← Deadline: White House
Deadline: White House
"Unrelenting calls for action"
00:45:17
Nicolle Wallace anchors breaking news coverage on the release of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files.
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- [00:00]
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- [01:04]
Liz Stein
The Epstein files are not about loyalty to any one political party. They're evidence of a crime. We have told our stories over and over and over. Now it's time to see who is listening.
- [01:21]
Haley Robson
This issue was never one that should.
- [01:22]
Nicole Wallace
Have divided us the way it has.
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Haley Robson
In fact, it should have united us. The world should see the files to know who Jeffrey Epstein was and how the system catered to him and failed us.
- [01:33]
Jess Michaels
Without transparency, there's no accountability. Without accountability, there is no justice. And without justice, democracy dies.
- [01:47]
Nicole Wallace
Hi again everyone. It's now 5 o' clock in New York. It is because of them, those women, the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and their abuse and their unrelenting calls in the face of vicious threats, some we may never know about. They are the reason that we are having this conversation and covering this event today. In the last hour, the Department of Justice began releasing a trove of Epstein files. How much is new? How much is in there? How much is not in there is not known, at least by us at this point. We do know the DOJ said we're only going to see a batch of files ahead of the midnight deadline they face by law. It is the law of the land right now that they release them in their entirety by midnight tonight. They have already said they won't do that and that there will be more coming at a later date. We should know they have been through all the files. We know that, and they have complete control over when and what and how much is released. There are major concerns that what is made public will be overly redacted and may potentially conceal pivotal information about the abusers. Our team of journalists is combing through the newly released files and much of what they have seen so far at the beginning of those searches is redacted. For many survivors, there is hope that there is information in this new release that will at least start to give them some of the answers to some of the questions they've been asking about the abuse they survived. Here's Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda on why she needs the files to be released. It's so hard to begin to heal knowing that there are people out there who know more about my abuse than I do. The worst part is that the government is still in possession right now. Of the documents and information about that could help me remember and get over all of this maybe, and help me heal. They have documents with my name on them that were confiscated from Jeffrey Epstein's house and could help me put the pieces of my own life back together, but I don't have any of it. The bipartisan law that compels the Trump administration to provide these survivors with answers would not be possible had they not united in doing that, telling the stories of the darkest days of their own lives publicly over and over and over again. And since then, they have been steadfast in their calls for partisan politics to not play any role in the call for transparency over Epstein's abuse and sex crimes. Here is Epstein survivor Haley Robson last month with a message to Donald Trump after he reversed himself on whether or not he released the files.
- [04:43]
Haley Robson
To the President of the United States of America, who is not here today. I want to send a clear message to you. While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files and I'm grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can't help to be skeptical of what the agenda is. So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you. I am traumatized. I am not stupid. I am traumatized. I am not stupid. You have put us through so much stress. The lockdowns, the halt of these procedures that were supposed to have happened 50 days ago. The Adelita Grijalva who waited to get sworn in and then get upset when your own party goes against you because what is being done is wrong. It's not right for your own self serving purposes. This is America. This is land of the free. Land of the free. In 1863, we have a woman on top of the Capitol building represent freedom. I do not feel free today. I don't know if the women behind me feel free today. So I am begging every member of Congress, every representative to step up and choose the chaos. Choose the survivors, choose the children. Protect the children.
- [06:07]
Nicole Wallace
All children.
- [06:08]
Haley Robson
You protect all of us equally.
- [06:14]
Nicole Wallace
Their unwavering campaign for accountability to ensure that the kind of abuse they endured and the trauma that persists doesn't happen to anyone else has not come without a price. Here's what one survivor of Epstein's abuse says she has endured.
- [06:28]
Eva Longoria
I have been threatened.
- [06:30]
Nicole Wallace
I was threatened by phone.
- [06:32]
Eva Longoria
My daughter was threatened when I was volunteering to participate by means of being a witness in a civil lawsuit that.
