Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna will call out Vice President JD Vance over his silence on the botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case when he heads to the vice president’s home state.
The California lawmaker will appear at the Democratic Mayors Association summit in Cleveland on Friday as the House starts its six-week recess after GOP leaders scrambled to leave Washington amid pressure to release the files.
Khanna has been among the Democrats leading the crusade against the Trump administration’s handling of the case by teaming up with GOP Rep. Thomas Massie on a resolution to force the release of documents, but Republican House leadership refused to hold a vote before skipping town.
At the summit in Ohio, Khanna will highlight how the vice president was, up until just recently, a vocal supporter of releasing the Epstein files, but has been largely mute as the case has plagued his boss, President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department.
“You may have forgotten what you said, but folks back in Ohio remember. Let me refresh your recollection. On Sept. 4, 2021, while running for Senate, you said: ‘Remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in a jail? And now we just don’t talk about it?’” Khanna will say, according to prepared remarks provided to Politico. “Now, your silence has been pretty deafening.”
Khanna will also point out that podcaster Theo Von even called the vice president out over his absences from the uproar to release the files.
“Our mutual friend Theo Von has called on you to live up to what you told him and demand the release,” Khanna will say. “So Mr. Vice President, are you going to be true to your word and support Rep. Massie and my bipartisan bill to release these files?”
Last week, Von called out Vance, writing “yeah what changed?” while reposting a clip from his October interview with the then-vice presidential candidate, in which Vance mentions the Epstein list.
“Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing,” Vance said on Von’s podcast during their taping at the height of the 2024 campaign.
Von also tagged Vance last week over the House Republicans refusing to hold a vote on Khanna and Massie’s Epstein resolution: “Why cant we put the @RoKhanna @RepThomasMassie bill for a vote this week @SpeakerJohnson @JDVance??”
Vance has been fiercely defending the president, the Justice Department, and attacking the media amid backlash over the Trump administration’s handling of the files. What he has not been doing is questioning how the Justice Department could suddenly claim there is no Epstein client list, which is what they claimed in a recent memo, while indicating there would be no further prosecutions.
Khanna, whose name has been floated as a potential Democratic 2028 candidate, has been upping the pressure on Republicans to hold a vote on his resolution, which has seen growing bipartisan support.
