The following is the transcript of the interview with Reps. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Dec. 21, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are joined now by two House members who pushed their colleagues into passing the bill to release these documents. Republican Thomas Massie, who is in Garrison, Kentucky, and Democrat Ro Khanna, who joins us this morning from Palo Alto, California. It's good to have both of you here. I want to start with you, Congressman Massie, because in these past 48 hours, we have seen the Justice Department acknowledge it's an incomplete release, but they have put out more than 13,000 files. They say more will come. This isn't everything you asked for just yet, but would you acknowledge that they are complying with this spirit, if not the intent of your law?
REP. THOMAS MASSIE: No, they're flouting the spirit and the letter of the law. It's very troubling the posture that they've taken. And I won't be satisfied until the survivors are satisfied. You know, I said in the hours leading up to this release that we will know if they are complying, if they implicate any of the other criminals that are involved and the suspects that are involved. The witnesses this- the victims themselves, have given to the FBI, and they've never been mentioned.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, there are some disclosures in here that seem new. Congressman Khanna. The documents confirm that the FBI received a complaint about Jeffrey Epstein back in 1996 but the woman, whose name is Maria Farmer who made that complaint, said federal officials failed to follow up. She said the disclosure makes her feel redeemed, and that this was one of the best days of her life to see these documents made public. What action do you want taken around a case like this?
REP. RO KHANNA: That was the single most important disclosure of what we got. I know Maria's sister. She sounded the alarm in 1996, she complained to the FBI. The problem is that Epstein was so connected with law enforcement and powerful politicians, the FBI did nothing for a decade. Frankly, she deserves compensation. She deserves an explanation, but the broader point is, Blanche was on this morning saying that Massie and I have a problem, that it's taking too long. That's not the problem. The problem is, this was a slap in the face of survivors. What do they want? They want to know who are the rich and powerful men who visited Epstein's rape island and covered up the abuse and the key documents that our law basically said needed to be released. The 60-count indictment that actually implicates a lot of these people and the prosecution memo were not released. It's not about the timeline, it's about the selective concealment.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, yet. Right? The Deputy Attorney General said there are more disclosures that will be made. You believe that they will not release that particular part? You did give them some leeway for redactions.
REP. KHANNA: Well, first of all, the redactions were excessive. And even Harvard Law professors who have looked at that have said, you can't redact internal communications, you can't redact workforce product, and the courts are going to find that these were excessive. But my point, and I'm sure Congressman Massie can elaborate, is that we want the files out. So if our sounding the alarm on what is missing is going to help them get those files out, fine. But this shouldn't be a big document dump. There's a pretty simple point, who raped these young girls who covered it up, and why are they getting away with it?
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you're saying specific things regarding the indictment. Congressman Massie, I saw in a video that you posted, you had a very specific benchmark of success here. You said, you know there are at least 20 men accused of sex crimes known to the FBI. How do you know that number? And do you know those names?
REP. MASSIE: Yeah, the survivors' lawyers have told me those numbers, and they've described their professions and in general, but they've only given me one of those names, and I mentioned that in a congressional hearing, Jess Staley. So I searched these documents, I didn't see Jess Staley's name, nor did I see 19 other names. And here's why we shouldn't be optimistic that Blanche or Bondi are going to release these things. They sent a six page memo to Congress and said- they cited pre-existing laws as reasons that they weren't going to follow our law. For instance, our law requires them to release information regardless of embarrassment, but they are trying to say that a previous law prevails when it doesn't. Common sense says it doesn't, the Privacy Act doesn't protect them from that. And then also, as Ro said, internal communications those they're using a FOIA standard that doesn't apply because our law already says they have to give us internal communications
MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of the gentleman there you referenced as accused. I mean being in the document doesn't necessarily prove criminal behavior right? In terms of the redactions, what the Deputy Attorney General said is that they were abiding by your law, and also a judge in New York had ordered them to listen to victims. So they're claiming that information that they had initially even published Friday they had to pull down because they were trying to protect victims. You aren't- you don't sound convinced that they are abiding by, you know, this intent?
REP. MASSIE: No, they are not abiding. And all three judges who released the grand jury material said that our law trumps the prior law. That's just common sense. Law school 101. Yet Todd Blanche is using a different theory that wouldn't survive first contact with any court, which is he's trying to say that prior laws override our law. That's not the way this works.
MARGARET BRENNAN : Okay, what are you going to do about it, to force them to comply? I mean, can you do anything?