- [06:41]
Nicole Wallace
Virginia Giuffre was bringing against Ghislaine Maxwell. I have been followed. I have been stalked.
- [06:48]
Eva Longoria
I have been followed not only by.
- [06:49]
Nicole Wallace
Journalists, but by people who do not get out of the car and do not try and talk to me and.
- [06:55]
Eva Longoria
Just drive behind me as I drive.
- [06:57]
Nicole Wallace
My daughter to school. So the fear is very real for us. Something we've heard from survivors we've interviewed here at this table. The start of the Epstein started the release of the Epstein files and what that means for the survivors of his abuse is where we start the hour. I want to bring in Jess Michaels and Liz Stein, both survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, who have bravely become fierce advocates for accountability and transparency and justice and healing. And joining me at the table, legal analyst Christy Greenberg is here. She's a former criminal division deputy chief at SDMI, host of the YouTube show Courtside. Senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin is still with me, along with the host of Politics Nation and the president of the National Action Network, the Reverend Al Sharpton. Jess, let me start with you and just ask how you're doing.
- [07:50]
Jess Michaels
First of all, thank you so much for having me on again. Nicole, it's always good to see you. I am highly emotional. Emotions are at the surface, but I'm also feeling strangely validated because in plain sight and even with an act of Congress, we're seeing the exact same delays, negligence, corruption, incompetence that we've seen consistently and have been advocating about. And so they've actually proved our point.
- [08:29]
Nicole Wallace
Such a good point. Right. Like it takes you right back to the fact that a sweetheart deal is done in Florida. Victims aren't told about it. He's on some, Jeffrey Epstein's on some bizarre, insane serve from home and continues to abuse people. How and why? And today's non response response seems to prove that there's no one they won't defy. What is it that they're hiding, Jess?
- [08:59]
Jess Michaels
Well, I think there's a lot of protection of powerful people, as we know. There's obviously there's protection of convicted Sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. And there's no protection for the survivors. We have not heard a word from the doj, by the way. I just have to add that in. We have not heard. Had not heard from our attorneys about what today was going to look like. We have not been asked to come speak to anyone at the doj. We have had no communication with anyone there. Which then proves, again, incompetence or complete negligence.
- [09:36]
Nicole Wallace
Liz, been covering this department, and it is difficult some days to decide which of those two things explains what it is that you're covering. So we'll leave that as a question. But I start with the same question I had for Jess. How are you doing? And what is this like for you?
- [09:56]
Liz Stein
Thank you for asking that. Today has been really difficult for us. We have no idea what's going to be released, when it's going to be released. And not only are we processing whatever information comes out, but we're also being asked to speak about it in. In real time, which is difficult. So I appreciate, you know, I appreciate some grace around that because we're seeing this as everyone else is. I think that although this is potentially going to be very triggering for us, we also feel very strongly that it's important that all of this information comes out and we're willing to sit in that discomfort in order to get justice for what happened to us. You said earlier, you talked about how this is not a partisan issue, and it most absolutely is not. We're really getting confused about what the issue is. And this is a crime. It's a crime of sex trafficking. And we just want the perpetrators of these crimes and the enablers of these crimes to be held to justice.
- [11:08]
Nicole Wallace
I don't know how to ask this in a way that honors you, so just tell me to shut up if this crosses any line. But, Liz, is there something that you know is in there that if something other than what you or your sort of sisterhood of survivors has communicated to law enforcement isn't released, you will know for certain that transparency hasn't been achieved. Like, are you personally looking for some evidence that they have made some effort to do more than people have done in the past, now that they have this bipartisan legislation requiring them to do so?
- [11:47]
Liz Stein
I absolutely am. And we heard Marina speaking earlier about how this will help us put pieces of our own puzzles together? When this kind of exploitation and trauma is happening, brain kind of shuts off and really just helps you survive in the moment. And so I think that for many of us, there are pieces of our stories that we may not remember or we may have cloudy memories of that we just want some validation.
