NEW OP-ED: Rep. Dave Min: “It’s Time to Release the Epstein Files and Stop Protecting Pedophiles”

Irvine, CA —  Representative Dave Min (CA-47), member of the House Oversight Committee, penned a new op-ed in the Orange County Register, urging his colleagues to support the release of the Epstein files.

“As the father of a 13-year-old girl, I will not rest until we have justice. We cannot allow our children to grow up in a world where their rights are seen as inferior to the whims and desires of the rich and powerful,” wrote Rep. Min. “No one, regardless of what political party they belong to or who they know or how powerful they are, should be allowed to violate the law without facing the consequences.”

Rep. Min is outspoken about the importance of releasing the files, appearing on CNN to highlight the need to uphold the rule of law by holding the perpetrators accountable.

Orange County Register

Dave Min: It’s time to release the Epstein files and stop protecting pedophiles

Dave Min

• Next week, the House is expected to vote on the release of the Epstein files, a comprehensive set of records kept by Jeffrey Epstein and now held by his estate, which may implicate those involved in his sprawling child sex trafficking activities.

• For the first time, the survivors of Epstein’s crimes — and the American people — are on the cusp of learning the truth about how broad and wide Epstein’s horrific criminal network reached.

• Earlier this year, I had the chance to meet with some of the survivors of Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring. These women courageously came forward knowing they were going up against some of the most powerful men in the world. Their stories were harrowing — young girls taken advantage of and abused. 

• Epstein created a highly organized system that allowed the rich and influential to prey on children. These girls could have been any of our daughters, nieces, or neighbors.

• Releasing the Epstein files would be an important step towards achieving justice for the survivors, but it would send a crucial message to the world that America still stands for the rule of law and that no one is above the law.

• We cannot survive as a democracy if there is one set of rules for the elite and another for the rest of us. 

• When those with wealth or influence are allowed to avoid accountability, it undermines the public’s trust in the system and confirms something too many Americans already believe – that the system is rigged against them.

• I have spent my career taking on the rich and powerful, and I know the crucial importance of the rule of law. As an SEC enforcement attorney, I went after Wall Street corruption following the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom.

• As a law professor, I taught the next generation of legal advocates. Now, as a member of the House Oversight Committee, I am continuing the fight for transparency and the rule of law, including doing everything possible to ensure the Epstein files are released in their entirety.

• Over the past nine months, Donald Trump and his allies have done all they can to stop the release of the Epstein files.

• Trump called the Epstein files a “hoax,” and after months of refusing to allow a vote on the release of the Epstein files, House Speaker Mike Johnson took the unprecedented step of failing to seat newly elected Representative Adelita Grijalva, who was the 218th and deciding signature on a petition to force that vote.

• Hours before Rep. Grijalva was sworn into office on Wednesday, senior Trump officials called House Republicans into the Situation Room — a space reserved for the highest-level crises — to try to convince them to rescind their support for the petition.

• Why? A new batch of emails gives us some more reasons to believe that Trump was at the very least aware of Epstein’s child sex trafficking. 

• In these emails, Epstein states repeatedly that Trump knew about the child sex trafficking, and in one email, claimed that Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims.

• And this follows the release of a disturbing birthday card Trump gave Epstein, where he wrote about sharing a “wonderful secret” and other reflections on their well-documented friendship.

• As the father of a 13-year-old girl, I will not rest until we have justice. We cannot allow our children to grow up in a world where their rights are seen as inferior to the whims and desires of the rich and powerful.

• We have the opportunity here to uncover the truth and to restore faith in our legal system.

• No one, regardless of what political party they belong to or who they know or how powerful they are, should be allowed to violate the law without facing the consequences.

• Congressional Democrats are united in standing up for the survivors, and I urge my Republican colleagues to join us.

• It’s time to release the Epstein files and stop protecting pedophiles.