Washington: A Republican US lawmaker pressed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Tuesday to open its files on the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, saying the American public deserves to know whether it had ties to him. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina called on the CIA to release “any and all records, documents, photos, videos, passports and other materials” related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
According to Anadolu Agency, Rep. Mace emphasized the importance of transparency, asserting that Congress needs to ascertain any potential relationship the CIA might have had with Jeffrey Epstein. Mace communicated her concerns through the US social media platform X and further highlighted these issues in a letter addressed to CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The letter referenced previously released Justice Department files indicating that Epstein’s lawyers had filed a Freedom of Information request in 2011, seeking records of his CIA affiliation. The agency’s response at the time neither confirmed nor denied the presence of classified records.
Mace’s letter also brought attention to Epstein’s connections with figures linked to the CIA’s Iran-Contra scandal, his interactions with former CIA Director William Burns, and references in his emails to CIA-related matters. Mace stressed that the American people and Epstein’s crime survivors deserve full transparency regarding any possible affiliation between the CIA and Epstein, as well as any knowledge the agency might have had about his criminal activities.
The Justice Department has recently made public over 3 million pages of documents, along with 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law last November. However, many of these materials remain heavily redacted. Survivors of Epstein’s crimes and the relatives of victims argue that the release does not fully comply with legal requirements and omits significant information.
Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.