- [12:21]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah. I mean, Jess, this is something that you and I talked about at length in the podcast, that you haven't just endured the trauma of the acts. It's all of the years of trauma stored in your bodies of what the shame and the isolation and the denying of this criminality has done. And I wonder what today sort of denying and defying brazenly. I mean, Todd Blanche runs the Department of Justice and went on TV this morning and basically said, we are not releasing this. In the coming weeks, we'll release some more, but we are not complying with the law. What does that do on the trauma side of this for you?
- [13:00]
Jess Michaels
Again, thank you for asking that, because while this is really upsetting, it's still validation that everything we've said has been true. That they're obviously are incredibly powerful men in these files that we haven't seen yet and that are being protected. So it's a sense of triggering. But like Liz said beautifully, like, we're willing to sit in it, because in this moment, they are proving us right. They're proving the American people right. And that we were right to push for this and we were right to have to get an act of Congress because even an act of Congress is not moving the needle.
- [13:49]
Nicole Wallace
I mean, Liz, do you. What is it? What are they hiding? When you talk amongst yourselves? What, what are. What is. What are the scenarios for what they're hiding?
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Liz Stein
Well, I think that brazen is a really good descriptor for what's happening today in not releasing everything and kind of making this a more drawn out process, it makes it more difficult to go through this information, to process this information and to understand this information. And we can't help but think that that's intentional. Right? Yeah, go ahead.
- [14:29]
Nicole Wallace
No, keep going. I was just. I mean, it sinks in and people have pointed. I worked in the government, like, if you are releasing something and you want people to understand and appreciate and give you credit for what you've released, you have a government person go through what you've released and you would actually do a PowerPoint and say, you know, and you'd have an off the record. You'd invite journalists who cover the story in. You'd give folks like yourselves a heads up. And you're right, none of that has happened to my knowledge.
- [14:57]
Liz Stein
No. But I think it's important to remember that we as survivors know some of the information that they should have, and it will be highly suspect. If we don't see that released. And I think that right now we're just trying to work through what accountability could look like if there are things that haven't been disclosed that we know should have been disclosed.
- [15:21]
Nicole Wallace
Jess, let me come back to something you said at the beginning, that there's been no contact between the department and your lawyers and you guys. I mean, that in and of itself suggests that your 302s or your statements to law enforcement or the subsequent contacts with the government were never intended to be released, or they would have, if they were following norms and procedures, contacted your lawyers. Do you know of any survivors who heard from the Department of Justice through their lawyers or directly? I don't.
- [15:49]
Jess Michaels
I don't think Liz does either.
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Eva Longoria
I don't.
- [15:51]
Jess Michaels
But I don't know for sure, but I don't. We haven't heard among us, we have a, you know, we are all connected. So we have not heard of anyone that has heard from the DOJ in any way. And Maria Farmer started this in 1996, put in a report back in 1996, and Maria has a claim of negligence against the government, the doj, the Southern District of Florida, for this exact thing that's happening right now. So at the very least, because her lawyer is my lawyer, Jennifer Freeman, we would have heard something just based on that complaint, something from the DOJ based just on that complaint. We've heard nothing.
- [16:37]
Nicole Wallace
Liz, tell me what the best way to keep you and Jess and Maria and Annie and Virginia and Danny and Haley and everyone who's so bravely spoken out and even the ones who have not at the center of how we unpack what's happening between the executive branch of government and Congress and how we unpack it and how we cover it. What is your advice to us?
- [17:06]
Liz Stein
Well, you know, we have been called a hoax, and we are definitely not a hoax. But I think that the American people have seen through that and they resoundingly responded in putting pressure on their legislators for the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. So I think that the best way that the American public can support us is by continuing to put the pressure on and demanding accountability from our government as far as holding them accountable to release all of this information.
- [17:46]
Nicole Wallace
Jess, same question.
- [17:49]
Jess Michaels
Can you repeat it, please?
