WASHINGTON – Today Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) spoke at a press conference with Senate Democrats on Trump’s Department of Justice continuous attempts to block the release of the Epstein files.

“What the Republicans are proving right now, with the help of Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, is that if you are part of the Epstein class – if you are rich enough, you are powerful enough – you can do some really horrific things: raping children, raping women, engaging in sex trafficking,” said Senator Gallego.“And this administration, the Republicans, will engage in an active cover up for you.”

Senator Gallego has been a leading voice in the call to release the Epstein files.

He has twice introduced a resolution calling on the DOJ to release the files; read excerpts of Epstein survivor Virginia Guiffre’s memoir on the Senate floor; joined Democratic members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Security Committee in sending letters calling to release the files; and sent a letter condemning the transfer of Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

Watch the full remarks HERE or read below:

“Princes, CEOs, the most powerful men in the world, are being held accountable everywhere except the United States, where we are supposed to be a country of equal justice under the law. We are actually proving quite the opposite.

“What we’re proving here right now – what the Republicans are proving right now, with the help of Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi – is that if you are part of the Epstein class – if you are rich enough, you are powerful enough, you can do some really horrific things: raping children, raping women, engaging in sex trafficking. And this administration, the Republicans, will engage in an active cover up for you.

“Now we’re getting more reports of some real serious allegations of this president from a minor – a woman who was a minor – that is accusing the president of some very serious, serious crimes. The American public deserves to know what happened, who was involved – not just President Trump, but everyone else involved, all these powerful men that are still walking around the United States right now.

“We’re only talking about a couple years removed, a decade removed from a lot of these allegations. These men are still in power. These men are still potentially victimizing women, victimizing children, and the fact that this administration is actively covering up past crimes potentially means they’re covering up current crimes.

“It’s time for us to have full transparency. It’s time for us to have accountability. It’s time for us to throw some people in jail that did some really horrible stuff against kids in this country. The fact that Donald Trump and Republicans, after talking a big game for so many years about going after pedophiles, are actively covering up for pedophiles right now, should tell you exactly what is wrong with this administration.

“I unfortunately am going to have to go read those redacted files next week. It’s one of those things that you don’t want to do. The disgusting nature of what I’m going to find on there is going to probably make me very ill, but because we have an administration is actively covering up for pedophiles, we have to take that step.

“We have to take that step to keep them accountable and to expose all these pedophiles that are still in power right now all over this country.”