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Epstein Survivors Speak Ahead Of House Vote On Releasing Epstein Files; Lawmakers Survivors Speak Ahead Of Vote Releasing The Epstein Files; House Expected To Vote This Afternoon To Release Epstein Files; Aired 10:00-10:30p ET

Aired November 18, 2025 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:0]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Voices to get spoken over and drowned out by the political darts whizzing by. Not today, though.

Today, our truth and our power have steadily risen up. We are at the peak. Our voices prevail. Today, our voices initiated the coming together of both political parties. That's pretty big, I think.

Republicans and Democrats, we all stand together today. We all stand together for justice, and we must continue to do so to protect the integrity of our country and our democracy. Truth and justice must prevail. The children today are those that will lead this nation one day. Think about that. What does that mean to each of you?

If anyone doubts that this does not directly contribute to the fate of our country and democracy, I challenge you, and I urge you to think again. Our voices are a fundamental pillar of future generations.

Today, that's what we stand here for. Accountability, action and justice. Let's get this vote done today. Let's send it through the Senate and straight to President Trump's desk for signing.

I'd like to be there that day that he signs. I'm sure all of us would like to be there. Today is a good day, and let's keep moving forward. Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just want to give you a hug.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, guys. We're actually pressed for time, so we are not going to be taking questions going further. I bring back Ro Khanna. He's going to do. Closing our closing conversation and comments.

REP. RO KHANNA (D) CALIFORNIA: Well, thank you, Hilly. Teresa is right. It's pretty big what the survivors have accomplished today. And I just want to say how eloquent, strong and admirable they were. Let's give them a round of applause for their courage.

Thomas and Marjorie and I will take a few questions from people. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically, right now calling on the Senate to make revisions to this bill because he says it doesn't adequately protect the survivors, the victims that are standing behind you. Your response to that.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R) KENTUCKY: That's been a red herring all along. The survivors have always been in favor of this legislation. And there's a provision in there you can read if he would just read it, that protects them. Now, if he wants to offer more protections in the Senate, that's fine with us. But here's the problem. Now we have to vote on it again in the House. And so, as you heard, justice delayed is justice denied. It could be just another delay tactic, but we want to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: IS that what you think? That's the motivation from the --

MASSIE: I think the speaker wants to save face. He's going to vote for a piece of legislation today that he's disparaged for four months and if however he needs to come on board, we want him on board. So we appreciate that.

KHANNA: Did you want to -- go ahead.

MASSIE: Go ahead. Well, you know there's becoming a reckoning in Britain that needs to happen in the United States. A prince lost his title. The ambassador to the United States lost his job. We need to see those same kind of consequences here.

As my colleague Ro said, there shouldn't be buildings named after these perpetrators of these heinous crimes. There shouldn't be scholarships named after them and there needs to be accounting.

We've seen tens of thousands of pages released by the oversight committee. What we've not seen is a single name. So I implore you to look and see if we have true justice and transparency here and the survivors, the survivors will know when that has happened.

KHANNA: And I do think that Prince Andrew does need to come and testify at our oversight committee and that can be bipartisan. But I share Thomas's view that the urgency that the British people have shown in getting justice needs to inspire an urgency here in America. Go ahead. Go ahead.

[10:05:20]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't need legislation to get the files released. President Trump could just release them today. Is that frustrating for you? Why is (inaudible). And also, did you ask him to be here today? It's a really powerful moment.

KHANNA: Look, I'll let my colleagues speak. I hope the president meets the survivors, and I hope when he signs the bill, the survivors are there. I don't care if I'm there, Thomas Massie is there, or Representative Greene's there, but the survivors should be there. But I -- look and I hope he meets them, because I think if anyone who

meets them and sees their emotion will be moved. And my goal is to get justice here. So I hope he will meet them and really hear what's happened and actually take action.

But the broader point is, yes, the president could order the Justice Department to release the files, but what in a constitutional democracy, what we're supposed to have is Congress says that the files should be released, and then it's not on the whim of any president, then the Justice Department is compelled to release those files, because that's the law of the land. Let's just take a --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken to any Republicans in the Senate who are looking to move this forward?

