Washington, D.C. – In response to a request from Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the nonpartisan, independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) has opened an investigation into the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) practices in redacting information from the public release of the Epstein Files.
“By illegally disregarding the law, the Trump Administration is cruelly denying ‘equal justice under the law’ to all of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims,” said Merkley, the lead Senate sponsor of the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. “This independent investigation is an important step in holding this Administration accountable for siding with the rich and powerful to help cover up the abuse of our most vulnerable. I’ll keep fighting to use all the tools at my disposal to deliver justice for Epstein’s victims and transparency for the American people.”
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) joined Merkley’s initial request to GAO.
“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” wrote GAO officials. “As applicable, we will also be in contact with the cognizant Inspector General’s office to ensure that we are not duplicating efforts.”
Last week, the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (DOJ IG) also announced it was performing an audit of the DOJ’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Merkley partnered with Murkowski and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to lead the request for the DOJ IG to launch this investigation.
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