LEILA FADEL, HOST:
OK. Now we turn to one of the members of Congress who co-sponsored the legislation that's forcing the release of these documents from the Department of Justice related to Jeffrey Epstein. Ro Khanna is a Democrat from California. Congressman, thank you for being back on the program, and good morning.
RO KHANNA: Good morning.
FADEL: So you've called this most recent release a bombshell, and you cite in particular one reference to 10 co-conspirators. What are you looking at in the files that you see as a bombshell?
KHANNA: The fact that there is an email saying there are 10 co-conspirators means that there are other rich and powerful men who were involved. A lot of the skeptics have said that this is a hoax - that only Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were involved in the abuse. I know from talking to the survivors that's not true. They have named other men who either went to the rape island, abused them or covered up for that abuse. This is in the statements to the FBI, the 302 statements, and that is what we're pushing to have released. But we got an email at least saying there were 10 other co-conspirators.
FADEL: Now, you said - to expand on what you're wanting to be released, you've said you want to see the FBI witness interviews, which names other men, the Epstein emails seized from his computers, the 60-count draft indictment and the 82-page prosecution memo. You know, just tell me what you're looking for in these particular documents that you want, that is leading for you to want them to be public. Like, what are you looking for in these documents?
KHANNA: The most important are the FBI witness interviews. I know from survivors and survivors' lawyers that when they had these conversations with FBI agents, they specifically named other men who they were trafficked to...
FADEL: Yeah.
KHANNA: ...Or who showed up at the island or who covered up for this abuse. And there were lawyers of the survivors present there. There are dozens of these interview memorandums. The DOJ has not released a single one. In fact, in one case, the DOJ released a survivor's name illegally, but they had not released the file that the survivor wanted. The 60-count draft indictment shows how much the prosecution of Epstein was botched. They only prosecuted him for two counts. So we need that. And the emails on the computer that Jeffrey Epstein had that are - those are his emails to other men, arranging for trafficking, arranging for flights to the island. None of that has come out.
FADEL: We are now long past last Friday's deadline for releasing all the files that was set by your legislation. What do you make of the DOJ's argument that it takes time because they need to examine each document to avoid inadvertently identifying victims?
KHANNA: Well, frankly, they haven't done a good job. I mean, they've inadvertently released too many survivors. But both Thomas Massie and I have said we are less hung up on the time issue. We are more concerned about them complying with the spirit of the law in good faith, and they haven't done that. If they released some 302 FBI witness interview memorandum, that would be fine. If they released the 60-count draft indictment, that would be fine. That doesn't take a lot of time, and the law explicitly calls for them to release internal communication about charging or not. So they are protecting people, and the president's made it clear who they're trying to protect. He's concerned that people will be harmed with their reputation - that they're bankers and powerful politicians who are in these files. And that is true, and that's the purpose of the law, to have public accountability for them. But the DOJ seems intent on protecting them, frankly, more than the survivors.
FADEL: Now, both you and Republican Thomas Massie, the co-sponsor of this legislation, have talked about bringing, quote, "inherent contempt" proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi. What would that look like? What is inherent contempt?
KHANNA: Well, we have Republican support - some Republican support for it as well. We would give the attorney general a 30-day grace period to continue to release documents to be in compliance. And after those 30 days, there would start to be a $5,000 fine on her personally for the documents that she is not releasing. We also plan to go to the Southern District of New York, asking the judge who ordered these releases to have a special master see what should be redacted or not or to create a congressional committee, a bipartisan committee, to see what should be redacted or not.
FADEL: Is it realistic, though, that something like this would pass the House? I mean, inherent contempt charges haven't passed in the House against anyone since the 1930s, and this House in particular seems unable to agree on much.
KHANNA: Well, people thought it was very unrealistic for us to get the discharge petition passed. That also has not passed for decades. We do know we have some Republican support. And the point is that, given we have Republican support, the Justice Department started to backtrack. An hour after Massie and I announced that they started to release redacted documents in an unredacted form, they did a second release of documents that had that email about the 10 co-conspirators. They are...
FADEL: We'll have to leave it there. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you. He is the co-sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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