Brown Joins Attorneys General Urging Congress to Pass Epstein Files Transparency Act II

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of attorneys general on October 15 in a letter urging Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, H.R. 9694 and its Senate companion S. 5005. The bill would give state attorneys general and survivors the power to sue the U.S. Department of Justice over Epstein-related records it has not released.

The original act required the Justice Department to make the files public by December 19, 2025. The attorneys general say the department still has not met that obligation. Their letter to congressional leaders is posted by the Attorney General’s office, and the full release follows.

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Press Release: Office of the Attorney General of Maryland

Published October 15, 2026. Reproduced in full from the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland.

Attorney General Brown and Coalition Urge Congress to Pass Epstein Files Transparency Act II

BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of attorneys general today in sending a letter to congressional leadership urging swift passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act II (EFTA II), legislation that would give state attorneys general and survivors the power to enforce the transparency Congress already demanded.

The letter, addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, supports H.R. 9694 and its Senate companion, S. 5005.

Congress passed the original Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA I), which took effect November 19, 2025, to give survivors and the public access to the full investigative record of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes. The law required the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to make the files publicly available by December 19, 2025. Nearly a year later, the DOJ has not met that obligation. In Phang v. Blanche, a federal court in the District of Columbia noted that the U.S. Attorney General conceded that he was in violation of the act.

According to the letter, DOJ released only a limited portion of the files on the December 19, 2025, deadline, and later disclosures also fell short. Millions of documents remain withheld, often on the basis of legal privilege. At the same time, a Wall Street Journal review found that the personal information of at least 43 victims was exposed in the files that were released, despite the protections written into EFTA I.

In the letter, the attorneys general emphasize that DOJ’s shortfall affects states directly. State law enforcement and prosecutors need full access to unredacted investigative records, including FBI interview summaries, known as FBI 302 reports, to investigate and pursue matters within their jurisdictions. Survivors, meanwhile, continue to be denied closure and control over their own records.

What EFTA II Would Do:

• Create an expedited right of action. State attorneys general, authorized state officials, survivors, and members of Congress would have explicit standing to sue the U.S. Attorney General in federal court for unlawfully withholding, delaying, or heavily redacting Epstein-related records.
• Protect survivor access. Survivors would be guaranteed the right to access unredacted records about themselves and the harms they suffered.
• Eliminate evasions. DOJ would be barred from invoking common law privileges, such as the deliberative process privilege, to avoid the disclosure requirements Congress enacted.
• Enforce accountability. Federal officials who knowingly conceal, destroy, or improperly withhold mandated files would be subject to existing federal penalties.

The letter also notes that the pursuit of justice and public accountability transcends partisanship, and urges Congress to act so that no federal agency places itself above the law.

Joining Attorney General Brown in the letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington.

Media contacts: press@oag.maryland.gov, 410-576-7009.

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