President Donald Trump ran on a platform pledging mass deportations, economic revival, and government transparency, but even members of his base have been disappointed with what they perceive as a failure to deliver on transparency. According to a Reuters/Ipsos survey published earlier this month, a majority (52%) of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of the “Epstein files,” the documentation relating to the crimes, prosecution, death, and influential connections of prolific child sex trafficker and shadowy financier Jeffrey Epstein. Only 23% approve of how the Trump administration is managing the issue.

Additionally, 62% of survey respondents (including 56% of registered Republicans) believed that the Trump administration is covering up details surrounding Epstein’s death, which was officially declared a suicide but has been rumored to have been an assassination by global elites, while 70% of respondents (including 61% of Republicans) agreed that the administration “is hiding information about Epstein’s alleged clients.”

The survey results come as Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is facing criticism for its release of Epstein-related files and documents. Late last month, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which demands that the DOJ release to the public all documents relating to Epstein, his crimes, prosecutions, arrests, his death, and potential “clients” within 30 days: the deadline was Friday. The DOJ did establish an online “Epstein Library” on Friday, publishing hundreds of thousands of PDF documents, including court records, DOJ disclosures, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records, and documents published previously by the House Oversight Committee.

But backlash quickly ensued when many of the published documents featured redactions going beyond the scope of the redactions delineated in the Epstein Files Transparency Act. In some cases, redactions were inconsistent, with information being redacted in one document but the same information not being redacted in another, or redactions were simply extensive, such as nearly 120 pages of grand jury testimony which was almost entirely blacked out. According to Fox News, the DOJ also redacted the names of “politically exposed individuals and government officials,” in direct contravention of the Epstein Files Transparency Act’s stipulations.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been one of the most vocal Republican figures in favor of releasing the Epstein files, was joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in suggesting that Attorney General Pam Bondi may be held in contempt of Congress over the seeming failure to abide by the requirements of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. “They’re flouting the spirit and the letter of the law. It’s very troubling the posture that they’ve taken. And I won’t be satisfied until the survivors are satisfied,” Massie said in a CBS News interview on Monday. He and Khanna discussed information that had allegedly been withheld by the DOJ, including internal communications and the names of several high-profile individuals associated with Epstein and his crimes.

Massie said that while Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is “the face of” the Epstein files rollout, “it’s really the Attorney General’s Office, Pam Bondi, who is responsible. And there are several ways to get at this. Some take longer. Some are shorter. The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi.”

Khanna added that the House could fine Bondi for every day that her office does not release the files allegedly not being released. “We only need the House for inherent contempt, and we’re building a bipartisan coalition, and it would fine Pam Bondi for every day that she’s not releasing these documents,” Khanna charged. “The problem here is that there are rich and powerful people — we all know this, there are 1,200 victims — they’re rich and powerful people who either engaged in this abuse, covered it up or were on this island,” the congressman continued. “And what the American people want to know is, ‘Who are these people?’ And instead of holding them accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the law. And this is the corrupt system, the Epstein class that people are sick of.”

The DOJ, however, has previously warned legislators that some information would likely not be released by the Friday deadline, for a variety of reasons. Blanche told Fox News that the DOJ would treat the Friday deadline more like a starting point, releasing hundreds of thousands of files, with hundreds of thousands more still to be released “over the next couple weeks.” The DOJ official explained Friday, “So today is the 30 days when I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today. And those documents will come in all different forms — photographs and other materials associated with all of the investigations into Mr. Epstein.” He added, “What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected. And so I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”

Among the many documents released were photos of Epstein or his mostly underage female victims, featured alongside wealthy and influential figures such as former president Bill Clinton or Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who was stripped of his royal titles after his connection to Epstein was confirmed.

One set of photos which proved to be a point of contention, depicted Trump alongside Epstein and several young women. The DOJ removed the photo from its Epstein Library on Saturday, but Blanche defended the move, explaining that the removal of the photo “has nothing to do with” the president, but was actually done at the request of several of the women featured in the photo, who had concerns over their faces being publicized.