Washington − Representatives Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, D-California, are optimistic about their ability to force an unsanitized release of the Justice Department’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We have the votes,” Khanna said Sept. 7 on ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“I think we’re going to get a resounding vote on this,” Massie told Stephanopoulos on the same show.
The Republican and Democratic organizers of a petition calling for a House vote on the release of the files said they were unconcerned about concerns that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, might try to block the legislation in the Senate, or that the Justice Department would scrub information on Republicans and other allies before releasing documents.
“I think (Thune is) going to be under more pressure than he realizes,” Massie told Stephanopoulos. “He should do the right thing.”
According to Khanna, government career officials and at least one lawyer for Epstein accusers have seen the files, making it more difficult for the Justice Department to scrub the documents to protect friends or allies of President Donald Trump, who has resisted calls for the files to be released in full. Trump and Epstein had been friends for over a decade in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The potential release of the files became a political lightning rod after the Justice Department stated in a July memo that it had not discovered any list of clients who may have collaborated with Epstein in a sex-trafficking ring and did not intend to make any further disclosures.
The announcement came after years of suggestions from Trump supporters that Democrats were covering up Epstein associates who may have participated in his crimes, and that Trump as president would bring more transparency to the case.
Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly informed Trump in the spring that he was named in the files. Epstein has spent years associating with various wealthy and powerful people, including not only Trump but also President Bill Clinton. Being named in the files or associated with Epstein does not necessarily imply wrongdoing.
