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Rabat – Sexual abuse survivors of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein attended Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing as Attorney General Pam Bondi testified on oversight of the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The group also appeared in an advertisement released in the US on Super Bowl Sunday holding up photos of their younger selves and declaring “we all deserve the truth.”
The advert opened with text on the screen stating “On November 19, 2025, the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law. 3 MILLION FILES Still Have Not Been Released.”
House of Representatives, Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the DOJ to release its files related to the late sex offender and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell by December 19 of last year.
The DoJ did not make their final release until January 30 citing the volume of material and the need to redact survivor’s identifying information. US lawmakers maintain that the latest files released are rife with inappropriate redactions unrelated to victims, specifically citing six prominent names.
Redactions were heavily criticized as lawyers for Epstein’s victims said the latest files included email addresses and nude photos in which victims could be identified, despite the DoJ’s original explanation for the delayed release pointing to protecting the victim’s privacy.
It claimed it took down all the flagged files and that mistakes were due to “technical or human error.”
Congress granted access to unredacted files
The discovery of the six previously blocked identities came after the Justice Department started allowing Congress members including Massie and Khanna access to the unredacted documents on Monday.
Khanna pressured the DoJ into releasing the names and listed them at a press conference: Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, Nicola Caputo, and most notably Les Wesner and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
Though the connection between Wesner, the billionaire retail giant and former owner of Victoria’s Secret, was already well established, Khanna exposed that the FBI had once considered him a co-conspirator to Epstein. No criminal charges were ever brought to fruition.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, one of Dubai’s most powerful men, appears in the files over 4,700 times. The chairman and CEO of logistics giant Dubai Ports World communicated with Epstein years before and after Epstein was charged for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
Epstein told bin Sulayem in one email: “I loved the torture video.”
After Khanna’s speech Tuesday, the DoJ took parts of the internal document and made the changes viewable for the public. Still, lawmakers emphasized the need for increased transparency.
“If we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files,” Khanna said.
“The DoJ is giving Members of Congress just four computers in a satellite office to read the unredacted Epstein File of more than 3 million documents,” US Representative Jamie Raskin criticized, regarding the limited access to unredacted files on X.
He said that even if the Congress Members worked 40 hours a week on nothing else but reading the released files, it would take more than seven years to get through all of them.
“This is what a cover up looks like,” concludes Raskin’s statement.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche justified the blocking of certain names stating: “The law requires redactions for personally identifiable information, including if in an email address.” This law is only meant for victims.
He added on X: “The DoJ is committed to transparency.”
“The core issue is that they’re not complying with… my law, because these were scrubbed back in March by Donald Trump’s FBI,” Khanna said.
“They need to unscrub the FBI files so we know who the rich and powerful men are who raped underage girls.”
House committee hearing highlights political divides
Democratic lawmakers pushed Bondi during Wednesday’s hearing on the DoJ’s handling of the Epstein files, particularly the unexplained redactions of powerful figures, while failing to protect victims’ information.
While Bondi apologized to Epstein’s survivors, saying she was “sorry for what any victim, any victim, has been through, especially as a result of that monster,” she repeatedly defended the department’s handling of the files.
When questioned by Massie, one of the only Republicans criticizing the administration on the matter, Bondi diverted by calling Massie a “failed politician” with “Trump derangement syndrome,” and demanded whether the same level of transparency was required from the former Attorney General Merrick Garland during the Biden administration.
“This cover-up spans decades, and you are responsible for this portion of it,” Massie responded.
Expanding web of power and compliance
Norwegian police are investigating the country’s former prime minister, Thorbjørn Jagland. The probe will look into any potential gifts, travel, and loans Epstein may have given him while serving as secretary general and chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Emails from 2013 show Epstein asking Jagland to help set up a meeting with Russian leaders including President Vladimir Putin. One email asked Jagland to tell Putin that Epstein could help Russia “leapfrog the global community by reinventing the financial system of the 21st century.”
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit also had a friendship with Epstein, exchanging many emails between 2011 and 2014.
Norway’s elite are facing broad scrutiny as Mona Juul, Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen, Oslo Accords architect are also being investigated by the Norwegian police for “aggravated corruption.”
Both Juul and Rob-Larsen played major parts in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s. Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, according to Norwegian media.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barark and Epstein discussed “gigantic” sums of money paid to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for consulting. Barak asked Epstein about how to earn money through contracts with a government or governments.
He mentions in the emails: “something that I’ve heard from you … that Tony Blair, for example, is doing some probably $11m per year from the Kazakhstan government just to give them advice, to help them with lobbying in some NGO or UN organisation.”
The exchanges between Barak indicate Epstein served as a trusted financial advisor and friend to Barak, a relationship that continued years after Epstein became a convicted sex offender after the controversial 2008 plea deal.
Blair, an already controversial figure, led the UK from 1997 to 2007 and was a key player in the disastrous Iraq war. He was named a founding executive member of Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza in January.
In regards to other world leaders, French President Emmanuel Macron referred to the Epstein Scandal as “a matter that mainly concerns the United States,” and remarked that the mass release of files had created “fuel for conspiracy theories.”
However, these statements come after former French minister Jack Lang and his daughter Caroline Lang stepped down from their roles at the Arab World Institute and the Foundation Le Refuge. French prosecutors have opened preliminary tax fraud investigations on the father and daughter after the pair were mentioned in the released files.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and long-time accomplice, is the only person serving time in connection to Epstein. She was convicted in 2021 for sex trafficking underage girls and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Maxwell refused to answer questions from the US House Oversight Committee on Monday, instead using the time to campaign for immunity.
Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus said Maxwell was “prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”
“Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters,” he posted on social media.
Read also: Ghislaine Maxwell The Woman Who Made Epstein’s Crimes Possible
