00:00On this vote, the yeas are 427, the nays are 1, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
00:20For 43 long days, the Democrats held this House and the entire country hostage.
00:26Finally, with the lights back on, this body is returning to our regular legislative session.
00:30We have a lot of work to do.
00:32My colleagues on this side of the chamber are ready and eager to get back to our urgent legislative work that we promised the American people we would do.
00:40We've got to continue lowering the cost of health care.
00:42We've got to bring down prices for American families, and we've got to finish the regular appropriations process, just to name a few of those priorities.
00:49And I wish I could say that our first order of business would be to get to those urgent priorities,
00:53but, of course, we're here spending time on the floor about something else.
00:57This is something we could have resolved last week when we brought a unanimous consent to pass this discharge with the full support of the body.
01:05But our friends over here who are arguing today stalled that.
01:09They objected to it, and they wanted to have this exercise instead.
01:12And that's why we say that this is a show vote.
01:15That's what this is.
01:16They're making a show of it.
01:17And it really is a shame.
01:19We have some heroic women in the chamber today.
01:21I met with many of them a while back.
01:24They're in the gallery here.
01:25They have come forward.
01:27They have shown their faces.
01:28They've used their names to share the unspeakable tragedies that many of them were subjected to,
01:33some of them when they were very young.
01:35And it is a heroic service to the country.
01:37They are seeking justice, and the justice has been delayed for too long.
01:40The Department of Justice, many years ago, should have brought these charges.
01:45It took too long to do it.
01:46And now we're in this process of making sure all the American people get the information.
01:53But we have to do it in the right way, the right way.
01:56After four years of Democrat control under President Biden, they were not truthful with us about a lot of things.
02:01The Democrats insisted the border was secure.
02:03We knew it wasn't.
02:04They insisted that inflation was transitory.
02:07We knew it wouldn't be.
02:08They misled the American people about the obvious mental and physical decline of the previous commander-in-chief.
02:16And now those same Democrats are demanding transparency.
02:19Suddenly, transparency is their new word.
02:21Out of nowhere, they've taken a curious concern in the Epstein investigation, all in the name of that, in the name of transparency.
02:28But the question has been asked here many times during the debate on the floor, and everybody questioning why it is that Democrats have done this right now, have to look at the obvious facts.
02:40The Democrats had all the Epstein files in their possession for four long years under the Biden presidency.
02:46The Biden Department of Justice had these files, and no one on this side who is breathless today about the urgency of this release ever said a word about it.
02:54And it was the Democrats who could have urged President Biden's Department of Justice to go beyond prosecuting just Epstein and Jelaine Maxwell, but they didn't do it.
03:05And so it's a fair question to ask today, why now?
03:09Why the sudden, urgent interest in Jeffrey Epstein?
03:11Look, we know why.
03:14It's because the Democrats were never interested in transparency or executing justice or protecting the victims of this unspeakable tragedy before.
03:20The simple truth is obvious for everybody to see.
03:24This is a political exercise for Democrats, and it pains me to say it.
03:28I wish that was not the truth, but it is, and it's undeniable.
03:31This is as deceitful and dishonest as their pointless stunt was to shut the government down.
03:38Democrats are using the Epstein tragedy, the unspeakable evils that this guy committed with his trafficking ring
03:45and all of the abuses that they made these young women go through.
03:50They're using that as a political weapon to try to distract from their failures as a party
03:54and to try their best to try to tie President Trump somehow into this wretched scandal.
04:01The president had nothing to do with it.
04:02He's been very clear, and he has nothing to hide, and that's why he's endorsed the vote today.
04:06I suspect this vote will be probably unanimous.
04:09But here's the important point that everybody needs to understand.
04:12We have been advocates of maximum transparency, but we have also insisted that the victims be carefully protected.
04:19The Oversight Committee has been doing extraordinary work,
04:22and we've got some of the most vigorous advocates on the Republican and Democrat side on the Oversight Committee.
04:29They've been working in earnest to deliver transparency for the American people
04:32and to do it in a responsible manner.
04:34What do we mean by that?
04:36The bipartisan effort over there is already producing all the results that the discharge petition seeks
04:42and much, much more.
04:44Chairman Comer and all of these advocates over there have been releasing thousands of documents,
04:49for example, from the Epstein estate.
04:51By the way, in my view, that's been the greatest treasure trove of information
04:54because it's yielded for us Epstein's own personal flight logs, his financial records, his daily calendars, and so much more.
