Latest news with #RoKhanna
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump nightmare: Bipartisan group grows to force Epstein files public over Trump's objections
Rep. Ro Khanna talks with Jen Psaki about a new bill he is working on with a Republican colleague to force the release of files related to the investigation of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Support for the bill is growing, even among Republicans, while Donald Trump continues to meltdown over public interest in the case.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican support rolls in for legislation to release Epstein files
Republican support is rolling in for a new legislative push in the House to direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release more files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite President Trump's urging to drop the matter. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is leading the push with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), announced on social media Wednesday that five more Republicans had signed on to co-sponsor the measure: Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Eric Burlison (Mo.), and Tim Burchett (Tenn.). 'The American people deserve full transparency,' Van Drew said in a post on the social platform X. 'I will never protect pedophiles or the elites and their circles,' Greene said in another post. Their support for the matter comes despite Trump continuing to press supporters to drop their interest in the Epstein 'hoax.' The issue has split the Republican Party, with members of the president's conservative base expressing outrage about the DOJ and FBI saying in a memo earlier this month that they would not release any more information about the Epstein case — much of which is under seal by courts. Trump continued to fume about the matter on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling those fixed on the case his 'PAST supporters' and asserting: 'I don't want their support anymore!' Massie and Khanna have pledged to start a discharge petition to circumvent House Republican leadership and force a vote on the matter. The rarely successful mechanism requires 218 signatures — a majority of the House — to bypass House leadership and force a vote on a measure. But if all Democrats support the discharge petition, only a handful of Republican votes would be needed to trigger the vote — making the support from the six Republicans particularly notable. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made waves Tuesday when he said the Trump administration 'should put everything out there and let the people decide,' seemingly breaking with the White House. On Wednesday, Johnson said his words were 'misrepresented,' insisting there's no daylight between his position and that of Trump. 'Go watch the interview I did with Benny Johnson. I was very clear,' Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. 'We're for transparency. I'm saying the same thing the president is, that, I mean, you need to have all of the credible information released for the American people to make their decision. We trust the American people. And I know the president does, as well, that's an important principle to abide by here.' The Massie and Khanna legislation would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices' that have links with Epstein within 30 days of the measure becoming law. It also says the files cannot 'be withheld, delayed, or redacted' should they cause 'embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP rep on Trump, Epstein files: ‘This is not a good moment'
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) on Wednesday discussed the ongoing uproar over files related to an investigation on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump's recent pushback, saying it is 'not a good moment.' 'This is not a good moment. And I think that, you know, so I'm open if the President has information that we do not have, I want to hear it,' Burlison told NewsNation's Blake Burman on 'The Hill.' 'But I think the — the American people right now, they expected these files to be released. And I think, look, we've got how many victims, right? Hundreds of young girls were victimized. And I think the American people and these victims deserve to have some kind of clarity,' he added. Republican support recently came in for a new legislative push in the House to direct the Justice Department to release additional files on Epstein, despite pressure from Trump to drop the matter. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) have headed up the push, with Massie announcing on Wednesday that five more Republicans had signed on to co-sponsor the measure. The five included Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Burlison and Tim Burchett (Tenn.). 'The American people deserve full transparency,' Van Drew said on the social platform X. 'I will never protect pedophiles or the elites and their circles,' Greene said in her own post. The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republicans block effort to force release of Epstein files in Congress
