Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Epstein Files Transparency Act II Moves Forward in the House (9/21/26)

Transcript

Epstein Files Transparency Act II Moves Forward in the House (9/21/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. According to Thomas Massey and Ro Khanna, they
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: have enough votes for the second part of the Epstein
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: File Transparency Act to become live. Now, if they can
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: get it over the finish line, that's going to be
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: quite the accomplishment. Because with this second iteration of it,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: there are actually some teeth and some enforcement mechanisms that
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: are baked in. And that was the biggest problem with
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the Epstein File Transparency Act. And if you recall, that's
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest issues that I had. Because you
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: can have all the laws in the world, but if
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: there's no enforcement mechanism to back those laws up, then
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: all you have is a bunch of words on paper.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: And we see that play out time and time again
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the Epstein files as they are.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Because people feel like there's not going to be any
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: enforcement for their bullshit. So they're just going to do
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: whatever they want to do, say what they want to say,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and blow off the whole entire investigation as much as
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: they can. But if there was actual teeth and an
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: enforcement mechanism built in, they'd be a lot less willing
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to take the chance. So let's see if they can
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: get this done and get it over the finish line.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Today we have an article from MSNow.com and the headline,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Members go around Speaker Johnson again advance Epstein Files Transparency
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Act sequel. This article was authored by Steve Bannon. When
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the Epstein Files Transparency Act became law last fall, it
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: jolted the political world, in part because of the seriousness
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: of the underlying scandal, and in part because of the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: way in which it cleared Congress. When Republican leaders refused
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: to bring the measure to the House floor for a vote,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Proponents went around House Speaker Mike Johnson by using a
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: discharge petition. As they should have. The GOP has no
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: business standing in the way of this. Now they're apparently
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: doing it again, the Washington Sun reported. Representative Thomas Massey
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and Ro Khanna announced Thursday that they have amassed enough
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: signatures to bring a vote on a second bill to
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: force the release of files related to the disgraced financier
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And I have to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: tell you, I didn't think they'd be able to get
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: over the hum. I figured with what happened with Marjorie
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Taylor Greene and Thomas Massey would be enough to scare
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: a lot of these Republicans off, but I guess not.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Four Republicans, including Massey, Kentucky Representative Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: both of South Carolina, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, have
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: agreed to sign on to the discharge petition for a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: measure dubbed the Epstein File Transparency Act 2, joining every Democrat,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Massey said, in a social media post. And people can,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: you know, break Nancy Mace's chops all they want. And
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I find her kind of cringy too, I'm not going
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to lie to you. But at least she's been down
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: to sign these petitions. At least she's been down to
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: move this forward. And for that, I certainly got to
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: give her credit. It's not easy to go against the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: home team, right? You know, especially if you're a politician
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: and you're counting on support from the base when you
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: go against the base, it can be difficult. So anytime
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a politician does that and they stand on their morals,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I give them credit. Khanna, a California Democrat, boasted via
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: social media, Thomas Massey and I have defied history a
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: second time, securing commitments for 218 signatures on Epstein 2.0.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: It's worth emphasizing that, as a technical matter, the discharge
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: petition currently has 216 signatures, too short of its goal.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: That said, Khanna also explained that two Democratic House members
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: were out sick as the chamber wrapped up its pre-election
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: work earlier this week, and that both will sign the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: discharge petition the day the House gets back to work
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: in the fall, pushing the total to 218. Must be
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: nice to get days off of work. Imagine having a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: cold and getting the day off. Now, I'm sure some
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: of you have that ability. But man, try that shit
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: working as a frontline employee. A substantive matter, the Epstein
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Files Transparency Act 2 is intended to build on its predecessor.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: The Sun's report explained the new bill gives victims, lawmakers,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and states the power to sue the Justice Department for
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: unlawfully concealing Epstein-related files. And that is huge. Because that's
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: what they're doing. And it's not like I'm asking for
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the files, right? You have the state of fucking New
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Mexico trying to get these files, and they're telling them
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to pound sand. And never mind trying to get them
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: if you're a foreign entity. See what they're doing to
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the UK? To Latvia? To all these other countries that
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: are trying to get these files? It's gross, and it
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: shouldn't matter what your politics are. Anyone should be able
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to see that this shit right here is unacceptable. Thursday's
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: announcement suggested the post-election lame duck session is likely to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: be a doozy. Between this and the vote on Defense
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Secretary Pete Hague's impeachment, Capitol Hill watchers won't be bored
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: around Thanksgiving. And until then, it's worth appreciating just how
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: extraordinary the recent record has been on discharge petitions. A
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: few months ago, Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: in an online written statement, If the House floor was
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: managed properly, discharge petitions would never be needed. A successful
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: discharge petition is clear and direct evidence of a poorly
