A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California is on the House committee that subpoenaed Pam Bondi last month in its Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Representative Khanna, did you expect Pam Bondi to lose her job?
RO KHANNA: I thought there was a good chance. Thomas Massie and I, with passing the Epstein Transparency Act, basically forced Donald Trump to fire his own attorney general. It shows that Congress doesn't have to be a doormat. You can stand up to this lawless administration. And she refused to release the files until we passed the law. Then she still refused to release the files. We threatened contempt and impeachment. And eventually, she started losing support even of Republicans in the House.
MARTÍNEZ: When did you expect it to be a good chance?
KHANNA: When we started to get Republicans like Nancy Mace working with me to subpoena Pam Bondi, I realized that there were four or five Republicans on the Oversight Committee who had had enough. They know that Pam Bondi had engaged in a cover-up of the Epstein files. They know that while she released 3 million of them, 3 million of them are still hidden. And most frustratingly, there's not been a single investigation or prosecution in the United States of people who raped or abused these young girls. Meanwhile, in Britain, in Norway, in countries around the world, people are facing consequences, the Epstein class is facing consequences. And that just betrayed her trust, and it violated the law.
MARTÍNEZ: Now that she's out, Congressman, is the House Oversight Committee still going to compel her to answer questions about her handling of the Epstein files?
KHANNA: Absolutely. She has questions she needs to answer about why she didn't release all the files, why there are no investigations and prosecutions. If Jim Comer could pursue Hillary Clinton, who's been out of office for 20 years, certainly Pam Bondi is relevant to come towards the committee.
MARTÍNEZ: How quickly do you expect to do that?
KHANNA: Well, she is set to come on April 14. We have issued a subpoena. It passed the Oversight Committee, and she should honor that subpoena. And frankly, now she's freer to tell the truth because she's no longer in office.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you expect that to happen? Do you expect her to be freer to tell the truth?
KHANNA: Well, she is freer. Whether she does tell the truth or not...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
KHANNA: ...Of course, remains to be seen. But the big frustration here is that there are a group of rich and powerful people who abused hundreds of survivors. Yesterday, I was talking with a brother of one of these survivors. It's going to be one year since Virginia Giuffre committed suicide. This is deeply emotional for these survivors. They're in contact with me daily. And they want to see some action, and they want to see the rest of the files released. And Thomas Massie and I are not going to stop until we get justice for those survivors.
MARTÍNEZ: We're talking to Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna of California. Congressman, lawyers and former judges have called on the Florida Bar to investigate Bondi for alleged ethics violations. The state bar declined to investigate a sitting officer, but she's no longer in office now. So is now the time for her to come before the bar?
KHANNA: Well, she should face consequences in terms of what she did, but it needs to - she should have due process, and it needs to be factual. But this is not about Pam Bondi. This is about a group of men who abused these girls. And the question I want is, when are we getting these new files? When are investigations beginning?
What I will say is that the Senate should make it absolutely clear they will not confirm a new attorney general unless that attorney general commits to the release of all these files and commits to starting investigations. And if that new attorney general doesn't live up to that word, they will have the same fate as Pam Bondi.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general for President Trump, told Fox News Thursday that the DOJ has released, quote, "all the files" that it can in the Epstein case. What do you say to that?
KHANNA: That's just not factual. In the past, he said that there are 3 million files that have not been released. Now, he claims that they're not releasing those because they're protecting the identity of survivors. But if you talk to the survivors, if you talk to the survivors' lawyers, they will tell you, in fact, that the DOJ was reckless and did not protect their identity. And the 3 million files that haven't been released have the survivors' statements to the FBI agents, where the survivors name the rich and powerful people who raped them, abused them, showed up to Epstein's island, and that they are protecting a group of people who aren't playing by the same rules. This is about two tiers of justice in America. It's about a group of people who've treated women as dispensable, and the American people are tired of this two-tier system of justice.
MARTÍNEZ: And speaking of that - just a few seconds left, Congressman. The war with Iran, the economy, the midterms - has all that shifted the public's attention away from the Epstein inquiry?
KHANNA: Well, it just has shown that there are people who are making decisions that are out of touch. People want the war to end. They want us to take on the Epstein class, and they want to have policies of - for the working class - child care, jobs, lowering costs.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. That's Representative Ro Khanna of California. Thank you.
KHANNA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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