The Hypocrisy of Anna Paulina Luna in the Epstein Transparency Fight (1/28/26)

Representative Anna Paulina Luna publicly accused Judge Paul Engelmayer of obstructing transparency in the Epstein files by denying requests for a special master and refusing to intervene in what she characterized as the Justice Department’s slow-walking of disclosures, framing the ruling as evidence of judicial complicity in protecting powerful interests. Luna claimed the court’s refusal to step in effectively gave the DOJ cover to continue delaying and heavily redacting materials required to be released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and she suggested that the judiciary was now part of a broader institutional effort to suppress damaging information. In public statements and on social media, she portrayed Engelmayer’s order as proof that “the system protects itself,” positioning herself as one of the few lawmakers willing to confront both the courts and the Justice Department. Her rhetoric cast the ruling not as a jurisdictional decision, but as an intentional act to shield elites connected to Epstein. By personalizing the dispute around Engelmayer, Luna attempted to transform a procedural setback into a political confrontation. The tone was accusatory and absolutist, presenting the judge’s refusal as moral failure rather than legal limitation.


Critics of Luna argue that her attack on Engelmayer was misleading, legally simplistic, and politically opportunistic, because the judge’s ruling rested on well-established jurisdictional boundaries rather than any endorsement of secrecy. Engelmayer explicitly acknowledged the importance of transparency and congressional oversight but stated that he lacked authority to enforce a civil disclosure statute within a criminal case — a limitation Luna largely ignored in favor of incendiary framing. By depicting a procedural ruling as evidence of corruption, Luna blurred the line between oversight advocacy and populist grandstanding, feeding public distrust in the judiciary without offering a realistic legal path forward. Observers note that her comments substituted accusation for substance, inflating her role as a crusader while sidestepping the reality that enforcement power rests primarily with Congress itself, not the courts. Instead of advancing a workable strategy to compel compliance, Luna’s rhetoric focused on spectacle and outrage. In doing so, she risked weakening legitimate oversight efforts by turning a technical legal dispute into a personal attack on a judge whose ruling, however frustrating, reflected structural limits rather than institutional malice.


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Rep. Luna to Newsmax: Impeach Judge Impeding Epstein Files | Newsmax.com