- [17:52]
Nicole Wallace
How can we. You know, there's. We're journalists, so we're voraciously going through, looking to see if they've done anything that they said they were going to do. We're looking at the delta between what Kash Patel said exists, which is, you know, I don't know, 300 gigabytes. Three gigabytes. And Todd Blanche saying a couple hundred thousand pages. We're looking at the lack of the volume, we're looking at the number of redactions potentially on every page is a line or half a line that describes a moment when your life changed. You know, how do we balance the gravity of what it is we're looking to see become transparent?
- [18:31]
Jess Michaels
So firstly, even how you cover it just. Thank you so much for answering my question because brain fog is real when your emotions are really overwhelmed and that cortisol and that adrenaline are just coursing through every single neural pathway right now. So thank you. I think that what is lacking the most, that I see is lacking the most in culture, our culture right now, is the very, very basic understanding of things like sex trafficking and rape. And if we could have sessions where we're just talking about the truth of those things and not just about Jeffrey Epstein, not just about all of these files, they're really important. But just understanding that Jeffrey Epstein's little game that he was doing with Blaine Maxwell, that that was nothing special or unique. It is Sex Trafficking 101 that is played out on every single corner of every single city in our country. It's nothing special. It's. It's the same playbook as every single other sex trafficking kingpin, whatever you want to call it, criminal. And, and a lot of people don't understand that. They think that this is special or unique. They think that it is special or unique that we're not getting justice when this is actually the reality for so many. Which is why we have millions of survivors that are behind us. We're not just. We recognize, we're not just here for ourselves anymore. So many survivors have said we are with you and we stand with you. Getting justice. Because for a fraction of a moment, it feels like I'm getting the justice I never got.
- [20:14]
Eva Longoria
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- [20:16]
Nicole Wallace
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Nicole Wallace
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- [21:16]
Nicole Wallace
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- [21:19]
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- [21:22]
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- [21:56]
Eva Longoria
You.
- [21:56]
Nicole Wallace
Know is a predator. And there are probably for everyone that speaks out, like you two bravely have, there are probably millions who are rooting for you and pulling for you because their dignity and their sanity and perhaps even their lives depend on you getting the justice that you deserve. In that spirit, I thank you both. I've said this to you before, Jess, I don't know how you talk about this on tv, but thank you. We're really lucky that you do. And Liz, thank you very much for being here and for talking about what you've been through.
- [22:27]
Liz Stein
Thank you.
- [22:30]
Nicole Wallace
Because I didn't bring them in yet. Our phenomenal panel is sticking around. We'll bring them all in on all of this on the other side of a very short break. Don't go anywhere. We're back. You've been looking at this file for an hour and 25 minutes now. Is it getting any more clear what's been released?
- [22:52]
Lisa Rubin
No, I would say no, it has not been more clear. But Christy and I were talking during the break and just in full transparency, having the sort of conversation that former lawyer to former lawyer we would have about how documents are typically produced in litigation or by people who are involved in litigation like the Department of Justice. This is not the publicly accessible, searchable database that was promised. This is almost impenetrable. And if you know anything about the history of the Epstein and Maxwell cases, the amount of stuff that appears to be new here is very limited. So Todd Blanche has been on Fox and promised a production of several hundred thousands of pages of documents. But as far as I can tell, and judging by the Bates numbers, there's somewhere in the range of 8 to 9,000 truly new pages. And lots of what else is there appears to have been recycled from court records from FBI FOIA production. So there are a number of Freedom of Information act requests that have been made to various agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the FBI to others. They appear to sort of have rounded up lots of public source documents. And Nicole, time will tell whether some of these documents appear here in a less redacted form than they exist on court dockets currently. But that's going to take the sort of painstaking compare and contrast that is hard to do in the first hour and 26 minutes, let alone do over the next few weeks. But my first reaction is there isn't a whole lot of volume here in terms of what's truly new. And there is quite a bit of redacted material. When I say redacted, I don't just mean a word here, a word there. I mean pages and pages of blacked out materials from, for example, what appear to be FBI investigative files.
