00:00And they compelled the rest of this body to do the right thing after resisting for so long.
00:08So that gets us to where we are now in the Epstein files.
00:12Ro Khanna, Teresa Ledger-Fernandez, and I wrote another bill.
00:17And what it does is simple.
00:19It says, Mr. Attorney General, if you refuse to prosecute the co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein,
00:27the rapists and the pedophiles, the ones who financed it, the ones who covered it up,
00:33if you refuse to do it at Epstein Island or in New York or Florida or in New Mexico,
00:39this bill is going to give the files to the state attorneys general in the various states
00:47so that they can prosecute these crimes.
00:49And I've talked to the attorney general of New Mexico.
00:52Guess what? There are crimes that occurred at Zorro Ranch for which there is no statute of limitations.
00:58We can still bring these pedophiles to justice.
01:03He's ready to do it.
01:05But the attorney general of this country will not cooperate with the attorney general of that state.
01:10So the Epstein Files Transparency Act bill, number two, would make that happen,
01:16would allow for that to happen.
01:18It does something else that's important.
01:19The survivors need closure.
01:22This attorney general will not share those files with the survivors.
01:27The files that were generated on their behalf.
01:31The brave ones.
01:32There are many.
01:32We call them survivors because some are no longer alive.
01:37I'm talking about the victims who are still alive,
01:39who survived the trauma and the shame.
01:44And we're subjected to horrible things by these men.
01:49The brave women.
01:51We're giving them standing in court to get their own damn files that they can't get now.
02:01Some of them, it was so traumatic, can't even remember what they told the FBI at the time.
02:07That's important.
02:09We also give standing to members of this body.
02:11Who would not want to make the legislative branch just a little more capable
02:18of getting its laws carried out in the way that they were meant to be carried out?
02:23It gives members of Congress standing to go in front of a judge
02:26and test the executive branch's flawed, legal reasoning for withholding three million files.
02:36And why do we want to do that?
02:39Because their reasoning is such a joke
02:42that in front of any judge for more than a minute,
02:46their arguments could not be sustained.
02:50Let me give you an example.
02:51The Epstein Files Transparency Act, the first version,
02:54that this fully participating member of Congress
02:58ushered through this body and through the Senate
03:00and got the White House to sign it against their will,
03:05the first bill says that the DOJ has to give us and the public
03:11internal memos, documents, and emails
03:14concerning decisions of whether to prosecute or not prosecute,
03:17whether to investigate or not investigate.
03:20That's at the heart of this issue.
03:22Why did our government fail us?
03:24Who was it at DOJ or FBI that decided to create two tiers of justice?
03:29We want to see those internal discussions.
03:32So what does the Attorney General argue now?
03:34Oh, I'm sorry.
03:36We are going to exert or exercise our deliberative process privilege.
03:42Well, here's the problem.
03:44That's a FOIA term of art, Freedom of Information Act term of art.
03:47It does not apply to a law that was passed by both chambers
03:51and signed by the president.
03:52And even if it did, the law itself pierces through the previous law.
03:59And that's what any judge in this country,
04:01if they looked at it on the facts, would agree to.
04:04New laws override the old laws.
04:09I'm not an attorney, but as a fully participating member of Congress,
04:14I do serve on the Judiciary Committee.
04:17And I know the simple concept that a new law overrides the old law.
04:22And the judges know that too.
04:23So that's why this next bill is so important.
04:26And that gets me to why we're going to take these...
04:29At first, it was, we're just going to cancel two weeks off the calendar.
04:35And then, and we know why that happened.
04:38We know why that happened.
04:40It's to keep the Epstein Files Transparency Act
04:42from getting the 218 votes on the discharge petition,
04:48ripening over seven days, and passing before the election,
04:52thereby making the Senate be accountable
04:55in the weeks leading up to the election.
04:57Oh my gosh, we can't have that.
04:59We can't have senators called to task
05:02at the, while they're stumping and spreading their campaign promises.
05:07Oh no, we can't put them on the spot like that
05:09and ask them if they're going to vote
05:11for transparency and justice for the survivors.
05:14That's why they cut two weeks off the calendar.
05:17Isn't that ironic I was called
05:19not a fully participating member of Congress?
05:22I'm the one who most wants to be here those two weeks.
05:26And they got canceled.
05:27And I said they would probably cancel them.
05:30And we were told, oh no, that's a ludicrous idea.
05:34Let me tell you how stupid Thomas Massey's comment is.
05:38Those were the words of the speaker.
05:3948 hours later, what did he do?
05:42Exactly what I predicted.
05:44He cut two weeks off of this calendar.
05:47So why did he just cut another day off the calendar?
05:51He had some more choice words for me
05:54because I predicted this as well.
05:57On Tuesday, as a fully participating member of Congress,
06:02I introduced eight articles of impeachment
06:06against Peter Brian Hegseth.
06:11Over there, they're leading a little fantasy.
06:13They call it the Department of War.
06:15You know, you can't rename things without Congress.
06:18Hell, you can't even rename a post office without us.
06:21You think you can rename the Department of Defense,
06:24the Department of War?
06:25Give me a break.
06:26But enjoy your little fantasy.
06:27It's the Department of Defense.
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