---
alias:
- EFTA
- H.R. 4405
- Public Law 119-38
- Epstein Transparency Act
category: U.S. Government
created: 2026-09-25
location: Washington, D.C.
relations:
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  role: introduced H.R. 4405
  start: 2025-07-15
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Ro Khanna]]'
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  role: original cosponsor and author of the discharge petition
  start: 2025-07-15
  type: participant_in
  with: '[[Thomas Massie]]'
start: 2025-11-19
summary: Statute of November 19, 2025, forced to a House vote by discharge petition,
  requiring the Attorney General to publish within 30 days the Justice Department's
  unclassified records on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
tags:
- Concept
- Legislation
- FederalLaw
- JeffreyEpstein
- GhislaineMaxwell
- DepartmentOfJustice
- DischargePetition
- EpsteinFilesTransparencyAct
updated: 2026-09-25
---

The Epstein Files Transparency Act (Public Law 119-38, 139 Stat. 656) is a federal statute that required the Attorney General to make public, within 30 days of enactment, the unclassified records of the [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/), the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) and the United States Attorneys' offices relating to [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/) and [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/). Representative [Ro Khanna](/people/ro-khanna/) of California introduced it as H.R. 4405 on July 15, 2025, "for himself and Mr. Massie," [Thomas Massie](/people/thomas-massie/) of Kentucky, and it was referred to the [House Committee on the Judiciary](/organizations/house-committee-on-the-judiciary/).[^1] It became law on November 19, 2025, after a discharge petition took it out of the hands of the House leadership.[^2]

### Provisions

Section 2(a) covers records relating to nine categories: Epstein, "including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters"; Maxwell; flight logs and travel records, "including but not limited to manifests, itineraries, pilot records, and customs or immigration documentation," for any aircraft, vessel or vehicle "owned, operated, or used by Jeffrey Epstein or any related entity"; individuals, "including government officials," named in connection with Epstein's crimes, civil settlements, immunity or plea agreements; "entities (corporate, nonprofit, academic, or governmental) with known or alleged ties to Epstein's trafficking or financial networks"; "any immunity deals, non-prosecution agreements, plea bargains, or sealed settlements"; internal department communications "concerning decisions to charge, not charge, investigate, or decline to investigate Epstein or his associates"; all records "concerning the destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment" of documents or data related to Epstein, his associates, "his detention and death, or any investigative files"; and documentation of his detention and death, including incident reports, witness interviews, medical examiner files and autopsy reports.[^2]

Section 2(b) provides that "no record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary." Section 2(c) permits the redaction or withholding only of victims' personally identifiable information and medical files; child sexual abuse material; material that "would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary"; images of death, physical abuse or injury; and properly classified national defense or foreign policy information. Every redaction must be "accompanied by a written justification published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress." Classified material is to be declassified "to the maximum extent possible," or summarized in unclassified form, and every decision after July 1, 2025, to classify covered information must be published with its date, the classifying authority and a justification.[^2]

Section 3 requires the Attorney General, within 15 days of completing the release, to report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees the categories of records released and withheld, a summary of redactions and their legal basis, and "a list of all government officials and politically exposed persons named or referenced in the released materials," with no redactions permitted on the list under the embarrassment clause.[^2] The statute contains no exception for deliberative process or attorney-client privilege.[^2]

### The Discharge Petition

Speaker Mike Johnson did not bring the bill to the floor. On September 2, 2025, the day the [House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform](/organizations/house-committee-on-oversight-and-government-reform/) released records it had received from the Justice Department, Massie filed a discharge petition, the procedure by which a majority of 218 members can force a floor vote over the leadership's objection.[^3] It reached 217 signatures and stalled while Johnson declined to swear in Adelita Grijalva, who had won a special election in Arizona more than seven weeks earlier; the Arizona attorney general sued over the delay. Grijalva was sworn in on November 12, 2025, and signed as the 218th member. The four Republican signers were Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace. [White House](/places/white-house/) officials pressed Boebert and Mace to withdraw their names and brought Boebert to a meeting in the White House Situation Room, which press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to [The New York Times](/organizations/new-york-times/).[^4]

On November 14, 2025, [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) asked the Justice Department to investigate Epstein's dealings with [Bill Clinton](/people/bill-clinton/), [Larry Summers](/people/larry-summers/), [Reid Hoffman](/people/reid-hoffman/) and [JPMorgan Chase](/organizations/jpmorgan-chase/), and Attorney General [Pam Bondi](/people/pam-bondi/) assigned the investigation that day to [Jay Clayton](/people/jay-clayton/), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.[^5] Trump withdrew his endorsement of Greene over the weekend and, late on November 16, reversed his opposition to the bill, posting that "House Republicans should vote to release the [Epstein files](/concepts/epstein-files/), because we have nothing to hide."[^6]

The House passed the bill under suspension of the rules on November 18, 2025, by 427 to 1, with five members not voting; the lone vote against was cast by Clay Higgins of Louisiana, who wrote that "as written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people."[^7] Jim Jordan and Jamie Raskin managed the debate.[^8] The Senate passed it by unanimous consent on November 19, and Trump signed it the same day.[^2]

