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Khanna Calls for Vote to Release 'FULL' Epstein Files to Public
The Trump administration is facing suspicion from all sides of burying information about the convicted sex criminal, who has a well-documented history with Trump. "This is about transparency and restoring trust, not partisan politics," said Khanna.
Jul 13, 2025
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said he will attempt to force a vote in Congress to release all the government's files pertaining to the notorious financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"On Tuesday, I'm introducing an amendment to force a vote demanding the FULL Epstein files be released to the public," Khanna (D-Calif.) tweeted Saturday night. "Speaker [Mike Johnson] must call a vote and put every Congress member on record."
The administration of President Donald Trump has been accused in recent days of covering up information about the extent of the financier's crimes and his connections to powerful individuals, including President Donald Trump himself.
"Why are the Epstein files still hidden? Who are the rich and powerful being protected?" Khanna asked.
Since Epstein's death in 2019 in federal custody following charges of child sex-trafficking, the billionaire investor has been the subject of rampant speculation.
Though his death was officially ruled a suicide, some have speculated that Epstein was murdered to prevent him from implicating other elite "clients" in his sex-trafficking ring. Epstein had relationships with powerful individuals, including former President Bill Clinton and the U.K.'s Prince Andrew.
Trump also has a well-documented history with Epstein. They have been extensively photographed together. And last year, an audio tape was released in which Epstein described himself as "Donald Trump's closest friend."
In June, amid a public falling-out with the president, billionaire Elon Musk said that the Trump administration, which he'd just departed, was covering up the files to protect Trump.
"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files," he wrote. That is the real reason they have not been made public."
During the 2024 campaign, Trump said he would "probably" release the so-called "Epstein files" to the public. Meanwhile, many members of his Department of Justice—including FBI Director Kash Patel—rose to prominence in part by accusing Joe Biden's administration of covering up secrets about Epstein to protect powerful Democrats and other elites.
During his confirmation hearing, Patel said he would "do everything if confirmed as FBI director to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened."
In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ would be "lifting the veil" on "Epstein and his co-conspirators." She said she had Epstein's client list "sitting on my desk right now to review" and promised that "a lot of names" would be revealed. Though in subsequent days, little was released beyond information that was already public.
A memo released July 7 by the DOJ later stated that there was "no incriminating client list" and that Epstein indeed committed suicide. It also said that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."
This reversal resulted in widespread anger, including from many Trump supporters directed at Bondi, who they accused of covering up information that might damage the president.
"Pam Blondi [sic] is covering up child sex crimes that took place under HER WATCH when she was Attorney General of Florida," wrote one of Trump's closest confidantes, Laura Loomer. "Bondi needs to be fired."
The following day, Trump chastised a reporter for continuing to ask about Epstein.
"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years… Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable," the president said.
He would later write a long Truth Social post in which he defended Bondi and urged the public to "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."
The post received an almost totally negative response on Trump's own social media app.
The administration's dismissive response to the mysteries surrounding Epstein has led to suspicion across the political spectrum, including from some of Trump's closest allies.
"He said 'Epstein' half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein," wrote Musk on X. "Just release the files as promised."
Khanna is now hoping to wield the widespread backlash to force the administration to come clean about what it knows.
"This is about transparency and restoring trust, not partisan politics. The public outcry is apparent," he said. "The files should be fully released and can be done so consistent with DOJ principles of protecting victims and the innocent."
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Watchdog Demands Release of 'Critical' Documents on Patel Ahead of Confirmation Vote
"Kash Patel has a dangerous track record of putting his loyalty to Trump before our national security," said one critic, "and the U.S. senators and the American public deserve to know where his allegiances would stand if confirmed."
Feb 20, 2025
As the U.S. Senate headed toward a likely vote to confirm Kashyap "Kash" Patel, a conspiracy theorist and loyalist to President Donald Trump, to lead the FBI, a government watchdog warned the vote will serve as "a historic test" of Republican lawmakers' priorities as it called for the release of a special counsel report that could reveal "critical information" about the nominee.
Accountable.US demanded that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allow the release of the second volume of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's handling of classified documents after he was voted out of office in 2020.
The report, said the group Wednesday, may show that Patel misled the public with his claim that Trump declassified documents before leaving office. Trump said after government documents were found at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, that the papers had been appropriately declassified—a claim several of his administration officials said was baseless but which Patel quickly tried to corroborate.
"No evidence has emerged to support Mr. Patel's claim," reported The New York Times in January. "No written blanket declassification order—or any written contemporaneous reference to any such oral order—has ever surfaced. And nobody communicated to national security officials any records or information that they should now treat as declassified."
Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida barred the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month from releasing the second volume of Smith's report, and rejected a motion filed by the watchdog group American Oversight last week calling on her to reverse the order.
With a separate case filed by American Oversight in the D.C. District Court, arguing that portions of the report should be released under the Freedom of Information Act, Accountable.US said Wednesday that the court "must allow the special counsel's report to be swiftly released before the Senate votes on Kash Patel's nomination."
