'Release all the Epstein files': Billboard in Johnson's district reminds him of 'promise'

A new billboard that popped up in Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) Shreveport, Louisiana district calling for the release of the files on lJeffrey Epstein was put there by an advocacy group that wants to remind the Speaker of his promise, according to The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate.

"The billboards sort of speak for themselves. They say: 'Release all the Epstein Files,'" said Lauren Hersh, the national director of World Without Exploitation. "It's a clear message both to our elected officials and to their constituents that we, with survivors, are urging our government to do the right thing."

World Without Exploitation (WorldWE) is the country's largest national coalition dedicated to ending human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (HT-CSE). WorldWE was founded in 2016 to challenge and change the policies and systems that perpetuate the commodification of women and girls.

Last month, the organization hosted a Washington D.C. rally with Epstein's victims in support of the "Epstein Files Transparency Act," which would require the Department of Justice to publish all documents related to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.

"We made a promise to survivors that we wouldn't stop there," Hersh said. "The billboard campaign is a part of that keep-the-pressure-on campaign."

The billboards have also emerged in Colorado and Missouri, but Shreveport was specifically chosen because of Johnson, "who Hersh said promised justice and accountability to survivors of abuse at the hands of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's girlfriend and accomplice," the newspaper reports.

"We want to make sure that he is reminded of his promise to those survivors," Hersh said.

When the newspaper asked Johnson for comment on this and the Epstein files, they said the Speaker discussed the files "extensively", including on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

“The Epstein files are being released, 43,000 pages now. There was another batch of documents dumped on Friday of last week, which included Epstein's personal ledgers, his financial ledgers, his daily calendar, his flight logs, all the things that people have been saying they wanted. It's all coming out. Why? Because the House Oversight Committee has been working through this period, even when we're not on the House floor, to go through and dig through the Epstein Estate files and all the rest and get them out. These are all distractions from the main point. Democrats have shut the government down for political purposes and we got to get it reopened,” Johnson said on the program.

Liz Stein, one of Epstein's victims and now a WorldWE anti-trafficking expert says Johnson's words aren't enough.

""This is a crime. It's the crime of sex trafficking. We shouldn't be distracted by the people who might potentially be involved," Stein said. "When you bring this down to a human level and you look at it for what it is, it has the potential to be incredibly impactful when people think about this happening to their daughters, their sisters, their work colleagues. Anything that we can do to refocus and put attention on what this is and how it should be treated is important to me."