Dear editor:
On September 10th, 2025, the US Senate voted to table Amendment 3849 to Senate Bill 2296, which is the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026.
Amendment 3849’s purpose was, “To direct the Attorney General to make publicly available documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.”
The vote was 51-49 in favor of tabling that amendment, with both Wyoming senators (Barrasso and Lummis) voting in favor.
As of yet, neither has made a statement explaining their votes. Senators Rand Paul (R – Kentucky) and Josh Hawley (R – Missouri) were the only two republicans to vote against tabling the amendment.
In the House, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) has filed a discharge petition to move H.R. 185 out of the Committee on Rules and straight to the House floor for consideration. H.R. 581 amended H.R. 185 to direct the Department of Justice (DoJ) to make publicly available certain records related to Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.
Massie needs 218 signatures on his petition to ensure his discharge succeeds. As of today, he has 217 signatures. Rep. Hageman’s signature is not one of them, and she has not explained this either.
In the United States of America, perhaps THE most important people in our incredibly blessed land are our children. Protecting our children is, therefore, the most important thing our government and we, as parents and citizens, can and will ever do.
By failing to pass Amendment 3849 to the Defense Authorization Act instead of tabling it, the Senate has essentially told parents and citizens that our children’s safety is not as important as protecting the interests of sex traffickers and child rapists.
It is well established that underage girls were subjected to sexual abuse by some of Mr. Epstein’s friends and clients. There are many stories out there from some of these women who were taken advantage of while they were under the age of 18.
The Jeffrey Epstein files and the information they contain can shine a light on who some of the people were who abused these young girls. Making the names of these people and their actions public means they can be held accountable for them.
Let me be clear. I am not alone when it comes to being outraged over what Epstein and his coterie of rich and powerful men did to these girls.
I do not care if exposing these men and their shameful conduct damages reputations, businesses, or even our relations with some other countries.
I don’t even care if some of those men are presently at the highest levels of our government.
If President Trump is one of those who raped (even if it was statutorily) one of these young girls, then he must be held accountable, too.
In this case, I’m good with JD Vance ascending to the presidency, and I’m sure so are many others.
Keep in mind that Trump, throughout his 2024 campaign, promised on several occasions that he would “release the Epstein files.”
That was one of the main reasons I voted for him. I expect that promise was one of the main reasons why many other people also voted for him.
His Attorney General, Pam Bondi, told FOX News’ John Roberts that Jeffrey Epstein’s “client list” was on her desk to review back in February.
The DoJ, on February 27th, released some files related to Jeffrey Epstein, but what was released had already been known for some time.
Epstein’s client list was, as you are undoubtedly aware, not released at that time, nor did the House Oversight Committee release it in the most recent dump of 33,295 pages of Epstein-related records on September 2nd.
It’s clear to me that the DoJ is stalling in releasing Epstein’s records, including his list of clients, in hopes that the American people will forget about them and move on to the next crisis, like the Charlie Kirk assassination. That will not happen because we will not forget.
Regarding our two serving senators, I will not vote for either of you in your next elections.
And if Rep. Hageman also fails to ultimately vote in favor of releasing all of the Epstein files via Rep. Massie’s discharge petition and then also vote in favor of H.R. 185, I will not vote for her next time, either.
In fact, I will do all I can to see that all three of them are defeated. So will several of those others I mentioned earlier. They have or will have failed us, and more importantly, they have failed our children.
Sincerely,
John B. Brown, Lander
