State attorneys general back a second Epstein files law

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a coalition of attorneys general from other states urged Congress on October 16 to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, a bill that would give the original Epstein files law a way to be enforced.

The first law passed the House 427 to 1 and the Senate by unanimous consent, and was signed on November 19, 2025. It gave the Justice Department until December 19, 2025 to make its Epstein files public. The attorneys general say the department released only part of the files by that deadline and is still withholding records, often by claiming legal privilege.

“No federal agency is above the law and a new one shouldn’t even be necessary,” Ellison said.

What the bill would do

The bill, H.R. 9694 in the House and S. 5005 in the Senate, was introduced on July 15 by Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, with Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico, both Democrats. Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico lead the Senate version. It would:

• let state attorneys general, district attorneys, members of Congress and victims sue the attorney general in federal court over records that are withheld, delayed or heavily redacted
• give victims the right to see unredacted records about themselves
• stop the department from using privileges such as the deliberative process privilege to avoid disclosure
• require the department to give state and local prosecutors the unredacted records they need for their cases
• apply existing federal criminal penalties to officials who knowingly conceal, destroy or withhold the files

Massie’s office says the department is still withholding more than 3 million files.

The attorneys general also point to a Wall Street Journal review that found the personal information of at least 43 victims exposed in files the department did release.