Ro Khanna forcing a House vote via discharge petition to pass his new, improved EPSTEIN TRANSPARENCY ACT 2

JONATHAN CAPEHEART: For the second time in just over a year, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Congressman Thomas Massy are trying to force the House of Representatives to vote on legislation involving the release of the Epstein files.

They succeeded the first time.

Last year, Congressmen Massy and Khanna collected the 218 signatures needed for a discharge petition to force a vote on the original Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The House ultimately passed that bill 427 to 1, and Donald Trump signed it into law on November 19.

The law required the Justice Department to release—excuse me—to release its records related to Jeffrey Epstein.

But Congressmen Massy and Khanna say the Justice Department has failed to comply with that law.

That's why, in July, the two congressmen joined by Democratic Congresswoman Theresa Ledger Fernandez, who introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act too.

The new legislation would give Epstein's victims, state attorneys general, and members of Congress the right to go to court to challenge the Justice Department for withholding, redacting, or delaying the release of records required under the original law.

It would also give Epstein victims access to unredacted records concerning themselves, and require the Justice Department to provide state and local prosecutors with records needed for their investigations.

Congressman Massy said that if the House did not consider the bill within 7 legislative days, they would pursue another discharge petition.

The House left Washington for August recess without voting on the bill. Today, on the first day the House returned from its August recess, that discharge petition went live to secure the 218 signatures needed to, once again, force a vote.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California, a co-author of both Epstein Files Transparency Acts.

Congressman, you and Congressman Massy got 218 signatures for the Epstein Transparency Act the first time.

Do you believe you have the votes to get 218 again, and how many Republicans do you expect will sign this petition?

RO KHANNA: We have a path to do it. The first time that we did it, it led to the release of millions of documents, prosecutions around the world, dozens of people resigning here.

And Jonathan, as you know, Lawrence O'Donnell's show was critical to the effort because it connected us to Bradley Edwards and the survivors.

And the survivors coming before the Capitol are really who made the legislation pass, both the House and the Senate.

The problem is, though, there's still millions of documents that the survivors have not gotten.

There are still no prosecutions in the United States.

And this legislation would allow states' attorney generals to prosecute and would force the remaining documents to be released, particularly to the survivors.

All Democrats will support it. I believe we can get a number of the Republicans.

Of course, Thomas, Nancy Mace, perhaps Ralph Norman, who had supported one of my amendments.

And let's see, especially after the lame duck, how many other Republicans we can get.

JONATHAN CAPEHEART: If you get 218 signatures, Congressman, walk us through what happens next. How quickly could this all unfold?

RO KHANNA: Well, if we get the 218 signatures, we basically force a vote.

Last time, even Mike Johnson honored that.

I believe we would get a vote within a matter of a week and would put pressure then on the Senate to act.

Last time, the Senate buckled once the House had passed the legislation, not because Massy and I are some legislative masterminds.

It's because they did not want to stand against survivors.

And this time, the biggest force we have going for us is the survivors, who have shown enormous courage.

And some of them are saying they still have not seen their own files.

They are sitting there redacted by the Justice Department in violation of the Epstein Transparency Act.

They deserve justice, and they deserve to be able to see their own files.

JONATHAN CAPEHEART: Your bill—you've talked throughout this process to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Explain why this fight is so important to them specifically.

RO KHANNA: Well, these are women who were trafficked, who were abused, who were raped by wealthy and powerful individuals.

And for decades, they were discarded by our society.

They were insulted. They were not believed.

And finally, they are seeing some sense of accountability.

And they have been vindicated.

And now we know that there were a group of rich and powerful men, people I call the Epstein class, who either participated in this abuse or who turned a blind eye to the abuse because they wanted to belong to this Epstein network.

But the survivors deserve more than just vindication.

They want to see prosecution. They want to see accountability.

And that's why they are so insistent that we get the remaining files and we allow state attorney generals to prosecute.

JONATHAN CAPEHEART: If this legislation passes and DOJ still refuses to release records that you believe are required under the law, what's the next step? Does this bill finally give Congress and survivors an effective way to compel compliance?

RO KHANNA: It does. It gives them the right to sue the Department of Justice.

It gives state attorney generals the right to sue the Department of Justice.

But perhaps most consequentially, it makes it a criminal act to defy the statute.

And that means the next administration can engage in holding people who violated this act accountable.

And they could prosecute people who are obstructing justice.

JONATHAN CAPEHEART: Congressman Ro Khanna of California, thank you very much for coming to the last word.

RO KHANNA: Thank you.

info@situationpolitics.com

© 2026. SituationPolitics.Com - All rights reserved