Mike Johnson (8:50)
Democrats are using the Epstein tragedy, the unspeakable evils that this guy committed with his trafficking ring and all of the abuses that they. That they made these young women go through. They're using that as a political weapon to try to distract from their failures as a party and to try their best to try to tie President Trump somehow into this wretched scandal. The president had nothing to do with it. He's been very clear and he has nothing to hide, and that's why he's endorsed the vote today. I suspect this vote will be probably unanimous. But here's the important point that everybody needs to understand. We have been advocates of maximum transparency, but we have also insisted that the victims be carefully protected. The Oversight Committee has been doing extraordinary work, and we've got some of the most vigorous advocates on the Republican and Democrat side on the Oversight Committee. They've been working in earnest to deliver transparency for the American people and to do it in a responsible manner. What do we mean by that? The bipartisan effort over there is already producing all the results that the discharge petition seeks and much, much more. Chairman Comer and all of these advocates over there have been releasing thousands of documents, for example, from the Epstein estate. By the way, in my view, that's been the greatest treasure trove of information because it's yielded for us Epstein's own personal flight logs, his financial records, his daily calendars, and so much more. But importantly, none of that was addressed or is addressed in the legislation that's being voted on today. The estate files wouldn't even have been encompassed in that. And so it goes to show that the Oversight Committee is doing it the right way. From the very beginning, we've been insistent that this matter be handled carefully and with the utmost caution and care for the people who have been harmed. They should not be made to suffer any longer. We're talking about real people's lives at stake here and young victims who don't want to be dragged into this political game that could get hurt further. But the Democrats are rushing the release of thousands of unsubstantiated documents that may be included in this, that are going to be in the public domain with the passage of this bill. And there are serious deficiencies in the legislation that I have noted at length. And Republicans have to work to address those deficiencies in the Senate if and when this legislation is advanced. I stood before the American public today at our press conference and I explained in detail the dangers of the discharge petition. We have posted at my website, speaker.gov, a summary. The legal counsel, a small army of lawyers, put this together. I used to be a federal court litigator. Many of my colleagues who've spoken today were. We understand the dangers of how this was haphazardly drawn up. And among them, by the way, Mr. Speaker, before I forget, I seek unanimous consent to enter into this document, into the record it is that. It's on the website. It's entitled how the flaws of HR4405 could re victimize Epstein's Victims, Create New Victims and Damage the Judicial System. It is dated today. Thank you. And it summarizes just five or six of the major concerns. Among them, it fails to fully protect victim privacy. It could create new categories of victims. It potentially jeopardizes grand jury secrecy. It fails to prohibit release of child sexual abuse materials that are not appropriately defined in the legislation. It jeopardizes future federal investigations. And we have national security concerns regarding classified information. We'll put this in the record because we need the legislative record to reflect what is the legislative intent behind this vote? I used to litigate cases. We would litigate federal statutes and whether or not they could survive. And legislative intent is important. And we need to say clearly, for the record, as a speaker of House, I'm saying to you, this legislation that we'll pass today is flawed and it must be amended. The question is, why didn't we amend it here before we passed it? Because the authors won't allow it. Because under the rules of the House, under a discharge petition, they have to agree to consent for the legislation to be amended. And they are not doing that. So now we rely upon our partners in the other chamber to get that done. And they need to do that. The victims deserve our utmost respect. In fact, they should be saluted for their courage. And the young women who have not come forward, who are now, some of them are middle aged women who have not come forward, also deserve our respect and they deserve to be protected. Republicans support transparency. We want maximum transparency, especially when it comes to disclosing the names of anybody who had anything to do with these evils. Anybody who conspired with or aided in any way, Jeffrey Epstein, they must be brought to justice. We want the bill to be amended so it doesn't at the same time violate victim privacy, create new victims, disclose the names of any whistleblower or informant, cause the release of grand jury materials or child sexual abuse materials, or undermine our national security. And if and when the Senate takes this up, we will work with our colleagues over there to make sure that these things are corrected. I'll just close with this simple thought. We've been at this a while. It struck on for a while. But it's time for this to come to light. I expect that this will be a unanimous vote and it will reflect what I think every member in this chamber, and I'll say this now, at least in recent days, every member of the chamber on the Democrat side, they didn't say anything for four years. But they're for maximum transparency now, and so is this side. But we want to do it in a respectful and careful manner so that we don't subject innocent people to further harm. And that has been the whole thing. I told all my members today I'll be voting yes on this, and I suspect almost everyone will. We'll send it to the Senate. We hope it's corrected. Thank you for the time, speaker, and I yield back.
