Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was joined by all Oversight Democrats in demanding answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi after the Department of Justice (DOJ) exposed the identities of dozens of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse in their latest release of documents. Instances include one minor victim’s name being revealed 20 times within a single document, a singular email listing 32 minor child victims with only one name being redacted, and numerous documents exposing sensitive information including names, dates of birth, bank information, driver’s license numbers, email addresses, and home addresses.
“It’s unacceptable that women victimized by Jeffrey Epstein were betrayed thousands of times by their own government, despite the DOJ having a comprehensive list of victim names. This Administration took the time to cherry-pick 2.5 million pages to withhold from the public and couldn’t be bothered to properly protect survivors. We must find out whether this was a failure or an intentional effort to punish victims and further this White House cover-up,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
In the letter, Ranking Member Garcia and Oversight Democrats wrote, “This exposure of survivor information undermines your representation that DOJ “will ensure that any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law [sic].” Rather than taking sufficient steps to fix its failure, DOJ has placed the burden on the survivors to find their unredacted names and request that DOJ make the necessary redactions. Several victims have described DOJ’s actions as “retraumatizing, forcing them to relive their abuse while racing to prevent the spread of their identities online.” Multiple victims have since had their names spread on social media and across the internet, some of whom report being the targets of online harassment since the documents became public.”
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