Rep. Khanna names 6 men he says were redacted from Epstein files for

[ad_1] Washington — Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna took to the Home flooring on Tuesday to learn out the names of six males that the Justice Division had initially blacked out within the recordsdata on the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein .

The recordsdata referenced by Khanna and reviewed by CBS Information — which have now been partially un-redacted to disclose the six names — don't seem to instantly implicate the six males in any crimes, and Khanna didn't allege any particular legal wrongdoing. The Justice Division stated Friday that among the males have been "utterly random" and had no connection to Epstein.

However the California Democrat solid the redactions as failures by the Justice Division, which he accused of defending the names of "rich, highly effective" individuals "for no obvious purpose" when it launched a trove of tens of millions of paperwork on Epstein.

The six males who have been named by Khanna embrace billionaire Leslie Wexner, who led the father or mother firm of Victoria's Secret and employed Epstein to handle his cash, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the former CEO of Dubai-based logistics agency DP World. He additionally listed out 4 less-well-known individuals: Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov and Nicola Caputo.

Khanna says he found the six names on Monday after visiting a Justice Division workplace to view unredacted variations of the Epstein recordsdata with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. The bipartisan duo co-sponsored a legislation final yr that required the Justice Division to launch nearly all of its investigative recordsdata on Epstein, with redactions allowed to guard survivors' identities and in a handful of different circumstances.

After leaving the constructing, Khanna and Massie advised reporters they discovered the names after looking by way of paperwork for a part of the afternoon. They stated there are probably others.

"And if we discovered six males that they have been hiding in two hours, think about what number of males they're overlaying up for in these 3 million recordsdata," Khanna stated Tuesday on the Home flooring.

Late Monday, after Massie pointed to a trio of paperwork the place the six names appeared, the Justice Division partially un-redacted these recordsdata. They embrace a 2019 FBI doc that refers to Wexner as a "co-conspirator," an e mail correspondence between Epstein and bin Sulayem and a listing of 20 names that features the 4 different males — although the context or function of that listing isn't fully clear, and it would not seem to incorporate allegations.

Deputy Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche stated in a Friday night social media publish that among the males have been "utterly random individuals chosen years in the past for an FBI lineup." Blanche was probably referring to the 4 males who appeared on the listing of 20 names, which was in a doc that additionally included redacted pictures of 20 individuals.

"These people have NOTHING to do with Epstein or [associate Ghislaine] Maxwell," Blanche continued, faulting Khanna and Massie for forcing their "unmasking."

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A authorized consultant for Wexner advised CBS Information {that a} federal prosecutor "advised Mr. Wexner's authorized counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was being considered as [a] supply of details about Epstein and was not a goal the least bit. Mr. Wexner cooperated totally by offering background data on Epstein and was by no means contacted once more." Wexner — who is known as elsewhere within the paperwork — has lengthy stated he lower ties with Epstein after his crimes have been made public. He has not been charged with a criminal offense.

CBS Information has reached out to bin Sulayem for remark, and is trying to succeed in out to the opposite 4.

In a collection of social media posts on Monday saying the redactions had been faraway from the lads's names, Blanche accused Massie of "grandstanding" and stated the Justice Division is "hiding nothing."

A Justice Division spokesperson defended the division's dealing with of the recordsdata to CBS Information, saying the division has at all times cautioned "that with 3.5 million pages, the groups could have inadvertently redacted people or left these unredacted who ought to have been."

The spokesperson added that 4 of the six names talked about by Khanna "are solely included on this one doc out of all of the recordsdata. Wexner is referenced almost 200 instances within the recordsdata, and Sultan bin Sulayem seems over 4,700 instances."

Because the Epstein Information Transparency Act was signed by President Trump in November, the Justice Division has launched a huge trove of information on Epstein and Maxwell. The recordsdata embrace particulars on the intercourse trafficking investigations into Epstein and new revelations concerning the highly effective individuals with whom the disgraced financier cultivated shut ties — although inclusion within the recordsdata isn't proof of wrongdoing by itself.

However the division has additionally confronted criticism from congressional Democrats over its dealing with of the redaction course of. Some observers have accused the division of over-redacting the recordsdata, whereas some attorneys for Epstein survivors say the division didn't correctly redact their shoppers' names earlier than publishing the recordsdata to a authorities database.

The division has stated tons of of legal professionals have pored over the paperwork to search for survivors' names — a gargantuan process given the sheer variety of information. In some circumstances, the division says it has quickly eliminated recordsdata to redact names it initially missed.

However issues about redactions continued to flow into on Monday, after the Justice Division allowed lawmakers to view unredacted variations of the recordsdata in particular person.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland advised reporters Monday he noticed the "names of heaps of people that have been redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable causes."