MASSIE: So Senator Markley is a Democrat. He's led the exact same legislation that Roe and I introduced in the House. One Republican co- sponsored his bill yesterday, and I have spoken to at least one more who says they will co-sponsor. The important thing about the Senate is that they need not to muck this bill up. There's a lot of attention on here. We've needlessly spent four months dragging this out.

A representative, a duly elected representative, was denied her seat in Congress for 49 days, and it's time to pull the ban off the Senate. You know, it may be tempting for them to get cute and to do things that will limit the release of these documents. They are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that's the whole point here.

They need to be brought to justice, and embarrassment is no reason to stop it. So the Senate, John Thune. It's up to him. He needs to bring this to the floor of the Senate. And I think the vote today will show that in the House.

KHANNA: And the president -- look, the president has said he would sign the bill. You're going to get almost a unanimous vote here. So you have the president and a unanimous Congress believing that this protects the survivors and is calling for the release. There's no reason for the Senate now to, as Representative Massie puts it, muck around with it. They need to put it up, have a vote, have the president sign it. If there's any further protections, they can do that through the DOJ process. But what they should not do is delay a vote on a bill that the House is going to vote overwhelmingly for and that the president supports.

MASSIE: Yes. Just go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congressman Greene, you raised the question of whether or not the Justice Department will actually release these files. Do you take the president at his word when he says he's going to sign this bill? And do you have confidence that these files will actually be released?

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R) GEORGIA: I only take people's actions seriously. No longer words. And I'll tell you because I'm -- I wasn't a Johnny come lately to the MAGA train. I was day one, 2015. And there's a big difference in those Americans and those that decided to support President Trump later on.

And I'll tell you right now, this has been one of the most destructive things to MAGA is watching the man that we supported early on three elections for people that stood hours, slept in their cars to go to rallies, have fought for truth and transparency to hold what we consider a corrupt government accountable. Watching this actually turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart. And the only thing that will speak to the powerful, courageous women behind me is when action is actually taken to release these files and the American people won't tolerate any other bullshit. That's where we are today. Thank you.

KHANNA: Go ahead. Two more questions and then we're around all day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a watershed? How would you sum up today in terms of your battle to get to the truth?

KHANNA: I would say that these survivors have been fighting for decades and they finally are being heard by the American people. And we're finally going to have a reckoning for this Epstein class that has gotten away with horrific things.

[10:10:04]

Look, I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. People went to church, they played Little League, they went to their neighbors for barbecue. They didn't go to a rape island and abuse young girls or traffic young girls. And people with extreme wealth have thought that the laws don't apply to them. And their culture is totally out of touch with the values that built America. And finally, we're going to have a reckoning over it.

MASSIE: Let's take the lady here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you this. You said you wanted this to go straight to the what message does it send to the survivors behind you if the Senate doesn't act quickly to move this bill forward?

MASSIE: Well, they're not here. They're not going to answer questions. So I'll answer a question. I prefer -- actually, it goes straight to the president. He can release these files without the Senate acting. Sometimes they take a long time to get things done. The House figured out a way to take four months to get this done. I think it's disrespectful to the survivors if they delay.

There's nothing more important than cleaning out the rot in this country. And this is rot. And it's not a partisan issue. And the senators need to get on this.

Yes, the economy is important. Yes, international policy is important. But there's nothing more important than getting to this rot and cleaning it out. They should put it at the top of their agenda.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would allow the DOJ to not release certain information if it would jeopardize an active investigation. And the president just last week ordered his DOJ to conduct an investigation. What makes you think you would actually, if this bill passes, see these files.

MASSIE: There are thousand survivors. They can't open enough investigations to cover up everything that's in these files. And yes, it's true they can try to protect a few certain people or a few certain companies, but those investigations will eventually end. And in the meantime, they just. There's not enough investigations to cover up a thousand different crimes, a thousand different rapes, a thousand different sex trafficking instances. And this is not a moot point, even though they are doing that.

KHANNA: And once it, once this bill is signed into law, any career official at the DOJ or the FBI who does not comply with the law is at legal risk. It's no longer just up to the president.

MASSIE: Look, we could have passed a simple resolution here in the House and that would have been the end of it. Instead, we chose a very hard path, which is to get legislation, a law passed, which means it has to go through the House, the Senate and be presented to the president. And that will have the force of law. They will be breaking the law if they do not release these files.

