Speaker Mike Johnson Wants To “Supply protection to the Innocent” Epstein Victims, Nonetheless They Prefer More Data
Cyber investigation
Speaker of the Dwelling Mike Johnsonacknowledged on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that his riding motive within the support of no longer supporting the bipartisan push to repeat more recordsdata in regards to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein changed into once to “offer protection to the harmless” victims.
In an interview with the model’s host, Kristen Welker, Johnson acknowledged he wishes the open of all “credible proof.” On Tuesday, the Louisiana Republican presented he would ship lawmakers dwelling early for August recess, which many look as an are attempting to e book clear of votes on releasing the Epstein files.
“Our major subject though,” he continued, “is the protection of the harmless victims. These are minors in a lot of conditions who were subjected to unspeakable crimes, abject rude. They’ve already suffered tall damage, we enact no longer need their names being unmasked.”
Speaker of the Dwelling Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks for the length of a press conference at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on April 12, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida.
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But, these minors are if reality be told grown women, and a complete lot of alternative of them have acknowledged they wish more recordsdata released, have critiqued President Donald Trump and his administration’s going thru of the investigation, and if reality be told feel dragged along, in accordance with interviews with victims conducted by a couple of recordsdata retail outlets. Dwelling contributors from each and each sides of the political aisle have joined forces to craft guidelines to receive the files from the Department of Justice, which has additionally many cases held that recordsdata related to victims’ identities will seemingly be redacted. The DOJ and Trump’s own licensed educated popular, Pam Bondi, have additionally acknowledged that they thought to review and redact files “to offer protection to the identities of Epstein’s victims.”
Also on MTP Sunday morning were US representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. The pair have been touring recordsdata networks collectively to call for the open of the Epstein investigation.
Massie firmly rejected Johnson’s claim that releasing the files would damage victims, calling the argument a “straw man” that some are “hiding within the support of.” Khanna additionally brushed aside the argument, declaring that Brad Edwards, a licensed educated for over 200 of Epstein’s victims, has supported the open of more recordsdata in regards to the investigation.
“Ro and I fastidiously crafted this guidelines so as that the victims’ names will seemingly be redacted and that no microscopic one pornography will seemingly be released,” Massie acknowledged, adding, “they’re hiding within the support of that. We’re making an strive to receive justice for the victims and transparency for The united states. We’ve redacted things before. We don’t desire to injure the victims. We’re doing this for the victims.”
The differing solutions from Johnson and Massie in a single hour of MTP highlight the ongoing Republican infighting about when and the draw one can open recordsdata in regards to the Epstein investigation.
A lot of that infighting is centered on what is most efficient for the victims who were harmed by Epstein, his longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell, and the myriad of males who performed a characteristic in their network of abuse. Victims who have, a complete lot of cases over a complete lot of years, acknowledged how they if reality be told feel.
Correct earlier this month, four of Epstein’s victims spoke with NBC News, telling the network that “the Trump administration wishes to be exposing any necessary males who shared Epstein’s penchant for susceptible young women,” in accordance with reporting from Adam Reiss and Corky Siemaszko.
A person holds a mark with a describe of US Attorney Total Pam Bondi and featuring a quote in reference to the Epstein files for the length of a teach in Los Angeles, California on July 17, 2025.
PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images
Danielle Bensky, now 38, changed into once a budding ballerina when she acknowledged Epstein abused her two decades within the past. She told NBC that with “what’s going on now,” it seems like the victims are “being erased.”
Bensky acknowledged she felt a “wave of sadness” when Bondi, after claiming she had Epstein’s “list” on her desk in February, renowned in a DOJ memo, filed July 7, that they had no proof implicating folk in Epstein’s crimes and no proof that he had been killed.
“All those years of making an strive to form justice upright negated. It changed into once upright two pages asserting they were finished investigating and not utilizing a shrimp print about what passed off to all of us,” Bensky acknowledged. “It’s like we never existed.”
Teresa J. Helm, one more regarded as one of Epstein’s victims, acknowledged that Epstein’s continued appearance within the records has reignited the trauma, telling NBC in an e-mail that “trauma isn’t very a one-and-finished.”
“When a person’s abuser(s) are many cases flashed in glimpse at any given moment, and particularly when guarantees of justice, and guarantees of constructions of vitality at last being held to yarn,” she wrote, adding, “to then if reality be told have the door shut for your face and no longer originate for substitute — then what?”
Annie Farmer, one more regarded as one of Epstein’s accusers, told BBC News this week that she, too, wishes more recordsdata. Annie and her sister Maria made the earliest known experiences of abuse by Epstein to the NYPD and the FBI in 1996.
“It’s an emotional rollercoaster for the folk engaging,” Farmer acknowledged, noting that they had hoped “more recordsdata will seemingly be coming.”
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