DOJ Pressured Into Unredacting Name of Potential Epstein Accomplice

Representative Thomas Massie got the Justice Department to unredact billionaire and former Victoria Secret CEO Les Wexner’s name in the Epstein files, all while exposing the DOJ’s complicity—or incompetence—in the process. 

Massie was one of a few members of Congress who were able to view the Justice Department’s unredacted files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Monday. 

After viewing the files, Massie asked why the name of a “well known retired CEO” was redacted.  

In response, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed that Wexner’s name was redacted because it was on the same page as the names of victims. “We have just unredacted Les Wexner’s name from this document, but his name already appears in the files thousands of times,” Blanche announced. “DOJ is hiding nothing.”

Massie responded quickly. 

“This is significant because Kash Patel testified to Congress that FBI had no evidence of other sex traffickers. This is FBI’s own 2019 document listing Wexner as coconspirator in child sex trafficking. It wasn’t unredacted until tonight,” he said, suggesting that FBI Director Patel may have very well committed perjury when he testified to Congress. “Here DOJ acts as if they were justified in redacting the men’s names simply because the document contains victims’ names. Tonight they learned you can redact victim names while still publishing the other names, per our law.”

It’s clear at this point that the DOJ is not prioritizing transparency, it’s prioritizing status and reputation. The FBI considered Wexner as a potential co-conspirator in child sex trafficking seven years ago, and for the last seven years, Wexner has walked the earth as a free—and very rich—man. And if the FBI was sitting on Wexner’s name for that long, who else is hiding under those black bars?