GOP rebel Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna plan to bring survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse to Washington, D.C., in a bipartisan push to get Congress to release the controversial “files” in the case.
Massie of Kentucky, who has created a headache for President Donald Trump this year after rebelling against the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” said that he will host a joint press conference at the Capitol with the California congressman, several survivors and their attorneys.
“I will be hosting a press conference at the Capitol, joined by survivors of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse — several of whom will be speaking out for the first time,” Massie and Khanna announced Monday in a post on X. “The survivors deserve justice and Americans deserve transparency.”
The Epstein case engulfed the Trump administration in controversy for weeks following a Justice Department and FBI memo in early July that said no further files in the case would be released, contrary to the president’s previous pledges to do so. That sparked fury among the Trump base, which has long sought their release. Trump has defended the move even as politicians on both sides of the aisle call for their release.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and sex-abuse accomplice who is serving 20 years for her role in his sex trafficking scheme, was recently moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after being interviewed by the Justice Department for information about his case.
Massie and Khanna’s press conference is scheduled for September 3. The Republican representative clapped back at criticism on X that the publicity stunt was “putting the victims at a huge risk.”
Massie said that the survivors set to attend the press conference “thought they were getting justice” before the Trump administration “did a 180.”
“Some might have come forward before to provide testimony or evidence already that wasn’t made public,” Massie added.
Khanna is leading the charge for the Democrats on the issue and is also pushing a House Oversight subcommittee to subpoena Epstein’s alleged “birthday book.” The book is the subject of a The Wall Street Journal report that revealed the alleged existence of a “bawdy” 50th birthday card from Trump to Epstein.
The president has denied the validity of the letter and has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch,WSJ’s parent company, Dow Jones, and the two journalists whose bylines appear on the story.
Massie and Khanna’s press conference is reminiscent of a similar move pulled by Trump in 2016 to embarrass his former opponent, Hillary Clinton.
He appeared at a press conference ahead of the October 2016 televised debate with three women who accused former President Bill Clinton of inappropriate sexual contact—Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey—and rape victim Kathy Shelton, whose attacker was defended by Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton denies the allegations of the three women.
At the time, Clinton’s campaign said they were “not surprised to see Donald Trump continue his destructive race to the bottom.”
The president reportedly planned to seat the Clinton accusers in the Trump family box during the presidential debate, but it was thwarted at the last minute, according to reports.
Since deploying 800 National Guard troops to the streets of D.C. to wage a war on “out of control” crime in the capital, the spotlight has largely moved on from Epstein, despite the efforts of some Democrats and MAGA influencers who are still up in arms over the debacle.
Still, anger remains from constituents at town halls across the country.
Doug LaMalfa, a fourth-generation rice farmer who has represented his northern California district in Congress since 2013, was booed, jeered and cursed out by angry voters Monday at the local Elks Lodge in Chico over the president’s economic policies and the administration’s handling of the Epstein case.
Over 90 minutes, attendees called LaMalfa a “liar,” an “a**hole,” and accused him of “bull****.” At one point, when the moderator called on one person to ask a question, someone yelled: “F*** you!”
There have been similar reported scenes earlier this year in states including Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina.
