The Epstein files sometimes bring out the absolute worst in some folks on Capitol Hill, and this week was no exception.
On Monday, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) reviewed unredacted documents in the Epstein case at the DOJ for about two hours and came across the names of six men whose names had been redacted. They talked to reporters shortly thereafter, with Massie alleging that the six were “likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files.”
Khanna nodded in agreement with Massie’s claim, stating later that “at the very least, these six men – maybe she [DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi] can make public. We’re happy to provide the information to them, and they should do that.”
Watch:
Massie also said in the presser that “we found six men whose names have been redacted, who are implicated in the way that the files are presented.”
The DOJ did unredact the names a short time later, but Khanna took it a step further by taking to the House floor on Tuesday to read the men’s names:
The lawmakers threatened to expose the men if DOJ did not cooperate, taking advantage of the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause that under certain circumstances can shield members of Congress from litigation. DOJ ultimately complied with some of their requests, Massie announced in social media posts Tuesday morning.
Khanna, however, wasn’t satisfied to stop there.
In a House floor speech on Tuesday, Khanna named the six men, referring to them without evidence as “wealthy and powerful,” insinuating they were guilty of criminal actions because the DOJ was “hiding” their names in the Epstein files. Khanna then questioned who else the DOJ was “covering up for” in the millions of other documents, another clear insinuation of the men being guilty of crimes.
Watch:
According to a report from The Guardian of all places, however, four of the six have no connection at all to Jeffrey Epstein:
After questions from the Guardian, the Department of Justice said that four of the men Khanna named have no apparent connection to Epstein whatsoever, but rather appeared in a photo lineup assembled by the southern district of New York (SDNY).
DOJ Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office responded to the story by blasting Khanna:
“Rep Ro Khanna and Rep Thomas Massie forced the unmasking of completely random people selected years ago for an FBI lineup – men and women. These individuals have NOTHING to do with Epstein or Maxwell,” the spokesperson told the Guardian.
Blanche also wrote on X that “Of those included in the lineup list were 4 of the 6 men that Mr. Massie and Mr. Khanna referenced repeatedly and were only included in that one document out of all the files.”
He went on to note that, “The other two men – Les Wexner and Sultan bin Sulayem- were unredacted in the one document, and are referenced in the files nearly two hundred times and over 4,700 times respectively.”
Astonishingly, Khanna tried to blame the DOJ for his false claims about the four men’s wealth and power as well as his insinuations about their guilt, tweeting after The Guardian‘s report came out that “I wish DOJ had provided that explanation earlier instead of redacting then unredacting their names.”
Massie’s attempt to weasel out of his “implicated” and “incriminated” statements was met with exactly the type of response it deserved:
“What exactly?” indeed.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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