Federal Judge Tells Massie, Khanna To Pound Sand On Expediting Epstein Files Release

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan attempt by two House members to force the Justice Department to speed up the release of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, ruling that the court does not have the authority to oversee Justice Department compliance in Ghislaine Maxwell’s “effectively closed” criminal case.

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna asked U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer to let them intervene as “friends of the court” and appoint a master or special observer to oversee the DOJ’s public release of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law in November. (RELATED: House Oversight Takes Steps to Contempt Clintons After Dodging Epstein Testimony)

“Simply put, the DOJ cannot be trusted to make disclosures required by law,” the lawmakers wrote in a Jan. 8 letter urging Engelmayer to install an independent oversight agency.

I’m not out of the game yet…

and forced them to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Now if they beat me in May and the files aren’t released…

I admit that it is irreparable.

– Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 19, 2026

Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, ruled that the candidacy was doomed to failure because “[t]the only parties to the case are Maxwell and the United States,” and because Maxwell was charged under six “non-EFTA” federal criminal statutes, which did not exist at the time and is not a criminal statute.

Still, Engelmayer acknowledged the underlying dispute, writing that questions from lawmakers and victims “raise legitimate concerns about whether the DOJ is faithfully complying with federal law.” The judge noted that the ruling does not prevent Massie and Khanna from filing a separate lawsuit and said they remain free to use Congress’s oversight tools.

The law requires the DOJ to release, in a searchable and downloadable format, all unclassified documents in its possession relating to Epstein, Maxwell and prohibits any withholding “because of embarrassment, reputational damage, or political sensitivity.”