California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna has vowed to keep up the pressure on President Donald Trump’s administration over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as an investigation of the New Mexico ranch that once belonged to the late pedophile gets underway.
Speaking to MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell Monday, the congressman – a member of the House Oversight Committee – was asked whether his “crusade” on behalf of the Epstein survivors would continue given that 3.5 million Department of Justice files on Epstein have now been released and in light of the intervening eruption of the Iran conflict.
He answered in 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 told 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 comments come as New Mexico prosecutors confirm that a search is underway at the property south of Santa Fe that was once Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, a site at which the pedophile regularly entertained and where sexual abuse is alleged to have taken place
Khanna was speaking after the DOJ moved last week to release three further memos recording FBI interviews with a woman who alleged in 2019 that Trump had sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager. The agency said the memos were left out in error.
Trump has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein but has faced persistent questions about their past friendship. The pair knew each other socially in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, in the 1990s and early 2000s, until they had a bitter falling-out.
The president has consistently 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 development by saying in a statement 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 stressed the importance of the media and the public keeping interest in the story alive and said his panel’s decision to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to address the DOJ’s handling of the files would prove a telling moment, in which the AG would not be allowed to repeat her “insult comic” performance seen previously on Capitol Hill.
Survivors of Epstein’s abuse have complained about the treatment of the files released since December 19 in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, in which the names of victims have gone unredacted in many cases, while some of the billionaire’s wealthy associates were kept concealed.
Among those expressing anger over the situation are the family of the late Epstein victim and campaigner Virginia Giuffre, who recently joined protesters outside of Epstein’s property in New Mexico.
“All those names are in the files and right now the government is covering those up,” said Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, in an appeal to the DOJ for their full disclosure.
Amanda Roberts, his wife and Giuffre’s sister-in-law, meanwhile, applauded the western state for becoming the first to set up a bipartisan “truth commission” to investigate its ties to the disgraced financier.
“New Mexico is setting the example and we expect other states to follow behind,” she said.
State investigators have begun a new examination of the 26,700 square foot hilltop mansion in Santa Fe County that was once owned by Epstein, which was acquired in 2023 by Don Huffines, a businessman and self-declared “MAGA Trump Republican” running to be Texas comptroller.
State Attorney General Raul Torrez’s office said the search was being carried out with the cooperation of the new owners, who have 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 office said in a statement.
Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead,” it added.
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