[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4172]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1050
                        JEFFREY EPSTEIN'S ABUSE

  (Ms. Johnson of Texas was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, for decades, Jeffrey Epstein's 
abuse was an open secret powerful people knew. Agencies knew. Some in 
government knew. Yet, year after year, he continued to operate in 
trafficking, exploiting, and destroying the lives of children and young 
women.
  This was not only sexual violence. There were financial crimes. 
Epstein's empire was built on money, blackmail, and connections, and 
those connections reached into the highest halls of power.
  What makes this scandal unbearable is not just Epstein's evil but the 
way institutions, Republican and Democratic administrations alike, 
looked away. No administration, past or present, has fully stepped up 
to bring the truth to light. The very agencies charged with protecting 
the vulnerable, instead, protected the powerful.
  Now, under Donald Trump, that coverup has gone from negligence to 
active obstruction. Trump promised to release the files. He promised 
the American people transparency. Instead, he and his handpicked 
lieutenants have buried the truth under a mountain of lies and 
contradictions.
  Let's review the record. In June of 2024, Trump said he would 
declassify the Epstein files. His campaign even celebrated that promise 
online. On January 30, Trump's FBI Director, Kash Patel, vowed to 
release everything. On February 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the 
client list was literally on her desk. As of today, none of that has 
materialized.
  However, when Bondi told Trump in May that his own name appeared in 
those files, everything changed. Suddenly, the files were too dangerous 
to release. Then the Department of Justice claimed there was no client 
list at all. Trump went from promising full transparency to calling the 
files boring, then a hoax, then a dead issue. This is not transparency. 
This is a coverup.
  Madam Speaker, when leaders abuse their office to shield predators, 
that is corruption of the highest order. When hundreds of survivors are 
denied justice to protect one man's reputation, that is a crime against 
the very idea of democracy.
  The majority often speaks about morality. We are told about 
protecting children, about being pro-life, and standing up against 
human trafficking. So I ask my colleagues on the other side: Where is 
the outrage now? Where is that moral clarity when the lives of 
trafficked and abused girls demand your courage?
  This is not about partisanship. This is about whether the United 
States Congress will side with survivors or with abusers. Will we 
protect the powerful or will we protect the powerless?
  Trump threatens Republican Members who demand justice in this matter. 
Like Epstein survivors, the majority are now terrorized by men in power 
to stay silent. I know that many aspects of this criminally corrupt 
scandal are horrible to look at and think about, but we don't have to 
be divided. Together, we can be the solution and send a message that we 
will not let this happen again.
  Here is my demand: Release the files, every name, every deposition, 
every page, unredacted, except to protect the survivors. No more 
excuses. No more delays, and no more hiding.
  Madam Speaker, sunlight is the oldest disinfectant. It is the only 
way to end the rot of corruption that let Epstein thrive, and it is the 
only way to give survivors the justice they deserve.
  Right now, there is a bipartisan effort in this House to force a vote 
on releasing the files. We need only two more Republicans to join us, 
two Members who believe their oath to the truth is stronger than their 
loyalty to Donald Trump. We need two Members who are willing to live up 
to the words they so often speak about morality, family, and protecting 
children.
  Let me say this: Americans are divided on so much today, but on this 
demand for justice, transparency, and accountability, we are united. 
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Americans across every community 
want this coverup to end. At a time when our country desperately needs 
something to unite around, this could be it.
  The American people have waited long enough. The survivors have 
waited long enough. If our justice system means anything, it must mean 
justice for the vulnerable human beings that powerful men thought they 
could use and throw away. No more secrecy, no more corruption, no more 
protection for predators.
  Madam Speaker, history will remember what we do in this moment. Here 
is the truth: If we in Congress cannot unify to defy the most well-
connected predator of our time, what good are we?

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