Rep. Ro Khanna Condemns Speaker Mike Johnson, Demands House Vote on Epstein

Democratic congressional leaders are chastising Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for his abrupt shutdown of the House this week ahead of a vote for the public release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The early release of the chamber comes after Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Silicon Valley, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, introduced a bipartisan resolution that would have forced the issue after months of public scrutiny and calls for government transparency.

Fervent speculation over President Donald Trump’s possible connection to Epstein, a convicted sex offender and disgraced financier, has spurred leaders on both sides of the political spectrum to call for the complete release of information that they say will show “how deep [the] corruption goes,” Massie said in a statement.

Democrats and some Republicans have lambasted the decision to postpone the vote as a “cover-up” for powerful elites and a delay of justice.

During his campaign, Trump and other Republican leaders pledged to release more information from the investigation into Epstein’s criminal activity, details which have long inspired conspiracy. The files, members of the administration have alleged, contain a list of Epstein’s “clients,” that many involved in the case have said never existed.

Calls for the president to follow through on his campaign promise grew louder after the Department of Justice announced earlier this month that Epstein’s death in 2019 was caused by suicide — contradicting many wide-ranging theories — and that it would not be releasing further information.

In response to the outcry, the Trump administration asked federal judges to unseal transcripts of grand jury proceedings related to Epstein’s sex trafficking case. But for Democrats, Republicans and even some of Trump’s most notorious supporters, it wasn’t enough.

“The base will turn and there’s no going back,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, posted to social media platform X. “Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies. They want the whole steak dinner and will accept nothing else.”

According to Khanna, the resolution drafted alongside Massie has garnered widespread bipartisan support in Congress. Nearly a dozen House Republicans agreed to sign a discharge petition that would force a vote on the floor, he said in an interview with NPR.

The scrutiny over Epstein’s unreleased files has split the MAGA base, he said, adding that the public has lost its trust in the government. Even Republican leaders are fed up and calling on the president to be more transparent, Khanna said.

Releasing the files “is a step to restore the trust of the American public, even if there’s nothing in there,” Khanna said in the interview. “ If there are powerful and rich men who did engage in sex trafficking or were on Epstein’s plane or went to ‘Epstein Island,’ that information should come out and people should be held accountable.”

Eric Schickler, co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, said the bipartisan outrage around the Epstein case has been highly unusual but not unexpected. Many Republicans saw Trump as an “anti-elite” alternative to Democratic leaders who appear deeply entrenched in insider politics.

The president’s refusal to fully release the Epstein files undercuts the narrative that has undergirded some of Trump’s appeal to voters disenchanted with modern politics, he said. The longer Republican leaders wait to address the issue head-on, the more it will appear as if Trump is involved in the case, Schickler added.

“There’s a sense that things are being hidden,” he said. “The idea that you can just put a lid on it … that’s just not how these kinds of conspiracies or conspiracy thinking generally works. It’s a high hill for Trump and leaders like Johnson to get over.”

Schickler said it’s unlikely that the fervor around the Epstein case will fade over the next few weeks. As congressional members return to their constituents, it’s possible the calls for transparency in the Epstein case will encourage even more bipartisan collaboration on the issue.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Johnson justified his decision to close the floor by describing the Democrats’ forceful push for a vote on the Epstein files as “political games.”

House Republicans and Trump are committed to full transparency and to releasing the Epstein files as quickly as possible, Johnson said, adding that due diligence is needed to make sure that victims named in the documents are protected before the information is made public.

“There’s no need for Congress to push the [Trump administration] to do something that they’re already doing, and so this is for political gains,” he said during the conference. “We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims. If you run roughshod or you do it too quickly, that’s not what happens.”

During his interview with NPR, Khanna argued that his resolution clearly states that victims’ identities should be protected and that no pornographic materials should be released. House Democrats — and Republicans — are simply seeking information on who was complicit in Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes, he said.

Massie, who has outraged Trump and other Republican officials in recent weeks, also criticized Johnson’s speech. In a post on X, he accused the House speaker of shielding perpetrators who were complicit in Epstein’s crimes.

Rep. John Garamendi, D-East Bay, also joined the chorus of Bay Area officials demanding that the administration produce more information about the case.

“House Republicans and Trump are so scared of releasing the Epstein Files that they are shutting down the House of Representatives for more than a month, all to avoid a vote that would make this information public,” Garamendi said in a statement. “This move is not only desperate and self-serving, but also deeply irresponsible.”

The U.S. House of Representatives was scheduled to be in session through Thursday before adjourning for a regular five-week recess. The decision to end early goes against the wishes of voters and prevents the House from voting on other important issues, Garamendi said.

The U.S. government is expected to burn through the remainder of its funds by Sept. 30, he said, and House Republicans have yet to pass an appropriations bill that would fund services such as air traffic control and law enforcement.

“Speaker Johnson could have simply released the Epstein files and kept his promise of a transparent government,” Garamendi said. “Instead, he chose to protect Trump and powerful elites rather than serve the American people, and sadly, this manufactured crisis will likely have real-world impacts for the people we serve.”

Schickler said it’s unlikely that there will be long-term financial repercussions unless the closure somehow bleeds into September.

Congress generally decides on budget issues at the last minute, he said, adding that there’s still time for motions to be made as long as the floor doesn’t get caught up in disagreements over Epstein.