U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna walks back four of six names he concedes are not linked to Epstein
Four days after releasing the names of six men he uncovered in the Epstein files without citing evidence of any wrongdoing by them, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna acknowledged Friday that he named four of them in error and they have no connection to the late New York financier at the center of a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal.
Khanna, a Silicon Valley Democrat, retracted the names after The Guardian newspaper on Friday quoted a U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson saying that Khanna, along with Kentucky Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, “forced the unmasking of completely random people selected years ago for an FBI lineup.” The four men had “nothing” to do with Epstein, a spokesperson for Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office told the Guardian.
In a social media post on X Friday Khanna acknowledged the Guardian’s report and confirmed “that Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonid Leonov, and Nicola Caputo were just part of a photo line up and are not connected to Epstein’s crimes.”
In a Friday statement to the Bay Area News Group, Khanna blamed the Department of Justice, saying it had “failed to provide any explanation for their arbitrary redactions in violation of the law and then unredacted them without explaining the context that Massie and I had asked for,” adding that is why he and Massie had called for a “special master” to oversee release of the files.
Blanche in a social media post countered that “the ‘problem’ is that you didn’t come to us, but immediately ran to X and the House floor and made false accusations about four men, while we were checking the facts.”
Critics were having none of it in response to Khanna’s social media post.
“Ro Khanna: ‘How dare the DOJ redact these names!” a poster named Paul Klein, who describes himself as a retired law enforcement officer, replied to Khanna’s post. “Also, Ro Khanna: ‘How dare the DOJ un-redact the names I insisted they un-redact!'”
“So in other words, Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie defamed a bunch of random men as presumptive child-sex traffickers. Ro dramatically read their names aloud on the House floor — Massie declared they were ‘likely incriminated’ in pedo sex crimes,” said another poster, Michael Tracey. “Oops, just a little whoopsie?”
The error occurred after Khanna and Massie, authors of the bipartisan Epstein Transparency Act passed last fall, were allowed to view numerous newly-unredacted documents made available Monday by the Justice Department.
After viewing them, Massie told reporters that they discovered six men who were “likely implicated,” including Victoria’s Secret billionaire Les Wexner, who had well-known financial ties to Epstein, and Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. Both men’s names already appeared numerous times elsewhere in the files, a Department of Justice official told CBS, while the four other men only appeared in the one photo lineup document. Lawyers for Wexner have told journalists he “was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect” of any Epstein criminal probe, has cooperated with authorities, and hasn’t been contacted since.
Massie had said Monday that Sulayem had appeared in an email from Epstein thanking him for a “torture video.” Sulayem resigned as CEO of DP World on Friday.
On Tuesday, Khanna announced the names of all six men on the floor of the U.S. House, saying they were “wealthy, powerful men the DOJ hid for no apparent reason.” He explained on the floor that when he pointed out to the Justice Department on Monday that their names appeared to be improperly blacked out, “they acknowledged their mistake, and now they have revealed the identity.”
In his X post on Friday, Khanna said he wished the department had provided the explanation earlier about the four men’s lack of involvement with Epstein “instead of redacting then un-redacting their names.” In his statement to the Bay Area News Group, Khanna added, “it’s sad that the DOJ has created confusion that has protected the rich and powerful, exposed survivors and exposed men not involved with Epstein’s crimes.”
Massie, meanwhile, said on X Friday that he had posed the possibility during a CNN interview earlier this week that the four men simply might be part of a lineup.
“But you released them anyway,” he said of the Justice Department in his post. “Maybe you should have checked with our folks first, or provided some context, instead of trying to beat my TV appearance and then blaming us.”
Questions about the four men cleared of Epstein ties Friday began swirling soon after Khanna read their names as reporters searched and found no references to the men he’d characterized as “wealthy, powerful.”
The Guardian reported that after one of the men, Salvatore Nuarte of Queens, New York, reached out to Khanna’s office, denying any involvement with Epstein, the congressman’s office sent him an email.
“The Department of Justice has not been transparent in what the list was or why they redacted and unredacted your name,” the email from Khanna communications director Sarah Drory said, according to the Guardian. “We will make sure to be absolutely factual and truthful once we have these facts and certainly not fuel any misimpression DoJ has created.”
The Guardian said it contacted Leonov and that his first name was incorrectly listed as Leonic in the files but his photo and birthday matched. It said he is an IT manager in Queens and that he vigorously denied knowing Epstein. The Guardian was unable to reach Mikeladze or Caputo.