KHANNA: Thank you very much. Last question. And then --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think he has fought so hard? If he could do it now, why hasn't he done it?

MASSIE: I believe he's trying to protect friends and donors. And by the way, these aren't necessarily Republicans. Once you get to a billion dollars, you transcend parties. You just assume you can pay off whatever party is in charge of the White House, whatever party is in charge of the House of Representatives. And this is about those kinds of people. I think he's been trying to protect them. And I think it also incriminates our own government.

This is a complete and total failure of the justice system, as the survivors have witnessed here today to us. It incriminates the FBI. It incriminates our intelligence agencies. It incriminates police departments in West Palm Beach. And that's what has been protected by this, either willfully or unknowingly. And it's time to end it.

KHANNA: And I would agree with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene that what matters now is just the action. I don't speculate on what politicians' motives are or what's in their heart. The point is the American people have spoken. Congress has spoken. Release the files. It's time for justice. Thank you very much.

MASSIE: Thank you.

GREENE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've been listening to survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse speak out on Capitol Hill as well as the lawmakers who have been supporting them through this process, as you heard them there. They're calling on members of Congress to release all of the case files on Epstein through the vote. It's going to, if it passes Congress, go to the president's desk. And he said, yes, the president should sign it and that basically DOJ should be releasing these files anyway.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: This is an important day indeed. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room. The House lawmakers will vote on legislation seeking the release to release of all of these documents. The measure is expected to have support on both sides of the aisle. And in a surprise reversal of his long-held stance. President Trump himself now says he will sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.

We have Alayna Treene covering the story for us from the White House and Arlette Saenz is up on Capitol Hill. Arlette, let's begin with you.

The House Speaker, Mike Johnson just told his Republican colleagues that he plans to vote in support of the releasing all of the Epstein files when it comes to a vote in the House later today. Give us the latest on what's going on.

[10:15:12]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, House Speaker Mike Johnson told his Republican colleagues that very same fact in the room right behind us are really representing a major reversal for the House speaker. For months, he had tried to delay and even prevent this vote on this discharge petition to have a full release of the Epstein files, but has now changed course. It comes just a few days after President Donald Trump also reversed his position, throwing his support behind this measure.

Now, this vote is expected to come up on the House floor in the 2:00 p.m. hour, and it is expected that there will be an overwhelming majority of support from both Democrats and Republicans. The floodgates really opened within the Republican conference after President Trump on Sunday said that he would back this effort to release the full Epstein files.

But one of the people that one of the Republican women who had signed on to this measure, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has found herself in a very public spat with President Donald Trump over her decision not to remove her name from this discharge petition. He has called her a traitor, something that Marjorie Taylor Greene pushed back against earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREENE: And he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition. Let me tell you what a traitor is. A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAENZ: Now, just moments ago, a top leader in the Republican conference, Congresswoman Lisa McClain of Michigan, said that she believes that a majority of Republicans will vote in favor for releasing the Epstein files later today. But even if this passes the House, which it is expected to do, there are big questions about what happens over in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is still weighing whether to bring this up for a vote. In the past, he had said he did not think it was necessary. But what backers of this bill are hoping from the House is that they, if they do have significant momentum, significant votes in favor of this, that will press the Senate to act and then send this bill to President Trump's desk for a signature.

BLITZER: All right, Arlette, thank you very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. And Wolf, as you know, several survivors of Epstein's abuse had strong words for President Trump directly.

[bt

HALEY ROBSON, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: To the president of the United States of America, who is not here today, I want to send a clear message to you. I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files and I'm grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill. I can't help to be skeptical of what the agenda is. So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you.

I am traumatized. I am not stupid. I am traumatized. I am not stupid. You have put us through so much stress. The lockdowns, the halt of these procedures that were supposed to have happened 50 days ago. The Adelita Grijalva who waited to get sworn in and then get upset when your own party goes against you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: President Trump took pretty much everyone by surprise when he changed course on the Epstein matter, now urging Republicans to support their release. So let's go to Elena Train at the White House.

