(NewsNation) — Nadia Shihata, who led the federal prosecution of R. Kelly, believes the law was behind the redaction-laden Epstein files release Friday.
Shihata joined “Banfield” on Monday to discuss the Department of Justice’s release of 300,000 files related to its Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
There was a litany of redactions, including 119 pages from grand jury testimony and contact lists. The department came under criticism for not releasing the full Epstein files as required by law, instead releasing a partial batch.
“Well, this is a unique situation … The protocol here is really in the act of Congress that was passed. It sets out in great detail what they’re supposed to produce and what they’re permitted to redact, and the redactions are supposed to be limited to victim-identifying information, what’s known as CSAM or essentially child pornography, national security or classified information and some other kind of images of death or injury,” Shihata said.
“The act also specifically says you cannot redact the names of people other than victims for purposes of embarrassment, or, you know, potential people that they looked into as suspects,” she added.