House vote on Epstein files expected today after Trump offers support

In an interview with CBS News' Major Garrett, Danielle Bensky spoke out about her experience with Epstein as a teenager and called for the release of all the files.

"We need the facts before we can move forward," she said. "We want them to release everything." 

"You've heard from a ton of survivors. There are a thousand of us. And we always say, this is not political. It is a human issue. It is a moral issue," she said.

Bensky described being a young dancer pressured into doing what Epstein wanted. "I see my 17-year-old self in those files," she said. "I want to be able to hug my 17-year-old self and say, it's all going to be OK, other women will not have to go through this, and mean it."

Former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers said Monday he's "stepping back from public commitments" after messages between him and Epstein were released last week. 

"I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein," Summers said in a statement. "While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me."

Dozens of messages between Summers and Epstein were included in a trove of documents from Epstein's estate that was released by the House Oversight Committee last week, including emails exchanged during the last years of Epstein's life, even as the accused sex trafficker's public notoriety grew. 

In one March 2019 exchange, the pair appeared to banter about a woman that Summers knew in London, with Epstein seeming to offer advice to the Harvard professor. 

"I said what are you up to," Summers wrote in part of one message, describing a conversation with the woman. "She said 'I'm busy.' I said awfully coy u are."

Epstein's reply read, in part: "shes smart. making you pay for past errors."

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reflected on her long support for Mr. Trump and his "Make America Great Again" political movement and lamented that the fight over the disclosure of the Epstein files has "ripped MAGA apart."

"This has been one of the most destructive things to MAGA, is watching the man that we supported early on, three elections, for people that stood hours, slept in their cars to go to rallies, have fought for truth and transparency and to hold what we consider a corrupt government accountable, watching this actually turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart," she said.

Greene said "the only thing that will speak to the powerful, courageous women behind me is when action is actually taken to release these files, and the American people won't tolerate any other bullshit."

Asked about the potential for the Senate to amend Khanna's bill once it passes the House, Massie said that any push to make changes to the proposal "could be just another delay tactic."

If the Senate alters the House-passed bill, the amended legislation would need to be taken up and approved by the lower chamber again before it is sent to Mr. Trump's desk.

"They need not to muck this bill up," Massie said of the Senate. "We've needlessly spent four months dragging this out. It's time to pull the Band-Aid off. The Senate, it may be tempting for them to get cute and to do things that will limit the release of these documents. They're afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well that's the whole point here. They need to be brought to justice."

Massie said that if the Justice Department does not release all of the information in the files, as the bill requires, officials there "will be breaking the law."

"There's nothing more important than cleaning out the rot in this country," he said.

Asked why Mr. Trump had fought against releasing the files, Massie said he believes the president was trying to protect friends and donors.

"He's been trying to protect them," he said. "It also incriminates our own government. This is a complete and total failure of the justice system."

More than half-dozen women who said they were trafficked by Epstein and survived his abuse spoke out ahead of the House's vote. They collectively pushed for transparency and accountability for those who were involved with Epstein and aware of his crimes.

Many of the women who spoke encouraged the public to contact their representatives in the House and Senate and push them to support the legislation forcing the release of the Epstein files.

"This is not an issue of a few corrupt Democrats or a few corrupt Republicans," said Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's criminal trial in 2021 about being sexually abused by Epstein. "This is a case of institutional betrayal. Because these crimes were not properly investigated, so many more girls and women were harmed."

Lisa Phillips, who says she was trafficked by Epstein, announced the launch of what she described as a national, nonpartisan, "survivor-led political movement" that aims to expose loopholes in the justice system that protect abusers from accountability.

"This fight belongs to us. We lived it and we know the truth and we will not wait quietly for institutions to decide when we're allowed to speak," she said.

Haley Robson, one of Epstein's accusers, said she wanted to deliver a message directly to President Trump. 

"I want to send a clear message to you," she said. "While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files and I'm grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can't help to be skeptical of what the agenda is. So, with that being said, I want to relay this message to you: I am traumatized, I am not stupid," and she stressed that the vote could have happened much earlier.

Mr. Trump had opposed the release of the files, but he reversed course on Sunday and urged Republican lawmakers to vote to release the files "because we have nothing to hide."