- [24:41]
Nicole Wallace
What are you seeing?
- [24:43]
Eva Longoria
So I think it's more what I'm not seeing. One thing that I was looking for is in the Maxwell case, Jay Clayton, who's the SDNY U.S. attorney, was supposed to file a personal certification that that office had complied with the act, essentially going through, making sure all the victims were protected and redacted. And I looked on the docket yesterday, there was a document filed under seal, but so far, nothing that indicates this personal certification. And that is notable. That is a court order from the judge saying you have to personally certify your compliance. And, and again, maybe it's somewhere in a PDF here that I have not been able to click on yet, but I have not seen that. And that would be very.
- [25:28]
Nicole Wallace
Why does that matter?
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Eva Longoria
Because the judge in that case was very clear that he wanted to make someone the face of this, someone accountable. So that, and he very clearly stated in his opinion that if the victims have concerns, if they want somebody to address those concerns, this is who you are supposed to go to. Go to Jay Clayton. And so the fact that we have not heard from Jay Clayton, other than I believe he made a statement to the press yesterday or the day before saying they would comply with the act and comply with the court orders, but we haven't seen that written document indicating that he's done so. And so to the victims who are saying, nobody's reached out to me. Nobody's talked to me. Well, you should call up the Southern District of New York and raise your concerns because that is who, at least as to the Maxwell piece of this, that is who is supposed to be responsible. So again, that is just one of many striking things. The other thing that is striking to me was some reporting from CNN yesterday where they talked about just the confusion of this process. And that is in line with the court filings as well that we've seen where apparently there are people who are reviewing these documents from the National Security Division. This is not a national security case. I would generally expect the people who are heading up this process to be people who have, even if not in sex trafficking cases, some experience working with victims in violent crimes cases. You know, any kind of a case where victims are really at the center and national security cases are not. That those are the people who are apparently reviewing. And according to that reporting, they're not getting very clear instructions on how it is they're supposed to be making these reductions and what they're supposed to be looking for. That is very troubling. And it's consistent with the court filings where they said, well, we're just coming up with. We're establishing what our policies are. What do you mean you're establishing your policies? Back in March, Pam Bondi said that they were going to be redacting the victims names. And once we redact the names, we're going to release everything. And then it was the bad face. But what was happening back in March, how did you not have a policy? How did you not have a complete list of who all the victims were? You're not even making the outreach to survivors or known counsel to figure out who it is you need to be redacting for. Like, these are very, very basic, basic things that you need in order to go through this process. And the fact that there's confusion about that and that people aren't on the same page and there isn't clear guidance is troubling. I would say for me, it would be not great, but okay, if they missed this deadline. But they were making sure it was because they were getting everything right.
- [28:10]
Nicole Wallace
And searchable.
- [28:11]
Eva Longoria
Yeah. And that it was searchable. It was. When they produce it to the public, the public can get that transparency and the victims can feel confident that they are protected. But that's not what we're seeing. That's not what we're seeing at all. And again, it's just. It is more troubling. And I don't think at this point, given how, I mean, this has been, I mean, decades for the victims, but for us all following this with this administration, it's been the better part of this year dealing with this. And I mean, at this point, it's not incompetence at this point. This is intentional. This is. There is malice here in how it is they are producing this information in a way that's not digestible. And when make a decision not to communicate with the victims and not to talk them through this process, that is a choice, and it's a choice that they should be judged for.
- [28:58]
Nicole Wallace
Reverend Trump is at 36%. Our friend Tom Nichols said of his speech this week from the Oval Office. It was dripping in panic. The thing that began his political collapse was his betrayal of his own supporters and the victims and his allies in the quote, unquote, manosphere over releasing the Epstein files. When we go back and sort of excavate how he became a lame duck before he'd been president a second time for a year, it began with his betrayal and his lies and his. And his sort of double speak and then making fools of his entire DOJ team. First Kash Patel, who was out there on Joe Rogan and other places promising the release. Then Dan Bongino, who's actually not going to be at the FBI anymore after the ball drops and we ring in 2026. Pam Bondi, who is described as blowing it by Susie Wiles or whiffing. I forget the word she used. So he has totally kneecapped his entire DOJ FBI team, and he now sits at 36% in a spectacular political collapse that began with the lies and betrayal over the Epson files.
