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Lawmakers accuse DOJ of protecting ‘powerful’ men named in Epstein files
The cosponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act say the Department of Justice withheld the names of people the FBI previously labeled as co-conspirators of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including billionaire Leslie Wexner.
On the House floor Tuesday, one of those lawmakers, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., revealed the identities of six people the DOJ redacted in the Epstein files, all of which he and his cosponsor, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., found during a two-hour review of documents Monday at the Department of Justice.
Besides Wexner, the former Victoria’s Secret CEO, the department redacted the identities of Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov and Nicola Caputo, according to Khanna. Little public information is available about any of those identified by Khanna except for Wexner and Bin Sulayem.
“There were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason,” Khanna said. “If we found six men they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files.”
In a post on X, Massie shared an FBI document from 2019 that identified Wexner as a “co-conspirator” in the Epstein case, although it contained no details on his alleged role in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Epstein’s former assistant, Leslie Groff, was also listed.
Massie wrote that the Justice Department “tacitly admitted” that Bin Sulayem, the chief executive of DP World, an international logistics company based in Dubai, sent Epstein a sexually explicit “torture video.” In a 2009 email, Epstein said he “loved” the video.
On Monday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded to Massie’s first post about Wexner, saying the CEO’s name appears unredacted in other documents.
“We have just unredacted Les Wexner’s name from this document, but his name already appears in the files thousands of times,” Blanche wrote. “DOJ is hiding nothing.”
Blanche also said that Bin Sulayem’s name appeared elsewhere in the Epstein files and only his email address was redacted.
“The law requires redactions for personally identifiable information, including if in an email address,” Blanche wrote to Massie on X. “And you know that the Sultan’s name is available unredacted in the files. Stop grandstanding.”
Lawmakers review Epstein files
On Monday, the DOJ allowed lawmakers, including Khanna and Massie, to review unredacted files in the investigation. Lawmakers were allowed to view the files on just four computers at a DOJ satellite office and were only allowed to take written notes of what they saw.
Some lawmakers said the access was insufficient.
“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,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrote in a post on X. “It would take more than seven years for the 217 Members who signed the House discharge petition to read just the documents they’ve decided to release.”
After reviewing unredacted documents, Khanna said the Justice Department’s release still does not comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress almost unanimously passed last year.
The law gave the DOJ until last Dec. 19 to release all records, documents, videos and images related to Epstein, who died in 2019, and his former girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Lawmakers did allow the Justice Department to redact information that could harm victims or a pending investigation, but specifically forbade redacting information that could cause embarrassment.
While the DOJ has released millions of documents, images and videos, it missed the deadline. However, the law did not include any consequences if that happened.
How much did Trump know about Epstein before arrest?
Several powerful people and world leaders are named in the Epstein files, including President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Epstein had lived near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump has repeatedly denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes. In 2019, for example, he said he didn’t know that Epstein molested girls.
“No, I had no idea. I had no idea,” Trump said at the time.
However, on Monday, the Miami Herald reported that in 2006, Trump called then-Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter and told him that many people in New York City and Palm Beach knew of Epstein’s activities with teenage girls.
“Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump told Reiter, according to a 2019 FBI interview with Reiter contained in the Justice Department’s files.
Reiter told FBI agents that Trump revealed that Maxwell was an “operative” of Epstein’s. Trump told Reiter that “she is evil and to focus on her,” the Herald reported.
Reiter said that Trump told him “he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump ‘got the hell out of there.'” Trump also told Reiter that he threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago.
Previously, Trump said that he barred Epstein from his club after he found out Epstein and Maxwell had tried to steal his employees.
“Of course [Trump] knew about the girls, as he asked Ghislaine to stop,” Epstein wrote in an email in 2019.
Maxwell had recruited 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre from Trump’s club, offering her a job as a masseuse for a wealthy man. She said Epstein trafficked her to the United Kingdom for then-Prince Andrew. Giuffre died by suicide in 2025.
The FBI denied that Trump called Reiter.
“We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the President contacted law enforcement 20 years ago,” the FBI said.
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