Robson, who was 16 when she says she met Epstein, held up a photo of when she was young. 

"I want everybody to take a look," she said. "I know everyone sees us today as grown adults, but we are fighting for the children that were abandoned and left behind in the reckoning."

She urged lawmakers to put politics aside, and thanked Greene and Massie for standing up to their own party. 

"This is an incredible thing that I'm watching as a Republican, and this is nonpolitical," she said. 

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Monday he's concerned that Mr. Trump's directive to the Justice Department to investigate Epstein's relationships with prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, and major financial institutions could be used to block the files' release. 

"I'm concerned that now he's opening a flurry of investigations, and I believe they may be trying to use those investigations as a predicate for not releasing the files. That's my concern," Massie told reporters. 

"I'm afraid they're going to try to use a provision of the law that allows you not to release these materials if they're subject of an ongoing investigation, the release of which would harm the ongoing investigation," he said. 

Clinton has long denied any wrongdoing and says he was unaware of Epstein's behavior.

If the bill makes it to Mr. Trump's desk, Massie believes the president will follow through on his promise earlier Monday to sign it. Massie also wants to be there, despite the president often slinging insults at the congressman. 

"I want to be there at the signing party. I've never seen somebody not get invited to sign their own bill," Massie said. 

It's unclear when or whether the bill will get there. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not committed to holding a vote, and it's possible the Senate will make changes that would require the bill to return to the House.

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Greene, a Republican from Georgia, praised the victims of Epstein's crimes.

"They are survivors and they are strong and they are courageous and they are daughters of God. They are not victims," she said.

Greene responded to Mr. Trump's attacks against her without mentioning him by name. Mr. Trump referred to the congresswoman as "Marjorie Traitor Greene," and said she gave her loyalty to the president "for free." 

"I've never owed him anything, but I fought for him for the policies and for America first, and he called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition," Greene said.

She continued: "A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me."

Greene predicted that Khanna's legislation will receive significant support from the House, but said the "real test" will be whether the Justice Department releases the files, or if they'll remain "tied up" in investigations. 

"That's information that needs to come out and will the list of names that these women privately hold, and they hold it because of their fear in their heart of what would happen to them if they release it on their own, will that list of names come out? That's the real test," she said.

Massie also delivered an appeal to the Senate not to derail the effort to ensure the release of the material related to the investigation into Epstein.

"If you do anything that prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people and you are not part of this effort," he said. "Do not muck it up in the Senate."

The Kentucky Republican said of the victims, "we're going to get justice for them. That's going to happen today, in the people's House."

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie are holding a press conference with victims of Epstein's crimes ahead of the House's vote to release files stemming from the federal probe into the convicted sex offender.

"Today is the first day of real reckoning for the Epstein class," Khanna said.

He said those who were involved with Epstein should be held accountable.

Khanna predicted his measure will receive "overwhelming" support in the House, and he urged the Senate to swiftly take up his legislation in its current form.

"I don't want the D.C. swamp playing any games. They need to pass this in the Senate," he said.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who sponsored the bill to force the release of the files, said he was surprised by the president's support for the vote after months of pushback. 

"I was very surprised," Khanna said Tuesday on "CBS Mornings." "He was fighting Thomas Massie and me for five months. They shut down Congress over this. They hauled in members of Congress to the situation room to try to get them off the petition. They had the members of the Cabinet intimidate them. Donald Trump un-endorsed Marjorie, Taylor Greene, threatening other members not to vote for our bill."

Khanna went on to say he believed "there were going to be 70, 80 Republicans who would have voted for this bill in defiance for him. I'm glad that he said he's signing it."

The California Democrat outlined two things that he sees as important going forward: first, that Mr. Trump meets with the survivors. And second, now that the president said he will sign this bill, he said "they shouldn't play games in the Senate."

"They should take this up right away and pass it," Khanna said. 

Khanna said "once the files are released, I think it's going to shock the country."

"There are rich and powerful men who either abused these young girls or who have covered it up, and some of these people still are on corporate boards, they still have scholarships named after them, they have buildings named after them. And the American people are going to be shocked when they learn this. And what the survivors want is for these names to come out and for them to be held accountable."

