Hakeem Jeffries Outright Accuses House Republicans of Working To ‘Cover Up for the Pedophiles’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) claimed that congressional Republicans are covering up for “pedophiles” by continuing to block a measure seeking to force the release of government files relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
The House of Representatives is currently one vote short of the 218 votes needed to force a vote regarding the Department of Justice’s files on the deceased child sex trafficker who had been friends with President Donald Trump.
The deciding vote could be cast by Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who won a special election in Arizona’s seventh congressional district last month. However, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is refusing to swear her into office. Johnson claims the delay is because the House is only in a pro forma session and that “there is nothing for the House to do” amid the ongoing government shutdown.
The Trump administration initially indicated it would release the Epstein files, but backtracked amid reporting that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump that his name is in the files.
Jeffries appeared on Wednesday’s edition of The Briefing on MSNBC, where Jen Psaki asked Jeffries about Johnson’s explanation for the holdup.
“We all know she’s the 218th vote for the discharge petition,” Psaki said of Grijalva. “I assume you do not buy that at all.”
Jeffries replied:
We don’t buy it at all. And we all know this is about the Epstein files and the fact that Republicans on The Hill for months have been doing Donald Trump’s bidding and trying to hide these Epstein files from the American people, notwithstanding the fact that the victims have called for full transparency so there can be accountability. And we fully support these brave victims.
And Mike Johnson and this group continue to cover up for the pedophiles. That’s crazy. And as you pointed out, Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva was going to be a great member succeeding her legendary dad in the Congress, a progressive champion. She’s made clear, “I’m gonna be the 218th vote on the discharge petition to force an up or down vote, which will pass the House, forcing the Trump administration to release the Epstein files.” That explains, in part, why Republicans have been on vacation for the last several weeks.
Watch above via MSNBC.
