Amid allegations of cover-up, House Judiciary Committee members seek access to full Epstein case files

Source: CBS News

Updated on: January 31, 2026 / 3:12 PM EST


Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department for immediate arrangements to view the full Jeffrey Epstein case files. In a formal inquiry sent Saturday, the lawmakers said the need for a review of the papers is "urgent," in part because of a forthcoming public committee hearing with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The committee's inquiry, a copy of which CBS News obtained Saturday, said the panel has questions about why the Justice Department released only half of the estimated pages of Epstein files.

"Our review is particularly urgent because DOJ itself claims to have identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages, but after releasing only about half of them—including over 200,000 pages that DOJ redacted or withheld—says strangely that it has fully complied with the (law)," the letter said.

The inquiry, signed by the panel's ranking member and Maryland Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, is addressed to Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. It reminded Blanche that he previously said that if any member of Congress wishes to review any portions of the files "in any unredacted form," they are welcome to make arrangements to do so. "The Democratic Members of the House Judiciary Committee do wish to review the files," the letter said.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-judiciary-committee-members-seek-access-full-epstein-case-files/