Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, who sponsored the bill to force the release of the records, said he was surprised by the president’s support for the vote after months of resistance.
“I was very surprised,” Khanna said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.” “He fought Thomas Massie and me for five months. They shut down Congress over it. They took members of Congress to the Situation Room to try to get them removed from the petition. They were intimidated by Cabinet members. Donald Trump did not endorse Marjorie and Taylor Greene, threatening other members not to vote for our bill.”
Khanna added that he thought Mr. Trump “mathematically there would be 70 to 80 Republicans who would have voted for this bill in defiance of him. I’m glad he said he was signing it.”
The California Democrat emphasized two things he considers important going forward: First, that Mr. Trump meet with survivors. And second, now that the president has said he will sign this bill, he has said “they shouldn’t play games in the Senate.”
“They should take care of it immediately and adopt it,” Khanna said.
Khanna said “once the files are made public, I think it will shock the country.”
“There are rich, powerful men who abused these young girls or who covered it up, and some of them still sit on corporate boards, they still have stock exchanges named after them, they have buildings named after them. And the American people are going to be shocked when they find out about this. And what the survivors want is for these names to be revealed and for them to be held accountable.”
Khanna added: “The facts must come to light, and whoever is involved must be held accountable, Democrat or Republican.”
