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When Representative Thomas Massie marched into the Department of Justice reading room with Democrat Ro Khanna and demanded to see what had been hidden, he showed the backbone too many career politicians lack. The pair reviewed unredacted Epstein files, and Massie publicly blasted the Justice Department for redactions that looked like protection for the powerful rather than protection for victims. Conservative Americans have every right to applaud a lawmaker who will stand up to the swamp and push transparency where bureaucrats would rather sweep dirt under the rug.
The Justice Department’s own release earlier this year — a staggering dump of roughly 3.5 million pages, thousands of images and videos — proves the problem was never a lack of records but a lack of honest handling of those records. The federal government complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act only after relentless pressure; yet the spectacle of mountains of redactions should alarm every citizen who believes in equal justice under the law. If the document dump was meant to restore trust, it failed; instead it exposed how easily institutions can hide behind bureaucracy.
After public outcry, the DOJ agreed to let members of Congress inspect unredacted versions in a secure reading room, a small victory for oversight but not nearly enough. Lawmakers were allowed to view the files on DOJ computers under strict rules starting the week of February 9th — a concession that proved necessary because the department’s initial disclosures left too many questions unanswered. That DOJ had to be dragged, handcuffed by publicity and congressional pressure, into even this minimal transparency speaks to a deeper rot in accountability.
What Massie and Khanna uncovered in their review was explosive: they said they found six men whose names had been redacted in public releases and described those names as “likely incriminating,” prompting a dramatic moment on the House floor when some names were read into the Congressional Record. This was not cheap theatrics; it was a deliberate use of constitutional tools to protect speech by lawmakers while forcing the truth into public view. Conservatives who long for a return to law and order should support any effort that tears away the tentacles of elite protection and forces prosecutors to do their duty.
Of course the left-leaning press and the DOJ pushback immediately seized on errors in the rollout — and yes, reporting later showed that four of the six names read publicly appeared to have no connection to Epstein and were part of a photo lineup used by investigators. Those mistakes matter, and conservatives who prize innocent until proven guilty must call them out. But one bad explanation from an agency that was caught redacting mustn’t be used as a blanket defense for a department that still contains far too many people more interested in shielding elites than securing justice for victims.
This episode should be a wake-up call: if the Department of Justice can redact and shuffle documents with impunity, then the American people have lost sight of who answers to whom. Elected representatives like Massie who force the issue should be celebrated, not smeared, because they are doing the work voters sent them to do — holding power to account. The solution is not rank secrecy or partisan theater; it is relentless oversight, real prosecutions where crimes are shown, and consequences for officials who hide the truth.
Let every hardworking American remember who stands with them when institutions grow comfortable in secrecy. Demand that Congress keep pushing for unredacted transparency, that prosecutors who find evidence act on it, and that no billionaire or foreign dignitary get a pass because of connections or clout. Massie’s willingness to press the issue is the kind of bold, unapologetic leadership conservatives should cheer — not scold — as we fight to restore faith in our justice system and defend victims who deserve truth, not cover-ups.
