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Thomas Massie, a US congressman, has said he knows the identity of six more men who are “likely incriminated” by their inclusion in the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files after he viewed an unredacted version of the documents relating to the disgraced late financier and sexual abuser.

The Kentucky Republican suggested he might reveal their names under congressional privilege if the justice department (DoJ) continued to conceal their identities in publicly available copies of the documents that are still redacted.

The six men, Massie told reporters after viewing the papers at DoJ headquarters in Washington on Monday, include at least one US citizen, an individual he said was “high up in a foreign government”, a foreigner, and “three or four others” whose nationalities were not readily apparent.

“What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files,” said Massie, lead sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that forced Donald Trump’s administration to publish its vast trove of documents into the connections and activities of the president’s former friend.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sought to distance himself on Tuesday from Jeffrey Epstein, alleging he “barely had anything to do with” the convicted sex offender amid calls for his resignation over new revelations about ties between them.

The U.S. Justice Department in January published millions of new files related to Epstein, including emails that show Lutnick apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch years after he claimed to have cut off ties. Lutnick is facing calls from both Democrats and some Republicans to resign.

Jail staff guarding Jeffrey Epstein allegedly deployed a decoy body to fool reporters gathered outside the prison following his death, newly unsealed files claim. An internal memo states a supervisor at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center told FBI agents that workers staged the deception amid a huge media presence after Epstein’s apparent suicide in 2019.

The documents allege officers arranged boxes and sheets to resemble a corpse before loading the dummy into a white van marked as belonging to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, prompting journalists to follow it while the real body was removed separately. The files claim Epstein’s body was instead placed into a black vehicle that left the facility “unnoticed”, allowing officers to move it in private after staff warned of the large crowd outside. Records also show investigators recovered a handwritten note from inside Epstein’s cell that the medical examiner did not classify as a suicide note. Described as “difficult to read”, it appeared to list grievances about jail conditions, including complaints about food, showers and insects.

Newly released records – part of a cache of three million documents – describe the response inside the prison as media gathered outside after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead.