Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., one of two congressional lawmakers leading the push for the Trump administration to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, said Sunday that the effort is “not about Donald Trump” and called on the president to meet with survivors of Epstein’s abuse.
“What we’re asking for is justice for the survivors,” Khanna told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “So, it’s not about Donald Trump. I don’t even know how involved Trump was. There are a lot of other people who are involved who have to be held accountable.”
Khanna said many of the survivors who have spoken publicly about their experiences with Epstein will be in Washington on Tuesday and that they would ask Trump to meet with them.
The California congressman successfully partnered with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on a petition calling on the Justice Department to release any documents it has related to Epstein. Last week, the petition reached 218 signatures, which will force a vote on the measure on the House floor.
Trump last week called efforts to release the Epstein files a “hoax,” writing in a post on Truth Social, “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
He added in another post on Wednesday, “In other words, the Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!”
The Epstein files grabbed additional headlines last week after lawmakers on the House Oversight committee released 20,000 pages of emails and documents from Epstein’s estate.
The president’s name appeared frequently in the emails, but Epstein did not, in these files, accuse him of any wrongdoing or illegal activity.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Khanna on Sunday added that releasing files related to Epstein could be a “political win” for the president.
“If you gave me a choice, I’d rather the president reverse course. I’d rather he released all these files,” the California congressman said. “Someone was saying that his numbers would go up. I don’t care if he gets the political win.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who appeared later on “Meet the Press,” called Khanna’s efforts to release the Epstein files “an attempt by the Democrats to make Trump a lame duck president.”
“I think there’s a lot more important things to talk about right now to get the country back on track,” he added.
Barrasso also declined to commit to holding a vote in the Senate on releasing the Epstein files, simply saying that he and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will “take a look at it.”
Khanna noted that Trump spent time this week trying to convince several GOP House lawmakers who joined all House Democrats in signing the petition to remove their names.
“It’s basically Massie and me versus the White House,” he said.
Several of the lawmakers whom Trump pushed to remove their names from the petition were vocal this week in their refusal to do so.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — whose feud with Trump escalated over the weekend — on Saturday wrote in a post on X, “It really makes you wonder what is in those files and who and what country is putting so much pressure on him?”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., also kept her name on the petition. She wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, “I signed the discharge petition. I was one of four Republicans to do so. I stand with all survivors.”
Khanna again pointed to the popularity nationwide of pushing to release files, saying that Trump is “losing his MAGA base on this.”
“The reason he’s losing it is he ran saying, ‘There’s a corrupt governing elite that has shafted you,’ that ‘This is the Epstein class versus forgotten Americans, and I’m going to stand up for forgotten Americans,’” Khanna said. “He’s forgotten those forgotten Americans, and we are saying that we are going to stand up for survivors, for America’s kids and we’re going to hold this class accountable.”