### Implementation

The release deadline was December 19, 2025. The department released a first tranche that day, disclosed on December 24 that it had found more than a million additional potentially related documents, and on January 30, 2026, published the bulk of the material, bringing the total to nearly 3.5 million pages.[^9][^10] In a letter of that date, Bondi and Deputy Attorney General [Todd Blanche](/people/todd-blanche/) told Congress that "approximately 200,000 pages have been redacted or withheld based on various privileges," including "deliberative process privilege, the work-product doctrine, and attorney-client privilege," and that foreign-language pages and technically incompatible files had not been produced. The letter stated that "no files are being withheld or redacted" on national security grounds and that the department's obligations would be complete once it filed the Section 3 report and published "the written justifications in the Federal Register."[^10] On January 13, 2026, Khanna and Massie moved to appear as amici curiae in [United States v. Maxwell](/events/united-states-v-maxwell/), telling Judge [Paul Engelmayer](/people/paul-engelmayer/) that as of January 5 the department had "publicly released only 12,285 documents," with "more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act in various phases of review," and asking for "a special master or independent monitor"; Engelmayer denied the motion on January 21, holding that the criminal case gave the court no authority to supervise compliance with "a civil records-disclosure statute."[^11] The Section 3 report, signed by Blanche and Bondi, went to the Judiciary Committees on February 14, 2026, with a list of about 300 names that did not distinguish Epstein's correspondents from people mentioned in press clippings.[^12]

The Government Accountability Office accepted a request from four senators in April 2026 to review the department's compliance.[^13] On September 1, 2026, Massie and Khanna opened a discharge petition for a second bill, styled the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which would give members of Congress, state officials and survivors the right to sue the department for noncompliance and would clear the way for state attorneys general to prosecute Epstein's co-conspirators in state courts.[^14]

[^1]: H.R. 4405, 119th Congress, Epstein Files Transparency Act, as introduced July 15, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4405/text
[^2]: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Pub. L. No. 119-38, §§ 1 to 3, 139 Stat. 656 to 658 (November 19, 2025), including legislative history (House passage November 18, Senate passage November 19, 2025). https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ38/PLAW-119publ38.pdf
[^3]: "US representative files discharge petition to compel release of Epstein investigation documents," JURIST, September 5, 2025. https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/09/us-representative-files-discharge-petition-to-compel-release-of-epstein-investigation-documents/
[^4]: "Epstein discharge petition secures final signature needed to force House vote on releasing files," CBS News, November 12, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-discharge-petition-final-signature-files-adelita-grijalva/ ; "Epstein discharge petition picks up decisive signature in the House," Roll Call, November 12, 2025. https://rollcall.com/2025/11/12/epstein-discharge-petition-picks-up-decisive-signature-in-the-house/
[^5]: "Trump to ask DOJ to probe Jeffrey Epstein involvement with Clinton, JPMorgan, Summers," CNBC, November 14, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/14/trump-doj-jeffrey-epstein-clinton-jpmorgan-summers.html ; "Bondi taps acting U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to probe Democrats' ties to Epstein," The Washington Times, November 14, 2025. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/14/bondi-taps-acting-us-attorney-jay-clayton-probe-democrats-ties/
[^6]: "In reversal, Trump says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein files," CBS News, November 17, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epstein-files-house-november-vote/
[^7]: "Clay Higgins was the only Republican to vote against the Epstein files release. Here's what he said," CNN, November 18, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/18/politics/clay-higgins-against-epstein-files-release
[^8]: Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, Roll Call 289, H.R. 4405, "On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass," November 18, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025289 ; Congressional Record, vol. 171, November 18, 2025, H4725. https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/11/18/171/194/modified/CREC-2025-11-18-pt1-PgH4725-2.htm
[^9]: "DOJ says it has found over a million additional documents potentially related to Epstein," CNN, December 24, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/24/politics/epstein-documents-doj-million ; U.S. Department of Justice, Press Release No. 26-84, January 30, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-publishes-35-million-responsive-pages-compliance-epstein-files
[^10]: Pamela J. Bondi and Todd Blanche, letter to Congress, "Re: Epstein Files Transparency Act, Production of Department Materials," January 30, 2026, pp. 4 to 6. https://www.justice.gov/letter-to-congress.pdf
[^11]: United States v. Maxwell, No. 20 Cr. 330 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y.), motion of Reps. Massie and Khanna, ECF Nos. 837, 838 (January 13, 2026); Opinion and Order, ECF No. 844 (January 21, 2026). https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-01/Maxwell%2020cr330%20-%20Opinion%20%26%20Order%201.21.26.pdf
[^12]: "Justice Department lists hundreds of prominent people named in Epstein files in letter to Congress," CNN, February 15, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/15/politics/doj-epstein-files-prominent-people
[^13]: Senators Jeffrey A. Merkley, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Ray Luján and Richard J. Durbin, letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, March 11, 2026. https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/GAO-Epstein-Files-Redactions-Review-Letter.pdf ; "Government watchdog to review DOJ's handling of the Epstein files," NBC News, April 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/government-watchdog-review-dojs-handling-epstein-files-rcna342513
[^14]: Erin Kelly, "Massie seeks signatures to force vote on second Epstein files bill," Spectrum News 1, September 1, 2026. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2026/09/01/massie-discharge-petition-epstein