Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Friday that a judge does not have the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the entire case. Public release of documents Inside financier’s sex trafficking investigation Jeffrey Epstein and british socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton told Judge Paul A. Engelmeier in a letter signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton that he must reject a request this week from congressional co-sponsors of the Epstein Documents Transparency Act to appoint a neutral expert.
U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said they were “urgent and gravely concerned” about the slow release of just a few million documents that began last month.
In documents filed with the judge, they said they believe “criminal violations occurred” during the release process.
Clayton, however, said Khanna and Massie did not have standing in court that would have allowed them to seek the “extraordinary” relief of appointing a special master and independent monitor.
He said Engelmeier “lacked the authority” to grant such a request, especially since the congressional representative making the request was not a party to the criminal case that led to Maxwell’s case. December 2021 sex trafficking convictions Epstein was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting girls and women to commit abuse and assisting in abuse.
Khanna said Clayton’s response “misunderstood” the intent of their request.
“We informed the court of serious misconduct at the Department of Justice that required redress, which we believe the court has the power to provide and that the victims themselves have requested,” Khanna said in a statement.
“Our aim is to ensure that the Department of Justice complies with its representations to the court and its legal obligations under our laws,” he added.
Epstein died in August 2019 in a federal prison in New York City while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.
Clayton said in the letter that the Justice Department expects to update the court again “soon” on the progress of turning over documents from the Epstein and Maxwell investigations.
The Justice Department said the release of the documents had been slowed by redactions needed to protect the identities of abuse victims.
Khanna and Massey wrote in their letter that the Justice Department’s release of only 12,000 documents out of more than 2 million reviewed was a “flagrant violation” of the law’s disclosure requirements and resulted in ” Survivors suffered severe trauma“.
“Simply put, the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to make mandatory disclosures under this bill,” the congressman said in calling for the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure that all documents and electronically stored information are immediately made public.
They also recommended empowering court-appointed monitors to prepare reports on the true nature and scope of document production and whether inappropriate editing or conduct occurred.