The Senate's minority leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the committee for domestic security have in a letter to the Department of Justice requested access to the material in the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
"The public has the right to know who enabled, knew of or participated in one of the most heinous sex trafficking operations in history", said Schumer to reporters during Wednesday.
To assist, they have invoked a paragraph in a federal law called "rule five". The paragraph, which is rarely used and was introduced more than a century ago, requires that the departments provide relevant information if five members of the Senate's oversight panel request it. It is unclear if the law can be enforced in court.