As Haley Robson, one of the survivors, pointed out, there's a lot of suspicion here about the agenda. What more do we know about what prompted the President to change his view on the release of the files?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Oh, well, Pam, and I have to say it was very powerful listening to that full press conference from these survivors. And look, when it comes to your question about the president kind of taking that reversal on Sunday and after kind of fighting members of his own party, I'd remind you, just last week he called one of the Republicans who signed on to that initial discharge position to the Situation Room to try and convince her not to sign that. He then said he is encouraging Republicans to do this. Now, he did say yesterday as well, though, continuing to argue that he wants to move on from all of this and continue to describe it as a hoax. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We've already given, I believe the number is 50,000 pages. 50,000 pages. And it's just a Russia, Russia, Russia hoax as it pertains to the Republicans. What I just don't want Epstein to do is detract from the great success of the Republican Party.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TREENE: So a few things there that I want to break down. One is that we are hearing from our conversations with White House officials that the President knew the way that this vote was going to go. He saw the writing on the wall. He was told this by his advisers, that they were likely going to lose that. And by opposing it, you know, didn't do a lot politically, of course, for the President on an issue that has continued to consume this administration, his administration, the media, many of his supporters, who have long been fixated on wanting to see all of the information in these files.

[10:20:25]

And so there was this decision made to why, if you can't, you know, go against them, you might as well try to own this. But one of the key things he said yesterday that I think is very much worth underlining is that if the Senate, which it was unclear how that would be handled, the Senate were to pass that bill, he said he would sign it. We were also told from a White House official that he would not do anything, and he has not been trying to do anything to block the Justice Department from giving the information if this bill goes to his desk.

Of course, I think where the skepticism comes in from a lot of people is that the Justice Department can decide that through any investigations that they are having.

We know that they just launched an investigation last week into the Democrats, people like the former President Bill Clinton and the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, into, you know, some of their relationships and ties to Epstein. They could then withhold some of the information. And so there are a lot of questions of whether this would actually be the end if it does ultimately pass Congress and get signed by the President. This is, of course, something that so many people want to see released. We'll have to see what ends up happening, particularly with the Senate vote after this House vote.

BROWN: Yes. And you heard Congressman Massie address that and saying if this passes through Congress and the President signs it, that basically if DOJ didn't release the files, it would be breaking the law. That is what he is saying.

But I also want to make the point. Yes, DOJ can release the files, but also the President can direct DOJ to release the files as it. As he has just recently with Amelia Earhart, with Martin Luther King Jr. And with JFK. TREENE: No, you're absolutely right. And it is something he could have

done to save a lot of the four months of attention. And you heard the survivors talking about it, Congressman Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie saying that this could have been avoided, this dragging out of this entire process. And that is part of what is so frustrating to the President. And I know that he has complained behind closed doors about, he believes that this is sucking up all of the oxygen and taking away from the issues. He wants people to be focusing on, you know, talking about affordability and trying to lower prices, all of the other stuff.

But that's because they have not dealt with this, many people argue and handled it in the way that they believe would be as transparent as he had vowed to initially do.

And so, yes, we have to continue to point out that he could have directed the Justice Department to release these. He didn't need Congress to do it. But now in many ways, his hands are tied.

BROWN: Yes, he directed DOJ to investigate those Democrats you pointed out. And Pam Bondi just hours later said she was on it, the attorney general and had already assigned a prosecutor. Alayna Treene, live for us from the White House. Thank you so much. Wolf.

BLITZER: And there's other news we're following still ahead, the very controversial sale fighter jets are front and center right now over at today's White House meeting between President Trump and the visiting Saudi crown prince.

BROWN: And Roblox Rollout, the CEO of the popular online gaming platform, joins us to talk about new measures aimed at protecting children amid a slew of lawsuits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: All right. Speaker Johnson holding a press conference out of the Epstein vote. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: We are finally back in regular legislative session. We have been very anxious to get here. We spent the last six weeks in our districts, most of the members of the House, at least the House Republicans did at least.

Six weeks they spent in their district. And many of them will tell you, and they've said publicly and privately, they did some of the best work of their career because they were right there with their constituents at home in their districts, in their counties and their parishes, in our case in Louisiana, working with their constituents and helping them navigate the consequences of the Democrats pointless political games in the shutdown.

