potential co-conspirator in an FBI document — had been redacted until Massie personally flagged it.

“Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed!”

Bondi’s response was to call Massie a “failed politician” with “Trump derangement syndrome” — a remarkable insult directed at a fellow Republican who helped author the very law the DOJ claims to have fulfilled.

Massie told reporters after the hearing that the situation is “bigger than Watergate” and spans four presidential administrations.

“The recourse, and I keep reminding the folks at DOJ this, is that the next attorney general can bring charges against them for breaking the law.”

The 2 Percent Problem

Perhaps the most damaging development for Bondi’s credibility came from an investigation by the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 News, which reviewed internal emails between federal investigators and prosecutors. The findings suggest that the material released to the public represents roughly 2 percent of the total data the government collected from Epstein’s properties.

Internal emails from June 2020 showed investigators expected to process between 20 and 40 terabytes of data seized from Epstein’s Florida mansion, New York townhouse and private island, with total device capacity reaching up to 50 terabytes. A later internal email from March 2025 referenced approximately 14.6 terabytes of archived data — equivalent to roughly 15,000 gigabytes.

The DOJ has released approximately 300 gigabytes of data — about 2 percent of what investigators had internally discussed. The department released over 3.5 million pages, including more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, on Jan. 30. But the Transparency Act’s requirements extend beyond what the department considers responsive material, and lawmakers argue that crucial internal memos about prosecution decisions remain concealed.

“They are citing ‘deliberative process privilege’ in order not to release some of the documents. The problem with that is the bill that Ro Khanna and I wrote says that they must release internal memos and notes and emails about their decisions on whether to prosecute or not to prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate.”

That was Massie, explaining during an ABC News appearance on Feb. 16 why the DOJ’s claim of full compliance does not hold up against the actual text of the law he authored.

What the List Actually Contains

The list does include names of individuals with documented connections to Epstein: President Trump, Steve Bannon, Wexner, Bill Gates, Prince Harry, Mark Zuckerberg and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It also names convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence.

But the letter explicitly states that names appear in the files in a wide variety of contexts. Some individuals had extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell, while others are mentioned only in passing — including in press clippings that appear unrelated to the criminal investigation. Being mentioned in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

Political commentator Ed Krassenstein pointed out that Biden family members Ashley Biden and Hunter Biden appear on the list, while none of the Trump children are included — despite reportedly being mentioned in the files. He called the omission a “cover-up.”

Conservative commentator Mario Nawfal, who shared the letter with his 3 million X followers, also expressed skepticism about the DOJ’s claims of complete transparency.

“From the number of files I’ve read with weird redactions, I can confidently say: this is BS.”

The Hearing That Preceded the Letter

The Saturday letter arrived just days after Bondi’s combative appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11, where she clashed with lawmakers from both parties. During the hearing, Bondi called ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) a “washed-up loser lawyer,” dismissed Massie’s concerns about redactions and was accused by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) of lying under oath about evidence of underage girls at parties attended by the president.

Bondi did acknowledge that the DOJ has pending investigations related to Epstein, without identifying specific targets. She also said the department would work to fix improper redactions and unredact men’s names that should not have been withheld.

Lawmakers also accused the DOJ of tracking their searches of unredacted Epstein documents at secure terminals. A photograph emerged of Bondi holding the search history of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), prompting Jayapal to accuse the department of spying on congressional oversight.

Greene Warns MAGA About Political Fallout

Greene, once one of Trump’s most vocal allies, issued a broader warning to the MAGA movement on Sunday about the political consequences of minimizing the Epstein revelations.

“All of you MAGA influencers and the rest mocking the seriousness of women who were trafficked and raped as teenagers and young women look like cult fools. Good luck trying to get women to vote for Republicans in the midterms, you insensitive clowns.”

The former Georgia congresswoman argued that the Republican Party already has a problem attracting women voters and that dismissing Epstein’s victims will deepen that deficit heading into the 2026 midterms.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets about the criticism of its letter.

When the Justice Department’s own definition of full compliance leaves 98 percent of seized data unreleased and dead celebrities sharing a list with convicted sex offenders, what standard of transparency are federal institutions actually being held to — and who gets to decide when enough is enough?

Sources

This report was compiled using information from Fox News Digital’s first reporting on Bondi’s letter, The Daily Beast’s coverage of the dead celebrity backlash, Mediaite’s reporting on Nancy Mace’s rejection of the DOJ claims, Mediaite’s analysis of the Channel 4 investigation, NPR’s coverage of the Bondi hearing and bipartisan criticism, The Hill’s reporting on Massie’s confrontation with Bondi, The Hill’s coverage of Mace’s criticism of DOJ redactions, CBS News live updates from the Bondi hearing, TIME’s reporting on Greene’s warning to MAGA, Newsweek’s coverage of Greene demanding unredacted files, Deadline’s reporting on the letter’s contents, and The Washington Examiner’s seven takeaways from Bondi’s hearing.

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