California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna argues that the DOJ’s release of the redacted “Epstein Files” proves America has a protected elite class shielded from accountability, no matter what. “There were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason,” he said. “When Congressman Massie and I pointed this out to the Department of Justice, they acknowledged their mistake, and now they have revealed the identity of these six powerful men.” “These men are Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, Nicola Caputo, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Ports World, and billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner, who was labeled as a co-conspirator by the FBI.” “Why did it take Thomas Massie and me going to the Justice Department to get these six men’s identities to become public? And if we found six men who were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those three million files,” he said. “Who are they protecting? Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men? Why are we in a country where there is no elite accountability?” he asked. “It’s not just about the 1,200 survivors. It’s about two tiers of justice in America. It’s about people who can accumulate wealth and power and don’t have to care about the rest of America.” “The FBI sent scrubbed files,” Khanna said. “That means the survivors’ statements to the FBI-naming rich and powerful men who went to Epstein’s island, who went to his ranch, who went to his home and raped and abused underage girls, or saw underage girls being paraded there-are all hidden. They’re all redacted. It’s a little bit of a farce.”

REP. RO KHANNA: Yesterday, Congressman Massie and I went to the Department of Justice to read the unredacted Epstein files. We spent about two hours there, and we learned that 70 to 80 percent of the files are still redacted. In fact, there were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason. When Congressman Massie and I pointed this out to the Department of Justice, they acknowledged their mistake, and now they have revealed the identity of these six powerful men. These men are Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, Nicola Caputo, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Ports World, and billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner, who was labeled as a co-conspirator by the FBI. Now my question is: why did it take Thomas Massie and me going to the Justice Department to get these six men’s identities to become public? And if we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those three million files. But the story gets worse. The reality is that Donald Trump’s FBI scrubbed these files in March, long before Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Transparency Act. Now my bill is clear. The Epstein Transparency Act requires them to unredact those FBI files. And yet the Justice Department said to me and to Congressman Massie, We just uploaded whatever the FBI sent us. And guess what? The FBI sent scrubbed files. That means the survivors’ statements to the FBI-naming rich and powerful men who went to Epstein’s island, who went to his ranch, who went to his home and raped and abused underage girls, or saw underage girls being paraded there-are all hidden. They’re all redacted. It’s a little bit of a farce. They’re inviting all the members of Congress to go see the Department of Justice’s so-called unredacted files, but they’ve got fully redacted files from the FBI. And it’s not the fault of the Justice Department attorneys. They were just told to upload what Donald Trump’s FBI had already scrubbed. It’s a blatant violation of the Epstein Transparency Act. But it also asks a fundamental question: who are they protecting? Why are they protecting these rich and powerful men-people I call part of the Epstein class? Why are we in a country where there is no elite accountability for people who do the most heinous things? You have in England the king calling for an investigation and possible prosecution of his own brother. You have in Norway a princess who no longer has support to be queen. And yet in the United States of America, we have someone in the cabinet, Howard Lutnick, who is all over these Epstein files, who allegedly had business with Epstein after he was convicted of pedophilia, and he still is in the cabinet. We need to ask ourselves: are we in America going to have accountability? Are we going to call on rich and powerful people who broke the law or cavorted with a convicted pedophile? Are we going to call them to account? Are we going to have prosecutions for billionaires who went to this island and either raped underage girls, or saw underage girls being raped and didn’t say anything? Are we going to have investigations? I’ll tell you what this is about. It’s not just about the 1,200 survivors. It’s about two tiers of justice in America. It’s about people who can accumulate wealth and power and don’t have to care about the rest of America. They have destroyed so much of this country. Income inequality is at a 60-year high. Workers’ salaries are lower than they’ve been for 75 years as a share of GDP. Somehow, this country seems to be working for the rich and powerful-but it’s not working for ordinary working-class Americans. I say enough. It’s time to begin with accountability for the Epstein class. Hold them in front of Congress. Those people who visited the island or did business with Epstein after he was a convicted pedophile-investigate them. Prosecute them. And let’s return to democratic accountability in the United States of America. Let’s return to one system of justice in the United States of America. Let’s return to a place where every American has a stake in this country.

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