They did some really important work and we are ready and eager now to get back to the legislative session, work the other side of this job so that we can deliver on our promises to the American people. The Republican Party has been doing this and we will continue, we're going to continue to reduce the cost of health care. We got big plans to do that. We can continue reducing prices and the cost of living for American families.

And of course, to finish the rest of the appropriations government funding process, we've been needing to do that. And we are. We are already working around the clock to accomplish those objectives. But with so many pressing issues on our plate, just very frustratingly to us, the Democrats are delaying that work even further with a political show vote. They're forcing a political show vote on the Epstein file.

So we're just going to address that right at the top here this morning. Because they've spent so much time, the Democrats have, spinning the facts and trying to confuse the people that I wanted to come in this morning and just clearly explain for the people back home how we got here and why this vote is happening right now.

First, a quick review of the relevant history here. For four long years, under the previous administration of the Biden Harris administration, Democrats insisted there was no border crisis. Remember, they told you that wasn't a problem at all. They dismissed inflation as transitory. That's what they told us.

They told the American people not to believe what we could all see with our own eyes, that there was an obvious mental and physical decline on the part of President Biden individually. And now, seemingly overnight, these same cast of characters, they've taken a sudden and urgent interest in the Epstein investigation. Suddenly, it's all in the name of transparency. That's what they're trying to tell us.

But the truth is, the biggest proponents of this discharge petition were never actually interested in transparency or ensuring justice or protecting victims of this unspeakable tragedy, the Epstein evils. And how do we know that? Because the Democrats had every one of the Epstein files in their possession for the four long years of the Biden administration.

The Biden Department of Justice had the files the entire time, and not a single one of the people who are so loud and animated right now, they never said anything about it. For all those four years, none of them held press conferences. None of them demanded the release of the documents. And under Biden's DOJ, when they. When they prosecuted just Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, not a single one of these Democrats or any of the proponents of the discharge ever made any noise about that at all.

So it's fair for the American people to ask the question, why now? Why suddenly are they so interested they have such an urgent interest in the Jeffrey Epstein matter? The truth is simple and straightforward and obvious for anyone who is willing to look at it objectively.

Clearly, this is a political exercise for Democrats and a few others, sadly. And it is as deceitful and dishonest as their pointless stunt to shut down the government. Same, same ideology behind this. Democrats are trying to use the Epstein matter as a political weapon

to distract from their own party's failures and in a desperate attempt, they're trying to somehow tie President Trump to the scandal. President Trump has nothing to do with it. He has said himself he has nothing to hide. And that's clearly what they've been trying to do. They're trying to attack President Trump.

This is what they've done. They weaponized the justice system over the last several years to go after him. And this is their latest attempt. And they don't have a platform or a principle to defend on the Democrat Party side.

So they put all their eggs in this basket. And that's why you hear endlessly about Epstein, Epstein. Everything's about Epstein now. This was an unspeakable tragedy. We said that. And we have great compassion for the victims. And I'm heartened that I met with the victims.

Our House Oversight Committee members met with the victims. And they deserve justice. It has been too long delayed. Not justice for. For what they were made to endure, but also we need answers on why it took so long for the Department of Justice itself to do that job under previous leadership. Republicans, meanwhile, are working in earnest to deliver transparency to the American people. And we're working to do that in a responsible manner that does no further harm to these innocent people and the victims who have been. Who have been wrapped into this.

There are a few key facts here that everybody needs to understand. First, I mentioned the House Oversight Committee doing its work. That is a bipartisan effort. They are already producing far more than the discharge petition even anticipates. Chairman Comer is our chair of oversight. Some of the biggest bulldogs in Congress serve on that committee. You all know, and I've mentioned this so many times, they have been on the Republican and Democrat side. They're deeply dug in. They've been working around the clock. They worked even through the government shutdown, and there were tranches of documents that were released even over that period.

So far, by last count, it's over 65,000 documents Epstein filed, documents that are now out in the public for everyone to review. That includes tens of thousands of pages from the Epstein estate. And that includes Epstein's flight logs, his personal financial records and ledgers, his daily calendars, and so much more. And none of that is even written or included in the discharge petition. So, in other words, the Oversight Committee is doing far more than the discharge even anticipates. And the most valuable information thus far has come from the Epstein estate files that was produced because of the work of the Oversight Committee. That is doing that in a professional, robust manner, using the full subpoena authority of the U.S. Congress.

