Congressman Cohen Signs Petition to Require Release of Epstein Files

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) on Tuesday evening spoke from the House floor and then signed the bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the federal government’s records of its investigations of allegations that financier and former Trump best friend Jeffrey Epstein engaged in sexual abuse of under-aged girls. 

Republican Congressmen Thomas Massey of Kentucky and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California introduced the measure Tuesday afternoon as Congress reconvened after its August recess. If the petition receives 218 signatures from members, a floor vote will be called despite Republican leadership’s efforts to derail it. As of Wednesday evening, 206 lawmakers had signed the petition.

In his floor speech, Congressman Cohen said in part:

“They need to be released because the American public wants to see them and the fact that so many people in power don’t want them released says there’s something there that smells…We need to be open and transparent and, if there are perverts among the leadership, they need to be exposed. The American people…will not respect anybody that engaged in that kind of conduct. So I’m going to sign the petition. I hope everybody signs the petition and we get an unredacted copy of the files.”

See Congressman Cohen’s entire floor remarks here.

# # #