House Republicans have blocked a Democratic lawmaker's push to force the Trump administration to release the 'FULL' Jeffrey Epstein files. Seizing on growing MAGA infighting, California Representative Ro Khanna introduced an amendment to the GENIUS Act on Monday, calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to compile and release all Epstein records within 30 days. Late Monday evening, the House Rules Committee voted 7–5 to block the proposal from reaching the lower chamber. South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman, who previously remarked that 'the Epstein files are bound to come out,' broke with his party and was the only one of nine Republicans on the committee to vote in favor of the amendment. Texas Representative Chip Roy, another committee member who sometimes defies party lines, opted not to vote. 'Rules voted 5-7 to block the full House from voting on my amendment to have a FULL release of the Epstein file,' Khanna wrote on X just before midnight. Ro Khanna decried the decision and declared that the American public 'won't be gaslit' (Getty) 'People are fed up. They are fed up. Thanks @RepRalphNorman. Need to put the American people before party!' In another post, Khanna said that he will 'keep fighting for transparency,' adding that the 'public will not be gaslit.' While largely expected, the decision outraged Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee. 'I want to know what the hell is in these files,' he told Axios, accusing the Republicans of 'backtracking' after Donald Trump pledged on the 2024 presidential campaign trail that he would make the unredacted Epstein files public. Conspiracy theories have swirled around the Epstein case for years, after the sex offender took his own life in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019. The Trump administration faced furor last week after the DOJ and FBI's memo concluded that there was no evidence of the disgraced financier's so-called 'client list.' Bondi has faced a growing tide of criticism from Trump's MAGA base after last week's DOJ and FBI memo (AP) It was compounded by the release of an 11-hour video of Epstein's final hours before he died by suicide in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center almost six years ago, with one minute of the footage missing and forensic experts concluding that the clip had been 'modified.' The memo is at odds with the conspiracy theories promoted by the president himself and some of his most senior staff members, sparking unprecedented division within his own support base. As scrutiny over the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein investigation intensified Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump and Bondi are 'MAGA extremists' who have been 'fanning the flames' around the Epstein case for years. Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, branded Trump and Bondi 'MAGA extremists' who had whipped up fury about the Epstein case (Reuters) 'The American people deserve to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as it relates to this whole sordid Jeffrey Epstein matter,' he said. 'Now the chickens are coming home to if anything, is the Trump administration and the Department of Justice hiding? What are you hiding?' FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, have privately expressed frustration with the DOJ's handling of the case, sources told CNN. According to people familiar with the matter, Bongino is reportedly weighing whether to resign. At the same time, Patel posted on X that the 'conspiracy theories' around Epstein's death are untrue and 'never have been.' It's not the first time Trump and Bondi have faced MAGA backlash over the sex offender's case. After promising to release the 'first phase' of declassified Epstein files on February 27, the attorney general was sharply criticized when the documents turned out to contain information already publicly available.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Massie moves to force vote on releasing Epstein files
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said he would try to use a long-shot procedural gambit to force a vote on requiring the Department of Justice to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The move comes as President Trump and his administration face blowback from many within the GOP base over their handling of information about the disgraced financier, and as Trump attempts to tamp down the amount of attention the issue is receiving. 'We all deserve to know what's in the Epstein files, who's implicated, and how deep this corruption goes. Americans were promised justice and transparency,' Massie said Tuesday in a post on the social platform X. 'We're introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the US House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files,' he added. Massie's resolution, co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), would require Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys' Offices' that have links with Epstein within 30 days of the measure becoming law. It also says the files cannot 'be withheld, delayed, or redacted' should they cause 'embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.' A discharge petition requires 218 signatures to bypass House leadership and force a vote on a measure. Such petitions are rarely successful, with members of the majority often hesitant to buck their own leaders, and it is rare to see a member of the majority lead the charge on such an effort. Massie, however, hasn't been shy about bucking both Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Trump. He has most recently opposed the White House's strikes on Iran and voted against Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' leading Trump to threaten an effort to oust him in the midterms. Khanna, meanwhile, has led the charge on the Democratic side in calling for a House vote to release the Epstein files. Right-wing influencers who have long pushed conspiracy theories about Epstein recently turned their fury toward the Trump administration, especially Bondi, due to a recent Justice Department memo seeking to dispel those theories. The memo from last week said no evidence existed that Epstein had a 'client list' or that he tried to blackmail powerful figures implicated in his crimes. It also concluded Epstein's death was due to suicide, pushing back against theories that he was killed in his jail cell. The Hill has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
