Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who sponsored the bill to force the release of the files, said he was surprised by the president’s support for the vote after months of pushback.
“I was very surprised,” Khanna said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.” “He was fighting Thomas Massie and me for five months. They shut down Congress over this. They hauled in members of Congress to the situation room to try to get them off the petition. They had the members of the Cabinet intimidate them. Donald Trump un-endorsed Marjorie, Taylor Greene, threatening other members not to vote for our bill.”
Khanna went on to say he believed “there were going to be 70, 80 Republicans who would have voted for this bill in defiance for him. I’m glad that he said he’s signing it.”
The California Democrat outlined two things that he sees as important going forward: first, that Mr. Trump meets with the survivors. And second, now that the president said he will sign this bill, he said “they shouldn’t play games in the Senate.”
“They should take this up right away and pass it,” Khanna said.
Khanna said “once the files are released, I think it’s going to shock the country.”
“There are rich and powerful men who either abused these young girls or who have covered it up, and some of these people still are on corporate boards, they still have scholarships named after them, they have buildings named after them. And the American people are going to be shocked when they learn this. And what the survivors want is for these names to come out and for them to be held accountable.”
Khanna added, “the facts need to come out, and whoever is caught up with it needs to be held accountable, Democrat or Republican.”