REP. MASSIE: Oh, absolutely. Look, people have talked about- and by the way, Todd Blanche is the face of this, but it's really the Attorney General's Office, Pam Bondi, who is responsible. And there are several ways to get at this. Some take longer. Some are shorter. The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi, and that doesn't require going through the courts and give her and, and- basically Ro Khanna and I are talking about and drafting that right now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, well, I mean, on another network this morning, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said, impeachment or contempt, it is premature, Congressman Khanna. And the Deputy Attorney General said, "bring it on." They don't seem to be taking this very seriously. And if you just don't have the math in the Senate, including, at least now this Democratic senator not being convinced, doesn't that sort of show that you're at the limit of pressure?
REP. KHANNA: No, we only need the House for inherent contempt, and we're building a bipartisan coalition, and it would fine Pam Bondi for every day that she's not releasing these documents. I'll tell you why, I've talked to the survivors, why this is such a slap in the face. One of the survivors said they released her name accidentally, but they still have not released the FBI file about the people who abused her at her request. And the problem here is that there are rich and powerful people. We all know this. There are 1,200 victims. They're rich and powerful people who either engaged in this abuse, covered it up or were on this island. And what the American people want to know is, who are these people? And instead of holding them accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the law. And this is the corrupt system, the Epstein class that people are sick of. So I believe we're going to get bipartisan support in holding her accountable, and a committee of Congress should determine whether these redactions are justified or not.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sometime in January, when you all come back. I assume that- that will happen. I want to ask you though Congressman Khanna, there have been images released in the past 48 hours. Some of them include former President Bill Clinton. There's at least one image of Donald Trump. I should say neither man has been accused of any wrong doing related to Epstein, though they clearly knew him. But since Friday's publication, we're showing the image here now. One of the pictures was pulled down. There were 15 images total that were then redacted from the DOJ website. And it's- it's kind of hard to see, but it's an open drawer with a photo of President Trump. Why do you think that was pulled down? Because the Deputy Attorney General says this was victims saying that their privacy or somehow their integrity was being compromised by having that image published.
REP. KHANNA: Well, I'm less concerned about that photo. I don't know the facts. My concern is the major documents that we know are out there that haven't been released, the 60-count indictment that shows massive financial fraud and foreign interference, the prosecution memo and look--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Foreign interference?--
REP. KHANNA: --They put out these Bill Clinton pictures- Well, they- there are allegations that there are foreign governments that potentially were involved. And that all needs to come out. And it needs to come out in the indictments, it needs to come out in the prosecution memos. But the reality is, they put out these pictures for Bill Clinton. Fine, put it all out. But don't distract from the fundamental issue, which is, who are these powerful people who were visited rape- the rape island? I mean, they're 1200 victims. It defies common sense that it was just Epstein and- and Maxwell, and they're hiding something. And you know why the American people are so upset? My X account had MAGA supporters supporting me for the first time, saying, you know, Pam Bondi whiffed, according to Susan Wiles, she is breaking the law. She needs to be held accountable.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You're referring to the Vanity Fair quote that the chief of staff gave, saying the "whiffed," and she said that Pam Bondi gave them "binders full of nothingness." And then when it came to the client list, she said it was on her desk. "There is no client list," quote "and it sure as hell wasn't on her desk." Do you see that as an acknowledgement here, though, that, that the politics have overtaken the substance?
REP. KHANNA: No, for us, it's about the survivors. And if you look at Thomas Massie and my comments, the morning of the release, we were giving t- Blanche the benefit of the doubt. We said, if it's not all there, fine, just get the information out. It's when the survivors said that this is an insult, this is a slap in their face that we aren't getting the truth about who these men were on the - on rape island, that we started sounding the alarm. And this is more documents of nothingness. And I guess the question the American people have even to me, is, is the system so corrupt, is the system so corrupt that Thomas Massie and you defy the odds, pass a bill through a discharge petition, get the Senate, get the president to sign it, and still, these rich and powerful people are being protected. Who has this kind of hold on our government? What are they hiding? Why are they not releasing this?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you want what people involved in those initial investigations down in Florida, re-examined and possibly prosecuted?
REP. KHANNA: I want the information out which was in that prosecution memo that Acosta disregarded, that were in those indictments, that there were 60 counts against Epstein, only two counts were prosecuted. I want to know who were these other people who were on the Epstein's rape island, who were the people who saw young girls being paraded around at parties, 13,14,15 year olds, and didn't say anything. And why- why is it so hard when there's a law requiring these names to come out? What we're seeing is survivors' names come out, but not the men who abuse them. And instead of, instead of holding elites accountable, Pam Bondi is breaking the law.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will see when you gentlemen come back to work sometime in January, what your next measures are. It sounds like you've made it clear you're moving action against the Attorney General. Thank you both for your reaction today, Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.
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