Khanna planning to subpoena Epstein estate for ‘birthday book'
Khanna joined MSNBC's 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' on Wednesday after an interview with Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for hundreds of Epstein's victims.
Edwards revealed in the interview that Epstein's so-called book — on which the Wall Street Journal first reported and which President Trump denies having written a note for — is in the possession of the Epstein estate. Edwards encouraged Congress to move to subpoena the estate to get possession of the book.
Khanna, the Democrat who has co-led a bipartisan effort calling for the Justice Department to release files on Epstein, said he didn't know the book was in the possession of the estate and indicated he plans to move forward with issuing a subpoena.
'It is a revelation to me that he said that that birthday book is with private lawyers in the Epstein estate,' Khanna said in the interview, describing Edwards's comments as a 'bombshell revelation.'
Khanna noted that the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Wednesday approved several subpoenas, including one directing the Justice Department to turn over materials relating to the Epstein files. Several Republicans joined Democrats in approving the measure.
But Khanna said he wasn't confident the subpoena would yield results.
'We subpoenaed the Epstein files, but that's a hard thing to do to get the Department of Justice to cooperate in releasing those files,' Khanna said. 'What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys in a private estate and to get compliance.'
'We can't trust the Trump Justice Department. That is going to get slowed down. It's going to be get bogged down. Even if we subpoena, they can try to defy the subpoena. I don't trust the DOJ to prosecute themselves for contempt of Congress,' he continued.
'But what we can do through Congress is go after these Jeffrey Epstein estate, and we've seen even Republicans are willing to vote with us on that,' Khanna added. 'This may be the cleanest way forward.'
Khanna said he plans to invite Edwards to meet with the Oversight Committee to discuss the issue further, adding, 'And I think we can easily move forward on this subpoena of that 'birthday book,' which could really advance this case.'
Trump sued the Journal for defamation on Friday after the newspaper published a story detailing an alleged letter the president sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.
According to the Journal, the 2003 letter allegedly includes several lines of text 'framed by the outline of a naked woman.' It allegedly ends: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.'
Trump denies writing the letter.
'This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.
Khanna on Wednesday said issuing a subpoena for the 'birthday book' will reveal whether the letter exists.
'We will know if the letter the Wall Street Journal reported on, if that is in the book or not, or if there are any other letters or correspondence of Donald Trump in the book. We also will know whether hundreds of other people who have been implicated in sex trafficking are in the book,' Khanna said.
'And of course, we would take absolute care to make sure the victims are protected,' he added.
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