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: managed House floor because it demonstrates the will of the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: majority of the people is being thwarted by the privileged few.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And that's a fact. There should never be a situation
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: where a discharge petition has to be used to get
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: something to a vote that's as extraordinarily disgusting as this.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: But when you're dealing with with the power players that
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: we're dealing with, and the people that want to keep
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: this under wraps, this is the end result. And all
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: these politicians, believe me when I tell you, they're not
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: dancing to your tune. They don't give a shit about you,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: unless it's election cycle. Besides that, they don't care. They
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: care what the bankers think. They care what people like
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Epstein think. Fitzpatrick didn't mention Johnson by name, but under
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the circumstances, he didn't have to. It might not be
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: immediately obvious just how embarrassing these latest developments are for
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the Louisiana Republican and his leadership team. In the past
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: century or so, a successful discharge petition has been very rare.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: And the reason's simple. Such petitions have long been seen
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: as a slap in the face of a sitting house speaker. Well, look,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: when the sitting house speaker slaps the electorate in the
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: face on a regular basis with their refusal to act,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: then it's time for other people to step up. And
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: if Mike Johnson can't do the job if he's incapable
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: of doing it, time for somebody else to step in.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: As New York Magazine's Ed Kilgore recently explained, indeed prior
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: to Johnson's extent to the speakership, only two 21st century
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: discharge petitions achieved the 218 signatures needed to trigger a
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: floor vote. And that's a fact. And think about how
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: extraordinary that is. And think about the measures that had
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to be taken to pry this information from the government.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: but sure, the most transparent administration of all time. This
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: roughly once per decade average has undergone a dramatic revision
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: under the incumbent Speaker tenure. In the last Congress, which
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: ended in early January 2025, there were two successful discharge petitions,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: which was itself a significant total. Meanwhile, in the current Congress,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: which is far from over, there have been eight successful
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: discharge petitions, which has literally never happened before. The first
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: came in March of 2025, and it dealt with proxy
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: voting for new parents serving in Congress. In November of 2025,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: another discharge petition advanced the original Epstein-Files Transparency Act. And
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: five days later, a measure to repeal an executive order
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that gutted federal workers' union rights also received 218 votes.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: So in other words, Mike Johnson sucks at his job.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. The list grew
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: longer as discharge petitions related to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: providing temporary protected status for Haitian migrants, extending aid to Ukraine,
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and the faster labor contracts act all across the necessary threshold.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Now the sequel to the Epstein Files Transparency Act is
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: joining the club. And obviously for me, this is the
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: most consequential of them all. And I think that if
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: it has the kind of enforcement that we hope, we
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: might finally get a little bit of movement. Usually members
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: embarrass Johnson by ignoring his wishes and voting against legislation
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: he has urged them to support. But this unprecedented flurry
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: of successful discharge petitions makes the House Speaker appear even
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: more diminished. Kilgore's recent piece added, signs of weakness invite
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: further revolts by House members who fear voters more than
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: this mild-mannered former backbencher from Louisiana, whose authority is totally
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: dependant On Trump's backing, well, that's a fact too. Mike
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Johnson is nothing more than a mouthpiece for Donald Trump.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: And his whole entire goal was to manage the Epstein
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: files and the Epstein explosion, not bring justice, not dig deeper.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: And of course, those plans were thrown into chaos when
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the discharge petition got going. And of course, that's a
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: gigantic slap in the face to Donald Trump and to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Mike Johnson. whose authority is totally dependent on Trump's backing,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: which can be erratic during times when the president is
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: distracted by non-legislative matters like ending wars and naming things
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: after himself. Politicians like our dogs can smell fear and irresolution.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: It's tempting to wonder when members might try to circumvent
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Johnson yet again, but if Democrats take back the majority
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: after this year's midterm elections, the Speaker will lose his gavel,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: at which point he'll have to deal with an entirely
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: different kind of embarrassment. And look, I think that there's
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: quite a good possibility that the Republicans lose the House.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: And depending on what happens in a few key races
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: with the Senate, they might flip the Senate too. And
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: now that we're getting down to it, We're going to
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: start talking about those elections a little bit more. Not
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: from the perspective of this team or that team, but
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: from the perspective of what's going on in the race,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: where things are heading, and where things might go. Because
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: all of that is very important to the future of
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: what happens with Epstein. So we're going to be following
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: along closely with these races and who ends up winning
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: the House and the Senate. Because that's going to really
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: tell the story moving forward as far as transparency goes.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: When it comes to Jeffrey Epstein. So you can certainly
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: expect at least one episode a week moving forward. Talking
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: about some of these more competitive races. And where they
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: might end up. And how that might affect the Jeffrey
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Epstein story overall. But until then that's going to do
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: it for this one. All the information that goes with
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box.