'There’s something rotten there': 'Darker' more 'sinister' reason for Trump’s shutdown revealed

There's a simple reason President Donald Trump and the Republicans are keeping the government shut down, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) says: To block the release of the files of the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, reports The Daily Beast.

"This House is shut down because they don’t want to have the release of the Epstein files,” Khanna, who filed the discharge petition to release the files along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), told The Daily Beast podcast host Joanna Coles.

“Every time [Republicans] take these extraordinary measures, like shutting down the Congress — not even having votes out of fear of releasing these files — it adds to the skepticism and anger of the American public who think that there’s something rotten there," he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) refusal to swear in Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who pledged to cast the 218th vote needed on a discharge petition that would compel a floor vote on the release of the Epstein files, has also contributed to Khanna's theory.

Despite Johnson's claims that Grijalva's swearing-in delay is due to the House being in “pro forma” session amid the ongoing government shutdown, Democrats have pointed out that he swore in two Republican lawmakers during a pro forma session in April.

"Can you imagine this? I mean, people want to have a vote today, tomorrow to pay our troops during the shutdown. The speaker and Republican leadership were saying, no, we can’t have a vote,” Khanna, 49, said. “Why? Because Adelita Grijalva will be sworn in — 218th person — and they’re going to have a vote on the Epstein files.”

Khanna says that the “sense is that there are powerful people and powerful forces that don’t want these files out," adding that "The Epstein saga is exhibit one for a government that has been corrupted."

One of the four Republicans to sign the discharge petition, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), claims a White House aide told her that pushing for the further disclosure of Epstein files would be received as a “very hostile act.”

Khanna says the push to release the files is about “standing up for survivors and protecting children,” rather than a political ploy to attack Trump, The Daily Beast reports.

Trump, he says, “could have been seen as a hero” to survivors had he committed to releasing all of the files, which many MAGA figures had long advocated for.