- [30:09]
Reverend Al Sharpton
Well, not only has the politics of this brought him down to 36%, I think the fact is, unlike my colleagues at the desk, I'm not a lawyer.
- [30:21]
Nicole Wallace
Me neither.
- [30:21]
Reverend Al Sharpton
But I am a minister. And usually when I'm talking to somebody and they're hiding something, it's because they have something to hide. Now, I don't know what it is, but people don't just walk around doing this kind of meticulous detail, hiding things or preventing things from coming out. And if they didn't feel that they had to do so. If you were a public figure less known to President of the United States or anyone else that's been implicated, you would want to rush out there and say, I have nothing to do with this. Release everything. How dare you even suggest that. The fact that we're seeing them doing the moonwalk, like Michael Jackson, suggests to me that there's something there that they know. I don't know how bad it is. I don't know if it's appearances, but it's very concerning. The other thing that really bothers me, Nicole, is imagine how we look to the world, because on a global level, they're saying, wait a minute, in the United States, people can violate underage girls and go through all kind of legal and political footholds to protect those that may have done it and not the girls. And we supposed to be the civilized United States of America. This smells. And I think this also tarnishes the image of this country around the world.
- [31:42]
Nicole Wallace
But back on Donald Trump, I mean, it's become sort of part of our culture. But he released the perfect call. I mean, even when he's wrong, he thinks he's right. He released a transcript of his call with Zelensky because he said it was so great, he wanted it out there. When he was first asked if he would release the video of the second strike from September 2nd on the shipwreck survivors, he said, yeah, I'd release it. I mean, his instinct, at least in terms of what he says, is usually, I haven't done anything wrong to put it out there. This is the opposite from him.
- [32:12]
Reverend Al Sharpton
And that's what I'm saying. This is not the Trump with the forward movement. I mean, Donald Trump promised us, before he was president, he never produced it, that he was gonna give us a birth certificate from Barack Obama. So, I mean, he's not been one.
- [32:28]
Nicole Wallace
That didn't say, Remember, we get UFOs.
- [32:31]
Reverend Al Sharpton
And all that, all of that. So here, all of a sudden, you are backtracking. This has been against your character, your personality, which is why a lot of people are saying, wait a minute, which is why he's at 36%. This is. We haven't seen. But this. This is out of character for you. And let the lawyers deal with the legalities. And then you're not from the process. You're not contacting the victims. These people were abused. They're traumatized. This is absolutely unthinkable in a civilized society.
- [33:04]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah. All right. No one's going anywhere. Our team is still combing through what has been released. We'll keep this conversation going after a very short break. Stay with us. We're back with Christy, Lisa, and Rev. So one thing that the White House. I mean, you've been talking about how the drop is almost intentionally impossible to search. You've been sitting here for an hour and 39 minutes, and we've had a hard time getting into. The White House is doing some of the work for us and making very clear what they would like us to put on television. The White House has released images of Bill Clinton which are in the drop today.
