When Silicon Valley Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and a Kentucky Republican wrangled enough lawmakers in July to force the release of government files on the late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, House Speaker Mike Johnson halted work and sent lawmakers home early for the summer recess.
With members of the U.S. House of Representatives back in Washington, D.C., Khanna and his unlikely Republican ally are quickly resuming their crusade for Epstein-related documentation. They’re thwarting Republican President Donald Trump, who fomented and then dismissed the renewed attention on Epstein, and Trump ally House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Khanna plans to hold a news conference on Wednesday morning outside the U.S. Capitol with 10 alleged victims of Epstein, the financier and accused child sex trafficker who died in 2019. Some of the survivors have never spoken publicly before, said a spokesperson for Khanna’s office who declined to identify them before they appear in public. The news conference is a show of support for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Massie authored and Khanna co-sponsored.
“It’s about restoring trust in government,” Khanna said in an interview with Bay Area News Group. “It’s about bringing this country together — progressives, Independents, Republicans and MAGA supporters — to seek truth and justice for victims and survivors.”
And, he said, “not allow rich and powerful men to abuse underage girls with impunity.”
Trump is among many rich, powerful men, including former President Bill Clinton and England’s Prince Andrew, who socialized with Epstein. The president has said he had a falling out with Epstein before Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida on child prostitution charges. In 2019, during Trump’s first term in office, the federal government charged Epstein with child sex trafficking, and he died in custody a month later in what was ruled a suicide by hanging.
During his last year’s presidential campaign, Trump said he’d have “no problem” releasing the government’s Epstein files if elected. But Trump’s Justice Department inflamed skeptics across the political spectrum this year when it said a list of Epstein’s clients didn’t exist. Then, news reports claimed that Trump’s own name appeared in the files.
On Tuesday, Massie filed a petition that would force House leadership to allow a vote on the bill. They’re confident they have the support to do so. Khanna claims that all 212 Democrats in the House plan to sign the petition, and 11 Republicans have co-sponsored the bill so far — more than enough support to push it across the finish line. The bill would compel the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies to release within 30 days “all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” related to Epstein and his close associate, convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. That would include “individuals, including government officials,” named in connection with Epstein’s crimes or investigations.
Earlier this summer, Johnson opposed the bill because he said it would compromise the privacy of Epstein’s survivors. Trump administration officials have also said the files contain child pornography. The bill would allow government officials to withhold child sex abuse materials or information that could identify victims.
Democrats have gleefully fanned the flames of the growing controversy over Epstein, his many connections to the wealthy and influential and the federal government’s investigations. Khanna has worked hard to keep the issue top of mind for voters this summer as Trump urged his supporters to instead applaud his successes and pivoted to focus on crime in cities.
“I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history,” Trump posted on Truth Social in July, “and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”
It’s a rare issue that has split Trump’s Make America Great Again base. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid conspiracy theorist, is slated to appear at the press conference on Wednesday, Khanna said. She has co-sponsored the bill with Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert and other far-right lawmakers. On the other hand, so has Democratic former House Speaker and San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
“It’s not partisanship,” Khanna said, “it’s patriotism.”
Khanna is also playing a role in another push to release Epstein-related files by House lawmakers. The House Oversight Committee, which is led by Republicans, is trying to guide an investigation into who among Epstein’s high-powered social circle may have been aware of his sexual abuse of teenage girls. They’re also examining how the federal government handled the cases against Epstein.
Khanna is a member of the committee and said he helped craft a letter to Epstein’s estate. Last week, the committee subpoenaed the estate for documents including a book that was compiled with notes from friends for his 50th birthday, his last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.
According the Wall Street Journal, Trump was one of many Epstein associates who wrote Epstein a friendly letter for his 50th birthday in 2003, which were compiled in a book. Trump sued the news outlet for libel over the report.
As pressure mounted, the Trump administration released to the committee a trove of documents that Democrats said were mostly public already. The committee published them on Tuesday. Officials also asked judges to unseal transcripts of grand jury proceedings in Epstein’s criminal cases, but they declined, citing longstanding secrecy rules. Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York said the request to release grand jury records “appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”
Khanna is also unsatisfied with the Trump administration’s responses.
“They’ve been stonewalling,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
