Robinson: Congressman Ro Khanna protects Epstein victims with floor speech

Local Congressman Ro Khanna used his immunity from the House floor to out child-rapists and protect the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. His courage must acknowledged.

To date, very few victims have come forward with names of individual perpetrators. They are literally scared to death.

Katie Johnson in a taped deposition described in detail how Donald Trump raped her. That deposition is in the public domain now. Johnson’s whereabouts are unknown, even to her lawyers. She dropped her case in 2016 because of death threats. We don’t know if she is alive or not. We do know victims of Epstein are legitimately fearful of the powerful men who raped them.

Virginia Giuffre came forward and identified Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew as perpetrators, for instance. But she paid the ultimate price. She was called a liar by Dershowitz and publicly humiliated. She was forced to retract her accusation and admitted “she may have been mistaken.” Dershowitz used the legal process as a bludgeon. As a criminal attorney, he is a master at creating doubt and assailing witnesses for their poor memory. His legal skills, her lack of specific memory and the pressure of remembering details in incidents long ago made her an easy target for a renowned criminal lawyer.

While truth is an absolute defense against defamation, it must be proven by the person making the statement. Thus, the lesson was learned by other victims.

To be clear and for legal purposes, I am not saying Dershowitz was guilty. What I am pointing out is that rich, powerful people have resources to make a poor victim’s life miserable regardless of guilt or innocence.

Guiffre allegedly died by suicide, though many people, including her family, believe it was staged. Epstein’s death by suicide has also come under scrutiny — few mafia members believe that story. But as with Johnson’s death threats, the Guiffre and Epstein suicides are a message to other victims — your life is at stake.

But Khanna has immunity on the floor of Congress that prevents the rich from using legal attacks as a cudgel. His personal courage is bolstered by the written evidence against the cabal of rich individuals who are alleged to have engaged in child rape, including Trump. No need for qualification here — the evidence against Trump is crystal clear, despite the denials and hand wringing of those charged with upholding the law. The Johnson tape, the witness corroborating the rape, the admissions by Trump himself and the Epstein files are enough to hold him liable, if not convict.

Khanna has gleaned his information from the Epstein files, not the victims. The women themselves have not made public their allegations against these powerful men due to fear. The current U.S. Justice Department disregards their safety and anonymity by releasing their names in blatant violation of the law. This administration is nothing if not lawless.

We hope Congressman Khanna continues to use his immunity from the House floor to out all of these criminal rapists. We hope the victims can come forward and someday tell their story without fear of retribution, legal trouble or fear of death. Finally, we hope Trump will finally be thrown on the trash heap of history, not only for his crimes against children, but for his murders, suppression of speech, conspiracy, bribes, extortion and lies that permeate this administration and his personal, political and business strategy.

Rich Robinson is a political consultant, attorney, author of “The Shadow Candidate” and former San José Spotlight columnist.