Epstein List Could Be Read On House Floor Under Constitutional Immunity

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Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek’s National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda joined Newsweek in 2019 and had previously worked at the MailOnline in London, New York and Sydney. She is a graduate of University College London. Languages: English. You can get in touch with Khaleda by emailing k.rahman@newsweek.com

Khaleda Rahman

National Correspondent

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Republican Representatives Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they would be willing to take advantage of a constitutional immunity rule to read the names of Jeffrey Epstein‘s associates allegedly involved in abuse.

Newsweek contacted Massie and Greene for comment via emails sent outside regular business hours.

Why It Matters

It comes after survivors of Epstein’s abuse made their voices heard on Capitol Hill, pushing for more files about the sex-trafficking investigation into the late financier to be released.

The Epstein saga has roiled President Donald Trump‘s administration since the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a two-page memo in July that a “client list” that Attorney General Pam Bondi had intimated was on her desk did not exist and that no additional records from the investigation would be made public.

Trump has sought to move on from the issue and blasted it as a “Democrat hoax,” but it has caused a split among the president’s allies and supporters.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in what authorities ruled a suicide.

What To Know

The GOP representatives’ comments came after one survivor said during a news conference on Wednesday that she and others were compiling their own list of alleged abusers after the Trump administration said that Epstein did not keep a client list.

“They would be sued into homelessness for naming names, but [Georgia] Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and I are willing to name names in the House of Representatives under Constitutional ‘speech or debate’ immunity,” Massie, from Kentucky, wrote on X on Wednesday night.

Members of Congress are protected by the Constitution’s “speech or debate clause,” which means they cannot face civil or criminal penalties for remarks made in speeches on the House or Senate floors.

It means Massie and Greene can read names or make allegations on the House floor without legal consequences.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Greene said it is “a scary thing to name names. But I will tell you, I’m not afraid to name names.”

She added: “If they want to give me a list, I will walk in that Capitol on the House floor and I’ll say every damn name that abused these women.”

The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday released some 34,000 documents it received from DOJ, but Democratic critics said they contained little that was new and reiterated calls for the release of all of the so-called Epstein files.

Meanwhile, 214 House lawmakers, including four Republicans, have signed a discharge petition filed by Massie to force a vote on a bill that would require the release of all of the files within 30 days. The petition needs at least 218 signatures to be successful, meaning every Democrat and at least six Republicans have to support it.

What People Are Saying

Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips said during Wednesday’s news conference: “I would like to announce here today, us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who were regularly in the Epstein world.”

Kentucky GOP Representative Thomas Massie wrote on X: “Survivors at our press conference announced they are privately compiling their own Epstein list. They would be sued into homelessness for naming names, but @RepMTG and I are willing to name names in the House of Representatives under Constitutional ‘speech or debate’ immunity.”

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, wrote on X: “I’m not afraid to say the names. Jeffrey Epstein’s cabal of politicians, bureaucrats, and elites who turned a blind eye must be held accountable. This is the product of past administrations, Republican and Democrat, trying to silence victims. They deserve justice. And America deserves the TRUTH.”

Shortly after Wednesday’s press conference ended, President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “This is a Democrat hoax that never ends…From what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it’s really a Democrat hoax because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”

What’s Next

It remains to be seen if Massie and Greene read out the names of Epstein associates that his victims say were involved in abuse.