India, Feb. 15 -- The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and attorney general Pam Bondi have formally submitted a six-page letter to Congress explaining their rationale for redacting portions of the long-awaited Jeffrey Epstein files. The move comes nearly three months after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the DOJ to publish all unclassified materials relating to the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell investigations.

The letter outlines that the DOJ made redactions under several recognized legal privileges that include the attorney-client privilege, deliberative-process privilege and work product doctrines.

The letter was delivered to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees and provides a legal justificatio...