- [33:41]
Lisa Rubin
Yeah, I think it's interesting that that's something that they're highlighting. Look, we have seen some images of Bill Clinton in this drop. Some of them show Bill Clinton with other people, some of whom are known, some of whom are not known. But of course, we have no context for where these images come from. We don't know whether they were selected purposefully or not. One of the things that you can do in a situation like this is you can provide documents that are almost linear in response to, for example, particular requests. There are nine categories that Congress wanted to be produced here, and they could have gone about it in that way, but it doesn't appear that they did. And we have no explanation from the Department of Justice, no rhyme or reason as to why they chose certain images and didn't choose others. During our last hour, you and Andrew were talking about how a responsible White House or Department of justice might roll out a production of this nature to put somebody up in front of a podium and explain what is it that is being produced today? Why is it that certain things are being produced or not? We have no context for the Bill Clinton photos. However, we also have a president who has taken through X to telling his attorney General that he wants to open a new investigation of Democrats who are connected to Jeffrey Epstein, and specifically mentioning the former president, along with several others, including some Democratic donors, and saying he also wants an investigation of certain financial institutions. And in response to that, the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said, sir, we're on it. I have tasked Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, with that investigation. I saw Mr. Clayton recently at a speech. I walked right up to him. I said, sir, have you opened up that investigation that the Attorney General has directed you to open? And very amiably, he brushed me off and said, we're not. I'm not answering questions today. We still don't know if Jay Clayton has or has not opened an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to certain Democrats. However, and you know, before the commercial break, Christie was noting that Jay Clayton was ordered by a court to put in a certification that documents that were going to be released had been appropriately reviewed and redacted to protect the privacy of victims. That document, it seems that it may have been filed. There is a sealed filing. We don't know what it is. If that's from Jay Clayton, I also wonder why it's under seal. Could it be that Jay Clayton is telling the court something about an investigation that we as the public don't know? It could be. We don't know that either. So there are so many questions that have been raised by this production. Everything from why are we seeing pictures of Bill Clinton? To why haven't we seen the certification from Jay Clayton? And I hope in the coming days we'll get some resolution to those questions from the Department of Justice or otherwise.
- [36:15]
Nicole Wallace
Well, and because we shared news of a release of photos of Bill ever.
- [36:20]
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Nicole Wallace
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- [37:36]
Nicole Wallace
Well as news of the White House pushing out both the photo and the news of the existence of the photo. I just, in fairness want to read a statement from former President Bill Clinton spokesperson in its entirety. Quote, President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago or those with which he has been recently charged. In New York in 2002 and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey Epstein's airplane one to Europe, one to Asia, two to Africa, which included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton foundation staff. Supporters of the foundation and his Secret Service detail traveled on every leg of the trip. He had one meeting with Epstein in his Harlem office in 2002, and around the same time made one brief visit to Epstein's New York apartment with a staff member and his security detail. He's not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein's ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida. This is a statement when Epstein, I think, was still Alive. It's from July 8, 2019, from Bill Clinton's spokesperson, Angel Urania. What, if anything, is the Clinton staff saying today?
- [38:52]
Lisa Rubin
I imagine I have not seen a new statement from the Clinton staff, but we did see a statement last week, and they continue to say that Bill Clinton was not aware of Jeffrey Epstein's criminality in real time when he was associating with him, and that when he learned that Jeffrey Epstein was being investigated by Palm beach authorities, by the federal government, that he disassociated from him and did not continue a relationship with him. I imagine that the response from Clinton world will be similar today. And of course, you know, Nicole, that the House Republicans have continued to pursue depositions of both the former president and Secretary Clinton, and both of whom have said through their lawyer, David Kendall, we don't know anything. Please stop. Essentially, please stop bothering us. That deposition was supposed to happen this month. It has now been postponed until next month. And so the standoff may continue between the Clintons and Republicans in Congress who believe that they have an obligation to comply with the congressional subpoena and say what they did know about Jeffrey Epstein. So far, they have maintained the answer is pretty much nothing.
