Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, the Republican congressman representing Crook County and much of Eastern and Southern Oregon, issued a statement Wednesday after voting in favor of H.R. 4405 — the Epstein Files Transparency Act — which would require the U.S. Attorney General to publicly release all Department of Justice records tied to Jeffrey Epstein.
The bill passed the U.S. House with near-unanimous support.
Bentz said in a statement provided to the Prineville Review that the measure is critical to exposing the federal failures that allowed Epstein and his associates to avoid meaningful accountability, but warned that the release of sensitive records must not further harm victims.
“The horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices, and the inexcusable failure of federal prosecutors to hold them accountable, have left victims and their families seeking answers, transparency, and true accountability,” Bentz said.
He noted that while bipartisan agreement on transparency was strong, proposed changes intended to explicitly safeguard victim identities were not adopted before passage.
“This places responsibility for protection of the identity of the victims, as records are released, squarely upon the Attorney General,” Bentz said, urging the DOJ to use the disclosure exceptions contained in the bill “to protect innocent victims so that they are not further damaged.”
Bentz also pointed to the ongoing House Oversight Committee investigation into the Epstein matter as essential to understanding how Epstein for years evaded meaningful prosecution. He said any findings should help shape reforms aimed at preventing similar failures in the future.
“If we are to have any chance of preventing future crimes, such as those committed by Epstein, and if we are to improve the prosecutorial process that allowed Epstein to avoid justice, we must encourage and support the House Oversight Committee’s Epstein investigation,” Bentz said. “Its findings can then be used to enact legislation addressing such atrocities, and the failed federal prosecutorial practices that followed.”
H.R. 4405 now heads to the U.S. Senate.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject mater expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
