Jeffries blasts Trump, Johnson over Epstein files: 'Pedophile protection program'

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday went after President Trump and Republican leaders over the Jeffrey Epstein case, saying their refusal to press for the release of the government files on the convicted child sex offender is tantamount to protecting pedophiles.

Jeffries pointed specifically to Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision not to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D) as evidence of his charge. Grijalva won a special election in Arizona on Sept. 23 and is vowing to be the deciding signature on a discharge petition that would force the Justice Department to release the undisclosed Epstein documents — whenever she’s sworn in.

“The Trump administration and Mike Johnson are running a pedophile protection program,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. “That’s what they’ve been doing, and that’s the reason why they refuse to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, for weeks now.”

(snip)

“She was elected in late September, decisively,” Jeffries said Monday. “And Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva still hasn’t been sworn in, because she’ll become the 218th vote on an up-or-down piece of legislation that will require the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.”

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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5587043-jeffries-trump-johnson-epstein-files/