Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are planning to bring survivors of abuse by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell to the Capitol.
Khanna and Massie announced that the survivors will join them at a press conference the morning of Sept. 3, the day that the House returns from August recess.
According to an advisory from the lawmakers, several of the survivors will be speaking publicly about their abuse for the first time. Attorneys for the survivors, Brad Edwards and Brittany Henderson, will also be present.
“The survivors deserve justice and Americans deserve transparency,” Massie said in a post on social platform X.
The press conference comes as Khanna and Massie are pushing legislation to compel the Trump administration to release the “Epstein files” — documents and materials related to the investigation of Epstein and Maxwell.
The duo is planning to file a discharge petition to circumvent House leadership and force a vote on that measure — a gambit that would require 218 signatures, marking a majority of the House, to succeed.
Those calling for more Epstein disclosures saw another blow on Monday after U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer denied the Justice Department’s (DOJ) request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Maxwell.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, meanwhile, is conducting another investigation of the Epstein matter. Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) was compelled to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony due to a bipartisan push from his panel’s members.
Deadlines for those subpoenas are coming up in the next few weeks, though dates could change.
The DOJ is due to send over Epstein-related documents to the committee by Aug. 19.
Subpoena dates are also set for former Attorneys General Bill Barr, Alberto Gonzales, and Jeff Sessions this month — with several other subpoenas, including for former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, scheduled for September and October.
The move comes after the DOJ and FBI issued a joint memo last month concluding that Epstein killed himself and did not keep a so-called "client list." The findings were contrary to previous comments from the Trump administration and raised concerns on both sides of the aisle.
Source: The Hill - News