05:01But importantly, none of that was addressed or is addressed in the legislation that's being voted on today.
05:08The estate files wouldn't even have been encompassed in that.
05:11And so it goes to show that the Oversight Committee is doing it the right way.
05:14From the very beginning, we've been insistent that this matter be handled carefully
05:17and with the utmost caution and care for the people who have been harmed.
05:22They should not be made to suffer any longer.
05:25We're talking about real people's lives at stake here
05:28and young victims who don't want to be dragged into this political game that could get hurt further.
05:34But the Democrats are rushing the release of thousands of unsubstantiated documents
05:37that may be included in this that are going to be in the public domain with the passage of this bill.
05:42And there are serious deficiencies in the legislation that I have noted at length,
05:46and Republicans have to work to address those deficiencies in the Senate if and when this legislation is advanced.
05:53I stood before the American public today at our press conference,
05:56and I explained in detail the dangers of the discharge petition.
06:01We have posted at my website, speaker.gov, a summary.
06:04The legal counsel, a small army of lawyers, put this together.
06:08I used to be a federal court litigator.
06:09Many of my colleagues who have spoken today were.
06:11However, we understand the dangers of how this was haphazardly drawn up.
06:15And among them, by the way, Mr. Speaker, before I forget,
06:18I seek unanimous consent to enter this document into the record.
06:20It is that.
06:21It's on the website.
06:22It's entitled,
06:24How the Flaws of H.R. 4405 Could Re-Victimize Epstein's Victims,
06:28Create New Victims, and Damage the Judicial System.
06:31It is dated today.
06:34And it summarizes just five or six of the major concerns.
06:37Among them, it fails to fully protect victim privacy.
06:41It could create new categories of victims.
06:43It potentially jeopardizes grand jury secrecy.
06:46It fails to prohibit release of child sexual abuse materials
06:49that are not appropriately defined in the legislation.
06:52It jeopardizes future federal investigations,
06:55and we have national security concerns regarding classified information.
06:59We'll put this in the record because we need the legislative record to reflect
07:02what is the legislative intent behind this vote.
07:05I used to litigate cases.
07:06We would litigate federal statutes and whether or not they could survive,
07:10and legislative intent is important.
07:11And we need to say clearly for the record, as a Speaker of the House,
07:13I'm saying to you, this legislation that we'll pass today is flawed,
07:17and it must be amended.
07:18The question is, why didn't we amend it here before we passed it?
07:21Because the authors won't allow it.
07:23Because under the rules of the House, under a discharge petition,
07:24they have to agree to consent for the legislation to be amended,
07:28and they are not doing that.
07:29So now we rely upon our partners in the other chamber to get that done,
07:33and they need to do that.
07:34The victims deserve our utmost respect.
07:37In fact, they should be saluted for their courage.
07:39And the young women who have not come forward,
07:41who are now, some of them are middle-aged women,
07:42who have not come forward, also deserve our respect,
07:45and they deserve to be protected.
07:47Republicans support transparency.
07:49We want maximum transparency,
07:51especially when it comes to disclosing the names of anybody
07:53who had anything to do with these evils,
07:56anybody who conspired with or aided in any way Jeffrey Epstein.
08:01They must be brought to justice.
08:02We want the bill to be amended so it doesn't, at the same time,
08:06violate victim privacy, create new victims,
08:08disclose the names of any whistleblower or informant,
08:11cause the release of grand jury materials
08:13or child sexual abuse materials,
08:14or undermine our national security.
08:16And if and when the Senate takes this up,
08:18we will work with our colleagues over there
08:20to make sure that these things are corrected.
08:23I'll just close with this simple thought.
08:28We've been at this a while.
08:29It's drug on for a while, but it's time for this to come to light.
08:34We are, I expect that this will be a unanimous vote,
08:38and it will reflect what I think every member in this chamber,
08:41and I'll say this, now, at least in recent days,
08:45every member of the chamber on the Democrat side,
08:47they didn't say anything for four years,
08:48but they're for maximum transparency now,
08:49and so is this side.
08:51But we want to do it in a respectful and careful manner
08:54so that we don't subject innocent people to further harm.
08:58And that has been the whole thing.
09:00I told all my members today I'll be voting yes on this,
09:02and I suspect almost everyone will.
09:04We'll send it to the Senate, and we hope it's corrected.