"With Kash Patel's confirmation vote looming, Trump's DOJ and a Trump-appointed judge are standing in the way of the release of critical information which would shine a light on Patel's ability to serve as FBI director," said Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US. "Kash Patel has a dangerous track record of putting his loyalty to Trump before our national security, and the U.S. senators and the American public deserve to know where his allegiances would stand if confirmed."
"Patel's vote should be held until Americans can read [the special counsel report] for themselves," Carrk added.
In addition to Patel's unverified claims about the security of secret government documents, Accountable.US on Wednesday catalogued numerous other "reasons for disqualification," including the millions of dollars he amassed doing consulting work for a Czech arms company and other foreign entities; his threat to "come after people in the media"; his alleged perjury during his confirmation hearings regarding reports that he had given orders to fire FBI officials without having the authority to do so; and his profiteering off false claims that Trump won the 2020 election, which he has peddled to children in the form of a book titled The Plot Against The King: 2000 Mules.
"Kash Patel is not just uniquely unqualified to serve as FBI director, he shouldn't even be allowed in the building," said Carrk. "There's clearly no limit to where Patel will go to make a quick buck for himself and friends, including selling election denial propaganda to children and consulting for sketchy companies linked to forced labor and foreign adversaries."
Ahead of the expected Senate vote, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee held a press conference outside the FBI headquarters to warn that if confirmed, Patel would "misuse the resources of the bureau" and "weaponize the FBI against the president's opponents."
"Kash Patel, mark my words, will cause evil in this building behind us," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). "And Republicans who vote for him will rue that day."
On Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced she would vote against Patel's confirmation, saying his "political profile undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of director of the FBI."
Carrk said that "it should not take courage for Senate Republicans to reject Patel as a dangerously dishonest and unqualified choice for FBI head who will make the nation less safe and more vulnerable to foreign influence."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Patel would "be a political and national security disaster if confirmed," and noted that the Trump administration has plans to purge the FBI's ranks of thousands of agents who have investigated Trump supporters' violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Agents have filed a lawsuit to bar the DOJ from releasing the names of people who worked on the investigation, to avoid retaliation from Trump.
"Mr. Patel has been open about his plans to dismantle the FBI and seek retribution," said Durbin. "His directives as a private citizen have already thrown the bureau into chaos."
He called on Senate Republicans to "do publicly what they have told agents they want to do, and that is vote against Kash Patel."
"What is at stake," he said, "is the future of the FBI."
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DOJ Plans to Release Jack Smith's Report on Trump Election Case
The attorney general intends to withhold the classified documents report while a related legal battle plays out but make it available to certain members of Congress, according to a court filing.
Jan 08, 2025
With less than two weeks until U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, the Department of Justice said Wednesday that outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland will make public the portion of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report that deals with the Republican's attempt to circumvent his 2020 election loss—an effort that culminated in the violent storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The full report that Smith sent Garland on Tuesday is in two parts—one for each federal case that Smith took over in 2022 but later dropped due to Trump's November win. Volume one is about election subversion, and volume two is about the ex-president's alleged mishandling of classified material, which led to a raid of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence.
"The attorney general intends to release volume one to Congress and the public consistent with 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(c) and in furtherance of the public interest in informing a co-equal branch and the public regarding this significant matter," the DOJ explained in a Wednesday filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The filing relates to an attempt by Trump's co-defendants in the second case—valet Waltine Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira—to block the release of the report. The DOJ said that "to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants Nauta and De Oliveira, the attorney general has determined, at the recommendation of the special counsel, that he will not publicly release volume two so long as defendants' criminal proceedings remain pending."
"For the time being, volume two will be made available for in-camera review only by the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees upon their request and agreement not to release any information from volume two publicly," the DOJ added. "This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the department while safeguarding defendants' interests."
The filing does not say when Garland will release volume one. The revelations of his plans came a day after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon—who last July dismissed the classified documents case, leading to an appeal—ordered the DOJ to withhold Smith's final report, despite questions about her authority to do so.
Government watchdog groups and ethics experts have lambasted Garland for not going after Trump quickly and forcefully enough for his various alleged crimes—which critics argue could have prevented his looming return to office.
The president-elect is set to be sworn in on January 20. His attorneys claimed in a Monday letter to Garland that releasing Smith's report would "violate the Presidential Transition Act and the presidential immunity doctrine."
Trump's lawyers have seen a draft of Smith's report and offered a preview in the letter to Garland, writing in part that "volume one of the draft report falsely asserts, without any jury determination, that President Trump and others 'engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort,' was 'the head of the criminal conspiracies,' and harbored a 'criminal design,'" while "volume II asserts, without any supporting verdict, 'that Mr. Trump violated multiple federal criminal laws,' and that he and others engaged in 'criminal conduct.'"
Politico pointed out Wednesday that "Trump welcomed the public release of previous special counsel reports, including Special Counsel Robert Hur's devastating assessment of President Joe Biden."
The Republican-controlled Senate is already preparing to hold confirmation hearings for Trump nominees including Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and the president-elect's pick to replace Biden-appointed Garland.
Trump, meanwhile, has said that he is considering swiftly issuing pardons for his supporters charged and convicted for storming the U.S. Capitol four years ago—which opponents have warned "would be an affront to our democracy."
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