Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Monday he hopes House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) “will listen to the pleas” of victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as he and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) prepare to hold a press conference with the individuals.
“Our press conference with 10 victims of Epstein‘s sex trafficking is at 10:30 AM on September 3. I pray @SpeakerJohnson will listen to the pleas of these victims for justice and quit trying to block a vote on our legislation to release the Epstein files,” Massie said in a post on the social platform X.
Khanna and Massie have previously announced that Epstein victims would join them at a press conference early Wednesday, the day after the House returns from August recess.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Khanna promised the press conference “will be explosive.”
“What will be explosive is the Sept. 3 press conference that both of us are having with 10 Epstein victims, many who have never spoken out before. They’re going to be on the steps of the Capitol,” Khanna told NBC News’s Kristen Welker.
“They will be telling their story, and they will be saying clearly to the American public that they want the release of the Epstein files for full closure on this matter.”
Earlier this summer, President Trump and his administration faced intense scrutiny from both sides of the aisle over their handling of information related to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Khanna said Sunday on NBC he is “very confident” his and Massie’s bill on files related to Epstein will pass. Congress left for its month-long recess in July without voting on the legislation.
“I’m very confident it will,” the California Democrat said. “I spoke to Congressman Massie. You had us both on a few weeks ago. We will have the petition live on Sept. 2. We have all 212 Democrats committed to signing it. He has 12 Republicans. Only six of them have to sign it.”
Johnson said late last week he thinks the lower chamber will “probably” vote on “one measure or another” related to releasing more information on Epstein.
The Hill has reached out to Johnson’s office for further comment.
