Two US House of Representatives members have asked a federal judge to appoint a special master to compel the justice department to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

On Thursday, Democratic representative Ro Khanna of California and Republican representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky asked US district judge Paul Engelmayer to release the full Epstein files, as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Criticizing the justice department for not releasing the full set of files on last year’s 19 December deadline, Khanna and Massie in a letter said: “The conduct by the DOJ is not only a flagrant violation of the mandatory disclosure obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but as this Court has recognized in its previous rulings, the behavior by the DOJ has caused serious trauma to survivors.

“As the leads of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, we have urgent and grave concerns about DOJ’s failure to comply with the Act as well as the Department’s violations of this Court’s order,” the representatives said, adding: “Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act.”