Rep. Thomas Massey (R-KY) expressed on Monday his hope that House Speaker Johnson will “listen” as he and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) get ready to hold a press conference featuring victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The press conference, with ten victims of sex trafficking, is set for 10:30 AM on September 3rd. @SpeakerJohnson needs to hear these victims’ pleas for justice and stop blocking votes on the law to release Epstein’s files,” Massey mentioned in a post on the social platform X.
Khanna and Massey had previously stated that the victims would join them shortly after returning from August recess on Wednesday.
During an NBC interview on Sunday, Khanna vowed to make the press conference an “explosion.” He noted, “This September 3rd event will be significant. Many of these victims haven’t shared their stories publicly before.”
“They’ll explain their experiences, clearly urging the American public for the release of the Epstein Files to find closure on this matter,” he added.
Earlier this summer, President Trump and his administration faced heavy criticism from both political parties regarding their management of Epstein-related information. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Khanna expressed strong confidence during the NBC interview that Massey’s bill concerning the Epstein files will succeed. The Congress took a month-long break in July without voting on the bill.
“I’m very confident about this,” stated the California Democrat. “I spoke to Rep. Massey a few weeks ago. We’ll be releasing a petition on September 2nd. All 212 Democrats plan to sign it, and he has 12 Republicans on board. They need to sign too.”
Johnson noted late last week his belief that the lower chamber would “vote” on some form of legislation regarding the release of more Epstein-related information.
Khanna also reached out to Johnson’s office for additional remarks.
