The judge on Ghislaine Maxwell’s case on Wednesday said he didn’t have the power to appoint a special master to oversee disclosures of the Jeffrey Epstein files, rejecting a bid by bipartisan lawmakers who say the Trump Justice Department cannot be trusted to do right by women abused by the disgraced financier.
Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer denied a motion from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Ca) and Thomas Massie (R-Kt) to participate in the case and push for the installation of a neutral party to police the government’s handling of the files.
Engelmayer said his supervisory power over Maxwell’s case didn’t give him authority to enforce the Justice Department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“The questions raised by the Representatives and the victims are undeniably important and timely. They raise legitimate concerns about whether DOJ is faithfully complying with federal law,” his opinion read.
The judge said the lawmakers could initiate a lawsuit or otherwise pursue oversight via tools available to Congress.
The Epstein files legislation co-authored by Khanna and Massie required the government to publicly release its trove of investigative files on Epstein by Dec. 19.
More than a month out from the deadline, many millions of documents remain outstanding. The several thousand released to the public have included significant redactions that the DOJ has also missed a deadline to explain.
The congressmen wrote Engelmayer earlier this month, expressing grave concerns over the Trump administration’s handling of the files and asking him to “urgently” appoint a neutral party to ensure compliance.
The Justice Department had opposed the lawmakers’ attempts to intervene at all in the matter, arguing they had no legal standing.
“Even though it is the Government’s normal role to represent survivors, in this instance, the Act places an obligation on the Government that puts it in conflict with the survivors,” attorneys for Massie and Khanna wrote the court in a Tuesday filing, restating their positions.
“This heightens the need for the Court to protect the interests of the survivors as the Government, in this instance, cannot be relied upon to act with disinterest and objectively to do what is best for the survivors. It has its own conflicting interests.”
Engelmayer had also heard from victims of Epstein without faith in the DOJ.
“I have no confidence that the Department of Justice, already 30 days late in complying with the Act with no end in sight, and with its constantly shifting public pronouncements about the volume of documents subject to the Act being reviewed, will produce the Epstein files,” Lisa Phillips wrote in a Tuesday night filing.
Phillips said the government’s handling of the issue, thus far, had led to distress and renewed trauma.
The Daily News reached out to Khanna and Massie for comment. A DOJ spokesman did not immediately respond to inquiries.
