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103a argument, the government conceded that the USAO had not been “fully transparent” with the petitioner and had “made a mistake in causing her to believe that the case was ongoing when in fact the NPA had been signed.” On April 14, 2020, a divided panel of the Court of Appeals denied the petition, ruling that CVRA rights do not attach until a defendant has been criminally charged. On August 7, 2020, the court granted the petition for rehearing en banc and vacated the panel’s opinion; as of the date of this Report, a briefing schedule has been issued, and oral argument is set for December 3, 2020. Il. THE INITIATION AND SCOPE OF OPR’S INVESTIGATION After the Miami Herald published its investigative report on November 28, 2018, U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, sent a December 3, 2018 letter to OPR, citing the Miami Herald’s report and requesting that OPR “open an investigation into the instances identified in this reporting of possible misconduct by Department of Justice attorneys.” On February 6, 2019, the Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs advised Senator Sasse that OPR had opened an investigation into the matter and would review the USAO?’s decision to resolve the federal investigation of Epstein through the NPA.*® After the district court issued its ruling in the CVRA litigation, on February 21, 2019, OPR included within 6 The federal government was closed from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019. After initiating its investigation, OPR also subsequently received other letters from U.S. Senators and Representatives inquiring into the status of the OPR investigation. DOJ-OGR-00000166