[10:30:10]

From the very beginning, our side has been insistent that this matter must be handled very carefully and with utmost caution and care for the victims. We want maximum transparency. We have always been about that. We want every single person who had any scintilla, there's any scintilla of evidence. If they were involved in the Epstein evils, they need to be brought to justice and it should have been done a long time ago.

We need to find out who those people are. But in the meantime, you have to remember there are real people's, innocent people's lives at stake here and young victims who don't want to be dragged into this political game because it could hurt further what they've already endured. They would be made to suffer more harm if Congress is not careful in what we're doing.

And unlike our very important work that's underway in the House Oversight Committee, the Democrat led discharge petition would carelessly dump thousands of documents without proper protections for the innocent. I brought a chart in here this morning. I want to illustrate for you what we are concerned with.

Now, I was a federal court litigator. The members of our House Judiciary Committee, Republicans in particular, have many of these concerns. You have Chairman Jim Jordan and attorneys like Chip Roy, who's running for Attorney General of Texas. Now you have Brad Knott, who's a former federal prosecutor. Many members on the committee, Andy Biggs is running for governor of Arizona. They're lawyers and they understand that the way the discharge petition was drafted is haphazard and dangerous.

This is why we have been opposed to this point. Okay? And I could be here for a long time going through all the details of it. But the big concern we've all had all along is that the House bill, if it's passed in its current form and it was signed into law, it is dangerously flawed. And our problem and our frustration is there is no way for us in the House to amend it or correct these problems because the authors of the discharge will not allow it. And that's one of our great frustrations.

Let me just very quickly, we have a legal document that the lawyers, we have all drafted to explain all this. But let me give you quick five, quick maybe the top five concerns about it, and there are more.

But as drafted the discharge petition, it fails to fully protect victim privacy. I'm going to read you an excerpt out of our legal document we put together to explain all this. Congress should give the attorney general, broader authority to redact all the victim information. The discharge doesn't do that. This would prevent the release of information that could be used to unmask victims who have chosen to remain anonymous.

Now, you have some very brave women who have come forward and put their names and faces out there and done press conferences and explain that justice is overdue and our hearts go out to them and they are heroes. But you have as many as a thousand women by some of the accounts who may be caught up in this, and the vast majority of them have not come forward. Probably for obvious reasons.

They don't want to be unmasked. But the discharge petition doesn't have adequate protections. It risks re victimizing those who were trafficked and exploited. And the courts have recognized this concern. By the way. I'll read you a quick excerpt.

On August 20th of this year, Judge Richard Berman, the southern district of New York, issued an order denying the DOJ's request to release Epstein grand jury materials noting, quote, "names and identifying information of victims appear in the subject materials," unquote. Judge Berman then quoted a letter related to the victim's concerns which stated the following, quote, "transparency cannot come at the expense of the very people whom the justice system is sworn to protect," unquote. And importantly, the judge quoted a letter from one of the victims in the proceedings. She is named as Jane Doe, too. She said this. This is one of the victims.

Quote, "I beg the court to make sure it is of the utmost priority that in any sort of release all and every detail that could possibly reveal our identities be redacted. The victims of Epstein's evils deserve that protection, and the discharge does not currently provide." Okay, Number two, the discharge petition could create new victims, okay? Because it requires the DOJ to release information even in cases where the DOJ or the FBI has already reviewed it and determined it is not credible. It is false information.

Doing this and requiring this to come out could ruin the reputations of completely innocent people, such as those who have made may just have known Epstein but knew nothing of his crimes or whose names he exploited. Think of this. Innocent people whose names he exploited and used to try to get close to his intended victims.

Their names may be in these files, and they had nothing to do with this. And so by just haphazardly releasing it, you're going to destroy their reputations. Releasing information containing the names of innocent people would subject those innocent people to a guilt by association. It would create an entirely new group of victims who have no means to clear their names. That's a concern of Congress. And it should be. It should be. Number three, the discharge in its current form fails to prohibit the release of child sexual abuse materials. That is a term of art. It's called --