With Congress returning to Washington this week, the Jeffrey Epstein controversy is returning to Capitol Hill.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California are planning a news conference Wednesday morning to demand a House vote on a measure to force the Justice Department to release its files on the case of the late convicted sex criminal.
And they’re using the voices of victims to do it.
Ten women who were abused by Epstein or Epstein associates will be on hand, according to Fox News.
“These victims haven’t spoken for decades,” Khanna told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. “When Epstein got that lenient plea deal, no one talked to the victims or their lawyers.
“My belief is, when the American people actually hear the victims for the first time, they are going to sympathize, their hearts are going to be broken, and all the victims are saying is for closure.”
Forestalling a House vote on the measure was the apparent reason House Speaker Mike Johnson declared in late July that the House would break a day early before going into its August recess.
If Johnson was hoping the intervening five weeks would let the controversy cool, Khanna and Massie are hoping to heat it up all over again.
In a post published Monday on the social media platform X, Massie wrote that he hopes Johnson will “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.”
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.https://t.co/pU6TzzIZpW
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 1, 2025
The news conference will be on the steps of the Capitol, USA Today reported.
The Epstein case has been a magnet for controversy for years. In 2008, in return for a ludicrously lax sentence, he pleaded guilty to state charges in Palm Beach County, Florida, to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under 18.
He was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, but ended up dead in his cell New York City, officially classified as a suicide.
Should the Epstein files be released, no matter whose names are in them?
For many Americans, especially on the political right, the Epstein story has been viewed as a case of Epstein’s rich and powerful associates taking part in the sexual abuse of girls and getting away with it.
For many on the left, it has become another weapon to smear the Trump administration.
For President Donald Trump, the case has become a political headache, which he has branded a “hoax.”
But even staunch supporters like retired Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor in Trump’s first term, have publicly called for more transparency.
“It is NOT about Epstein or the left. It is about committing crimes against CHILDREN,” Flynn wrote in an open letter to Trump published to X on July 16.
“If he were part of an intel operation known or run by our CIA (shame on them) and those responsible MUST be held accountable. If there is another country involved, then shame on them as well. If there are elites inside of our country that committed crimes against CHILDREN (shame on them) and they MUST be held ACCOUNTABLE.”
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