09:06Thank you for the time, Mr. Speaker, and I'll yield back.
09:09I'll take the opportunity of the Speaker's presence
09:11to respond to some of the things that he said.
09:14In the very presence of the victims
09:16and the survivors who come to join us today,
09:19the Speaker said that now would be a time
09:21we should be working on urgent legislative work.
09:24Mr. Speaker, justice is urgent legislative work.
09:28The truth is urgent legislative work.
09:33The Speaker says, why now?
09:36Why now?
09:36Well, Mr. Speaker, you were the one
09:38who refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva for 50 days.
09:41We would have done it 50 days ago,
09:43but she provided the 218th signature
09:46on the discharge petition.
09:48So why now?
09:49It was because of your dilatory tactics,
09:52your delay, your postponement of it.
09:54Now, the gentleman says
09:58that there are not sufficient protections.
09:59There are protections in the bill for the victims
10:03to make sure that their names will be redacted.
10:05And yet we hear even the Speaker of the House of Representatives
10:08openly inviting the U.S. Senate
10:10to start finger-painting on this bill,
10:14which we have waited more than five months
10:16to bring to the floor.
10:18The Senate should pass the bill exactly as it's written.
10:21The President should sign it exactly as he said he would
10:24when he finally changed his mind.
10:26And the Epstein file must be released.
10:29Moreover, if the President is serious
10:31about what he's saying,
10:32he's got the power to release the Epstein file right now.
10:37Nobody's stopping him.
10:38It's within his possession.
10:40It's within his control.
10:41He can release the whole thing,
10:43and he can redact the names of the victims
10:46and others who are innocent in this process.
10:52Mr. Speaker,
10:53Speaker Johnson said
10:58that these are unspeakable evils.
11:01Well, because of the bravery
11:03and the invincible courage
11:05of the women who've joined us today,
11:07they're no longer unspeakable.
11:10They're spoken.
11:11They're articulated.
11:13The cat is out of the bag,
11:14and we know what's been going on for decades.
11:17It's been a double standard of justice.
11:19Going all the way back to Alex Acosta,
11:22who later got rewarded with a Cabinet appointment
11:24in the Trump administration,
11:26Alex Acosta had a 60-count federal indictment
11:30ready to go
11:32against all kinds of people
11:34for an interstate sex trafficking conspiracy
11:37with solicitation,
11:39with child sex abuse,
11:41all of it.
11:41And he traded that 60-count federal indictment
11:44for one count in state court.
11:48And Jeffrey Epstein ended up getting
11:50the sweetest of sweetheart deals
11:52ever on the plea bargain front.
11:54He was free from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
11:58to do whatever he wanted
11:59and continuing to perpetrate his crimes
12:02and run his conspiracy.
12:04And then he would come,
12:05and he would watch TV
12:06and spend the night in jail.
12:08And it was over in about a year
12:09after the rape and sexual abuse
12:12of hundreds and hundreds of girls,
12:15and he kept going.
12:16And he kept at it.
12:17We want the whole truth to come out.
12:20This is the United States of America.
12:22America, even the British monarchy
12:24wouldn't put up with this.
12:26How about the American democracy?
12:28How about we say,
12:29no way, we're not going to allow this cover-up
12:32to go on for one day more?
12:34And I'm glad the president changed his mind
12:36after pulling out all the stops
12:39to try to get
12:40one of our Republican colleagues
12:43to change their mind,
12:44to remove their name
12:46from the discharge petition.
12:48He gave up.
12:50And I want to salute
12:51the gentlelady from Colorado
12:52from having the courage
12:54to stand her ground
12:55in the Situation Room
12:56in the White House
12:57and say,
12:58no, she wasn't going to be bullied.
13:00No.
13:00So,
13:01I'm glad the president changed his mind.
13:05But let's be clear,
13:06Mr. President,
13:07you've got the power today
13:09to release the entire file.
13:11That's what you called for.
13:12That's what Pam Bondi called for.
13:14That's what Kash Patel called for.
13:17So, we don't need anybody
13:18calling for the Senate
13:19to slow things down
13:21for more weeks and more months.
13:23The American people have had it.
13:24We'll reserve.
13:26Gentlemen reserves.
13:27Gentlemen is reminded
13:28to direct your comments
13:29to the chair
13:30and not your colleagues.
13:31Gentlemen from...
13:41We'll be right back now.
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