California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna has vowed to maintain up the stress on President Donald Trump’s administration over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as an investigation of the New Mexico ranch that when belonged to the late pedophile will get underway.
Speaking to MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell Monday, the congressman – a member of the House Oversight Committee – was requested whether or not his “crusade” on behalf of the Epstein survivors would proceed on condition that 3.5 million Department of Justice recordsdata on Epstein have now been launched and in gentle of the intervening eruption of the Iran battle.
He answered within the affirmative. “It continues because it’s personal, because these survivors have sat in my office, they’ve sat in [Kentucky Republican Rep.] Thomas Massie’s office… They were abused, they were raped, and they want justice,” Khanna advised O’Donnell.
“And the half of the files that are out proves to the country that what we were talking about was not a hoax, that some of the most powerful people were involved. And the worst stuff is still in these files, the names of some of these people, which have been scrubbed by Donald Trump’s FBI.”
Khanna’s feedback come as New Mexico prosecutors affirm {that a} search is underway on the property south of Santa Fe that was as soon as Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, a web site at which the pedophile frequently entertained and the place sexual abuse is alleged to have taken place
Khanna was talking after the DOJ moved final week to launch three additional memos recording FBI interviews with a girl who alleged in 2019 that Trump had sexually assaulted her when she was an adolescent. The company mentioned the memos have been disregarded in error.
Trump has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein however has confronted persistent questions on their previous friendship. The pair knew one another socially in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, within the Nineties and early 2000s, till they’d a bitter falling-out.
The president has constantly denied any allegations of wrongdoing in relation to his friendship with Epstein.
Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for Democrats on the Oversight Committee, responded to that improvement by saying in an announcement Friday: “Let’s be clear: this White House cover-up is ongoing. Millions of pages still remain concealed from the public and our committee.”
On MS NOW, Khanna confused the significance of the media and the general public holding curiosity within the story alive and mentioned his panel’s choice to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to handle the DOJ’s dealing with of the recordsdata would show a telling second, wherein the AG wouldn’t be allowed to repeat her “insult comic” efficiency seen beforehand on Capitol Hill.
Survivors of Epstein’s abuse have complained in regards to the therapy of the recordsdata launched since December 19 in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, wherein the names of victims have gone unredacted in lots of circumstances, whereas a number of the billionaire’s rich associates have been saved hid.
Among these expressing anger over the scenario are the household of the late Epstein sufferer and campaigner Virginia Giuffre, who lately joined protesters exterior of Epstein’s property in New Mexico.
“All those names are in the files and right now the government is covering those up,” mentioned Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, in an enchantment to the DOJ for his or her full disclosure.
Amanda Roberts, his spouse and Giuffre’s sister-in-law, in the meantime, applauded the western state for changing into the primary to arrange a bipartisan “truth commission” to research its ties to the disgraced financier.
“New Mexico is setting the example and we expect other states to follow behind,” she mentioned.
State investigators have begun a brand new examination of the 26,700 sq. foot hilltop mansion in Santa Fe County that was as soon as owned by Epstein, which was acquired in 2023 by Don Huffines, a businessman and self-declared “MAGA Trump Republican” operating to be Texas comptroller.
State Attorney General Raul Torrez’s workplace mentioned the search was being carried out with the cooperation of the brand new house owners, who’ve renamed it the San Rafael Ranch, and that it had been commenced after New Mexico prosecutors concluded that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners,” Torrez’s workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead,” it added.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/epstein-files-zorro-ranch-search-b2935474.html