Ousted GOP lawmaker hits Trump with ‘next level sequel’ to Epstein files bill
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) took to the Breaking Points podcast Thursday to promote what may be his last legislative win as a member of Congress: a follow-up to his Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), something he claimed would take efforts to expose the Trump administration’s knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein and potential co-conspirators “to the next level.”
Massie appeared on Breaking Points alongside his colleague Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), the co-sponsor of the EFTA, which mandated that the Trump administration publish all Epstein-related files in its possession.
While the Trump administration did release millions of files, it also withheld millions, and redacted those it released beyond what was permitted under the EFTA, critics have said. The Trump administration’s Justice Department has also been accused of stonewalling efforts by the New Mexico attorney general to investigate Epstein’s potential crimes and co-conspirators in the state.
“We thought it was time to do a sequel because the first bill's been very successful – we got 3 million documents released – but there have been some dragging of feet by the attorney general and the acting attorney general, and so this is to spur the next level,” Massie said.
“Specifically, the main thing that this new bill does that we've introduced is it forces the U.S. attorney general to cooperate with state attorney generals that want to prosecute Epstein co-conspirators under state law. The attorney general in New Mexico would like to prosecute those crimes, so we're making it easier with this bill, that's one of the things it does.”
Massie lost his GOP primary election to an opponent backed by President Donald Trump in May, a race that went on to become the single-most expensive congressional primary race in United States history. Around $37 million was spent in the race, “most of” which was spent by political action committees “funded by pro-Trump billionaires, pro-Israel groups and dark money.”
Appearing on Breaking Points exactly one year and one day after the introduction of the EFTA last year, Massie also said that his and Khanna’s latest ploy – an amendment to the original EFTA – would remove a key tool that the Trump administration had used to withhold Epstein-related files.
“What this will do is it takes away unambiguously, it says, you don't have these special privileges that you can exert to withhold files,” Massie said. “And finally, it gives Ro and I standing to go to a court, get in front of a judge and have a judge adjudicate whether the executive branch is complying with the law that the legislative branch wrote, and the president signed.”