Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California is condemning House Speaker Mike Johnson for sending members home early for a month-long recess to stop a bipartisan push to release records tied to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
"He has stopped Congress and all of the business of this week because he doesn't want to have a vote," Khanna told NPR's Morning Edition on Wednesday. "He knows he would lose the vote."
The resolution, introduced with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, calls for the release of federal interview memos and evidence identifying "who all was involved in the sex trafficking that Epstein led," Khanna told NPR. It has gained traction in both parties, despite resistance from House GOP leadership.
Johnson said he prevented the vote because while Congress has "a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein and everybody was involved in that … But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent, and that is a fine needle to thread," such as grand jury witnesses who were promised confidentiality during their testimony.
But Khanna said during his NPR interview that the resolution he co-sponsored to release the Epstein files "clearly says that victims' identities should be protected, that no salacious pornography should be released," addressing Johnson's privacy concerns.
Khanna described growing support for a discharge petition that would force the issue to the House floor.
"The reality is, I have all 212 Democrats who will sign the discharge petition," he added, "and yesterday, when I spoke to Thomas Massie, he said that we are up to about 11 to 12 on the Republican side; we only need six."
Several high-profile Republicans who align themselves with President Trump have also joined the push to release the Epstein files.
"Candidly, I was surprised," Khanna said. "Massie and I [have] done a War Powers resolution to stop the war in Iran. He was the only Republican we had. This time, we have Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, Nancy Mace – some of the most prominent MAGA voices," he added.
For him, Republican support reflects a larger test of the campaign message from President Trump and his administration's promise.
"They said they were going to get rid of the corruption. They said they were going to expose the Epstein files. They said they weren't going to protect the rich and powerful. They said they were going to be on the side of the people," Khanna noted. "It was the populist campaign they ran, and this is seen as a betrayal of that."
Khanna also said that even if the records contain no major revelations, simply making them public would still mark progress.
"Just the release is the best-case scenario, because it's a step to restore trust of the American public, even if there's nothing in there," he said. "But right now the government has lost trust."
He added: "If there are powerful and rich men who did engage in sex trafficking or were on Epstein's plane, went to Epstein's island, that information should come out, and people should be held accountable."
Khanna noted that Republicans upset over the Trump administration and members of Congress trying to block the release of the Epstein files are "the first thing, probably since Donald Trump walked down the elevator, that has truly split his base."
As calls for transparency grow louder, the Justice Department appears to be taking steps of its own. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has requested a meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Epstein associate now serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for child sex trafficking and other crimes connected to Epstein's activities.
But any expectation that such a meeting would lead to a public release of information is highly unlikely, according to Elliot Williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general during the Obama administration.
"I think they're hoping to quell the PR crisis that they're in the middle of right now," Williams told NPR.
"Fundamentally it's a good thing to meet with someone who's in prison who might have useful information," he said. "The problem is, they're going to have to give her a deal of some sort … and if they have to acknowledge that, that could be a huge, very embarrassing concession."
Asked how credible Maxwell would be, Williams responded: "Well, I don't think she'd be very strong in the public mind."
He continued: "There have been ample opportunities across three different presidential administrations, to get information out of her… This really is about quelling public or internet speculation far more than going after people who've committed crimes."
Williams also cast doubt on the idea that any new material from such a meeting would be shared publicly. "I have a hard time seeing that it would," he said. "You can't release that to the public."
"This idea that Todd Blanche is going to sit down with Ghislaine Maxwell in prison, transcribe an interview with her, and then immediately send it to NPR for the world to see is simply nonsense," he added.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida denied a Trump administration request to unseal grand jury records related to federal investigations into Epstein. The request is one of three the Justice Department has submitted to judges in Florida and New York as part of its effort to gain access to sealed investigative files.
This piece was edited for digital by Obed Manuel.
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