Khanna added, "the facts need to come out, and whoever is caught up with it needs to be held accountable, Democrat or Republican."

President Trump encouraged House Republicans to vote for the bill late Sunday, a stark reversal after he spent months pushing Republicans to avoid the issue.

"House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it's time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party," he wrote.

Days earlier, the president asked the Justice Department to investigate Epstein's ties to financial institutions and to prominent Democrats like former President Bill Clinton. The former president has long denied any wrongdoing and said he wasn't aware of Epstein's behavior.

Mr. Trump had previously derided any Republican lawmakers who discussed the Epstein issue, calling them "stupid" and arguing they were falling for a diversion tactic by Democrats.

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has released several tranches of documents on Epstein so far this year. Those include records that were released by the Justice Department, files that were held by Epstein's estate and transcripts from interviews with former government officials.

The most recent release contained emails in which Epstein alluded to having dirt on Mr. Trump, writing of the president at one point, "of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop." In another message, Epstein referred to him as the "dog that hasn't barked." 

Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes related to Epstein. He and Epstein knew each other in the 1990s and early 2000s, but Mr. Trump has said he cut ties years ago.

Even if the bill passes the House, it's not clear if the Senate will take it up. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, was noncommittal about bringing it up for a vote when asked in September. On Sunday, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, said "we'll take a look at it" but argued the effort was part of an "attempt by the Democrats to make President Trump a lame duck president." 

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects the Senate will make changes to the bill. The Louisiana Republican does not believe the bill goes far enough to protect victims, but told reporters Monday, "I do have some comfort that … if and when it's processed in the Senate, that they'll be able to correct some of those concerns." 

The bill would be sent back to the House for approval if it's amended in the Senate. 

Mr. Trump, who has the power to order the Justice Department to release the files without action from Congress, told reporters Monday he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.

The bill would require the attorney general to make public all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in possession of the Justice Department, the FBI and U.S. attorneys' offices within 30 days of becoming law. 

That could include materials related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as flight logs, travel records and materials about Epstein's detention and death. It also calls for the release of names of individuals and entities referenced in any Epstein case and internal communications about the case. 

It would also make public any records "concerning the destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment of documents, recordings, or electronic data" related to Epstein and his associates.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has been at the receiving end of Mr. Trump's tirades as he lashed out over the last week at Republicans who have pushed to release more Epstein files. 

Greene called Mr. Trump's prior opposition to releasing the files a "huge miscalculation" in an exclusive interview with "CBS Mornings" on Friday, arguing that Mr. Trump has nothing to hide. It was Greene's latest break with Mr. Trump and other top GOP officials, after she criticized the House leadership's approach to health care costs and suggested Mr. Trump was focusing too much on foreign policy.

Later on Friday, Mr. Trump pulled his endorsement from Greene, who was once a close ally, later bashing her as a "traitor." 

Greene said in response the Epstein files "sent him over the edge" and argued the president had directed his ire at her "to scare all the other Republicans" from voting to make the materials public. 

"It's astonishing really how hard he's fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level," she wrote on Friday. 

On Saturday, she added, "It really makes you wonder what is in those files and who and what country is putting so much pressure on him?" 

Greene has also said the name-calling from Mr. Trump has put her safety at risk. 

"I don't think her life is in danger," Mr. Trump told reporters Sunday. "Frankly, I don't think anybody cares about her." 

The Georgia congresswoman said she hopes "we can make up," and also told CNN Sunday that she still supports Mr. Trump and his administration."

The bill will be taken up by the House despite resistance from leadership because more than half of all lawmakers — including a handful of Republicans — have signed a petition to force a vote.

The petition secured the final signature it needed on Nov. 12, after House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed the swearing-in of a newly elected Democrat for seven weeks. 

Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23 to fill the seat of her late father Raul, added her name to the petition shortly after she was sworn in last week.

The effort, known as a discharge petition, defies House GOP leaders, who have opposed putting legislation on the floor since this summer. 

The bill is backed by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. All House Democrats and four Republicans signed onto the discharge petition to reach the 218-signature threshold needed to force a vote.

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