[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2266-H2267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                      JUSTICE FOR EPSTEIN VICTIMS

  (Mr. Massie of Kentucky was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. MASSIE. Madam Speaker, Congress created the Department of 
Justice. Congress funds the Department of Justice. Congress is 
responsible for the oversight of the Department of Justice.
  When will we see justice? I will tell you what I have not seen. I 
have not seen any arrests from the revelations in the Epstein files, 
over 3 million documents describing horrible things, describing 
unspeakable things, much of it redacted.
  Over two dozen people have resigned, including CEOs and members of 
government worldwide, but I haven't seen any arrests or investigations 
here in the United States from this Department of Justice.
  Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who has since been stripped of his royal 
titles due to his affiliation with Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested.
  Peter Mandelson, who previously served as the U.K. Ambassador to the 
United States, resigned in disgrace from the United Kingdom's House of 
Lords and the Labour Party, and he has been arrested.
  Former Prime Minister of Norway Thorbjorn Jagland has been charged.
  Yet, we don't see any charges, arrests, or investigations in the 
United States. What do we see? We see our FBI Director celebrating in 
the locker room at the Olympics overseas.
  It is fine to be proud of this country, but we should be proud of 
this country because we have a system of justice that works. Yet, we do 
not.
  Who are the men who should be investigated? I will name them right 
here:
  Leon Black: You don't even have to see past the redactions to see 
that this man needs to be investigated.
  Jes Staley: Accused of terrible things. It is right there in the 
files. Why is he not being investigated?
  Leslie Wexner: Why did the FBI list him as a co-conspirator in their 
own documents in a child sex trafficking case and then tell him, 
according to him, that they had no questions for him? Why is that?
  The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the DOJ and FBI to 
disclose to us their internal memos and emails about how they made 
those decisions, whether to prosecute or not prosecute. Yet, they have 
not delivered those memos.
  We still don't have the memos, documents, and emails from 2008 to 
explain why Jeffrey Epstein was given such a light sentence in what 
would have been an open-and-shut case of child sex trafficking, which 
allowed him to go back and recommit these terrible crimes, create 
hundreds more victims, and ensnare so many other people in his 
conspiracy. Where are those documents that describe those decisions?
  We need justice. We want the Department of Justice to get to work. 
That is what they need to do, and now.


                  united states government under siege

  Mr. MASSIE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to let the American people 
know that this government is under siege.
  All three branches of this government are under siege by lobbyists 
and lawyers from a German company named Bayer. They spent over $9 
million lobbying the executive branch and the legislative branch so 
that they don't have to be liable for any damages that their herbicide 
causes, otherwise known as Roundup.
  They are having some success. They haven't had any success yet in 
this Chamber to get that immunity. They have had some success in the 
State legislatures, which are also under siege, to get this immunity 
from liability.
  Madam Speaker, the Constitution guarantees people a trial if they 
have been harmed. Why are we contemplating going against the 
Constitution?
  The Attorney General has opined favorably for this German company in 
front of the Supreme Court, about getting rid of any liability that 
they should have for any damages.
  The most recent thing that we have seen is within the executive 
branch. By the way, the President's Chief of Staff

[[Page H2267]]

and the President's Attorney General worked for one of the biggest 
lobbying firms, which has received hundreds of thousands and millions 
of dollars from Bayer.
  Maybe that is why we have seen an executive order that says that the 
production of this chemical from this German company is a national 
defense priority. We know why they are doing that. It is to keep them 
from having any liability.
  Everybody in this country deserves their day in court. This is wrong. 
We shouldn't succumb to the lobbyists--not in the executive branch, not 
in the judicial branch, certainly not here in Congress, and not in the 
State legislatures--but there is a lot of money at play. I implore my 
colleagues to resist it and to not give them immunity.

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