Republican congressman says Epstein files ‘likely incriminated’ six more men

Thomas Massie, a US congressman, has said he knows the identity of six more men who are “likely incriminated” by their inclusion in the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files after he viewed an unredacted version of the documents relating to the disgraced late financier and sexual abuser.

The Kentucky Republican suggested he might reveal their names under congressional privilege if the justice department (DoJ) continued to conceal their identities in publicly available copies of the documents that are still redacted.

The six men, Massie told reporters after viewing the papers at DoJ headquarters in Washington on Monday, include at least one US citizen, an individual he said was “high up in a foreign government”, a foreigner, and “three or four others” whose nationalities were not readily apparent.

“What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files,” said Massie, lead sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that forced Donald Trump’s administration to publish its vast trove of documents into the connections and activities of the president’s former friend.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in prison. He is said to have taken his life in jail in Manhattan in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges including sex trafficking of children.

The ensuing scandal has enveloped countless rich and powerful individuals and thrown a long shadow over Trump’s second presidency.

A small group of Democrats who also viewed the papers on Monday, the first day they were made available to lawmakers, accused the DoJ of a cover-up for “mysterious redactions” they saw in the documents. The transparency act allows only limited redactions, mostly to protect the identities of Epstein’s victims.

“I was able to determine, at least I believe, that there were tons of completely unnecessary redactions, in addition to the failure to redact the names of victims,” said Democrat Jamie Raskin, the House judiciary ranking member.

Raskin has previously complained that about 3m documents from the Epstein files remain unreleased, despite the justice department’s insistence that its review of the Epstein case “is over”, and efforts by the White House to “move on” from the scandal.

Massie, meanwhile, hinted that he might yet reveal the names of the six in the course of his work in the House, where the constitution gives near-absolute immunity from defamation lawsuits under its speech or debate clause.

“There is no reason in our legislation that allows them to redact the names of those men,” he said at a press briefing outside the justice department building.

“I would like to give the DoJ a chance to say they made a mistake and over-redacted, and let them un-redact those men’s names. That would be, probably, the best way to do it.”

Massie said he spent about two hours looking at the files on Monday alongside Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman of California and a co-sponsor of the Epstein transparency act. The pair, Massie said, had to do “some digging” before finding the new names.

According to CNN, he did not spend time searching for references to Trump, whose name appears thousands of times in the files in a variety of contexts. The president has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s activities – and has called the investigation into him “a hoax”.

Separately, Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, is facing growing bipartisan calls for his resignation after extensive ties with Epstein were revealed in the files. Correspondence between the pair from 2012 showed arrangements for Lutnick to travel to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, one of several of his residences where abuse of minors is alleged to have taken place.

Lutnick has said he spent “zero time” with Epstein, but Massie said his fellow Republican “has a lot to answer for” and must stand down.

Khanna, after viewing the files on Monday, echoed Massie’s call. He noted that the scandal had roiled the government of Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, and prompted at least two resignations, Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, and Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s former chief of staff.

“Based on the evidence, [Lutnick] should be out of the cabinet,” Khanna told Politico Playbook.

“I know Keir Starmer, I was excited when he won. And yet I believe he needs to be held accountable with what’s happened with Mandelson. In our country, we have not had that reckoning.”

In another development on Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator who procured many of his victims to be abused, refused to testify to the House oversight committee investigating the Epstein case.

Before the hearing, at which she invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination and remained silent, Khanna noted her willingness to talk to Todd Blanche, Trump’s deputy attorney general, last summer. That was shortly before Maxwell was moved to a lower-security prison in Texas to serve the remainder of her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.

“She must immediately be sent back to the maximum security prison where she belongs,” Khanna wrote in a post on Bluesky.

The Miami Herald reported on Monday, citing a 2019 FBI interview with Michael Reiter, then the Palm Beach chief of police, that Trump called him in 2006 to warn that Maxwell was Epstein’s operative and was “evil”. Reiter’s statement contradicted Trump’s later claims that he knew nothing of Epstein and Maxwell’s activities.