- [39:54]
Eva Longoria
Can I just add, I think it's really important, the fact that Donald Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said that there is nothing incriminating about Bill Clinton in the Epstein files. That is an extraordinary thing to say for a few reasons. One, if she knows that there is nothing incriminating about Bill Clinton in the Epstein file, then, yeah, why is the White House putting out photos and focusing on that and putting people. It's a distraction. And also, if Susie Wiles knows that there's nothing incriminating in the Epstein file about Bill Clinton, then Pam Bondi also knows that information. Pam Bondi is the one who would have told her what was in the Epstein file. And if Pam Bondi knows that there is nothing incriminating about Bill Clinton in the Epstein files, why would she agree to have an investigation opened into Bill Clinton you have to have a predicate. There has to be a factual basis. It can't just be a, I don't like this political enemy, I'm going to open investigation. It's completely unethical. She has to have some basis. And so for the chief of staff to come out and say it's not there, and Donald Trump has not corrected the record on that. He hasn't said anything. She point blank said he's wrong when he said that. The other thing is, Donald Trump has consistently said that Bill Clinton visited Epstein Island. Susie Wiles said there's no evidence of that. Again, no correction from the White House as to that. They are just putting out information that is complete misinformation. And for the Justice Department to then go along with that and to order an investigation when there is apparently nothing there. That is if they go through with that, if Jay Clayton decides to investigate Bill Clinton and there is truly nothing there, and it's only because Donald Trump told him to, then they would have to face repercussions down the road, I would imagine. I mean, that's a complete violation of the rules of professional misconduct.
- [41:49]
Nicole Wallace
All right, no one's going anywhere. When we come back, we'll show you what the Trump administration wasted no time doing today while they claim they did not have ample time to comply with the law of the land, the Jeffrey Epstein Transparency Act. So we know we've established that the Trump administration did not have time to go through the files as they were required to do by law and make them available the Transparency Act. But they did have time to do this. This is video of today's newly signed, newly named Trump Kennedy center for the Performing arts in Washington, D.C. that is the Kennedy Center. And this is what former. This is what President John F. Kennedy's niece, Maria Shriver said, quote, the Kennedy center was named after my uncle, President John F. Kennedy. It was named in his honor. He was a man who was interested in the arts, interested in culture, interested in education, language, history. He brought the arts into the White House and he and my Aunt Jackie amplified the arts, celebrated the arts, stood up for the arts and artists. It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy's name as acceptable. It is not. Next thing, perhaps he will want to rename JFK Airport, rename the Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Lincoln Memorial, the Trump Jefferson Memorial, the Trump Smithsonian. The list goes on. Can we not see what is happening here. Come on, my fellow Americans, wake up. This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It's downright weird. It's obsessive in a weird way. Just when you think someone can't stoop any lower, down they go. You could argue, Rev, that this is the worst week of his political career since President Obama mocked him at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, a humiliation some people think inspired his run for the presidency. But he started the week earning the rebuke of hardcore MAGA members of his own coalition like Ted Cruz, by lying about the tragic death of Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner. He ended by showing he's so small and undeserving that no one would ever create a center like the Kennedy center for him. So he scratched the name off it and put his there instead. I wonder if there's anyone around him that can tell him this is the opposite of power, this is the opposite of greatness, this is pettiness. And this is the stuff that makes him a joke.
- [44:31]
Reverend Al Sharpton
Absolutely makes him a joke. I think that when you look at the fact, as you said, this has been a terrible week for him politically, what is telling is that most of what he has gone through this week is self inflicted. It's not like some external force came and did something to him. He's done this. He's named Kennedy center, which everyone respects and regards because of the Kennedys and their commitment to the arts. He's the one that went through all of the maturations earlier this week in terms of whether or not what he said about the death of Bob Reiner and wouldn't take it back. So you have to say he's losing it politically and maybe even more because it makes no sense even for a narcissist to self destruct the way he's doing, because he's doing things that are totally unnecessary, totally against the pale in terms of the average American. The polls reflect that. And he's digging in deeper and there's.
- [45:36]
Nicole Wallace
Something wrong here in terms of Trump and the arts. I mean, you know him. Is he, does he take in the arts?
- [45:44]
Reverend Al Sharpton
Not that I know of. I know I used to see, oh, I think he goes to wrestling matches if he calls and people love that. People love that, that's great. But I mean, I remember James Brown was once inducted and he had me as part of his party. This was a big deal. I went with President Obama. It was a huge deal. And now you're going to get a guy that really is not associated with the arts, really not associated at all with anything at that level. And then he's going to put his name ahead of John F. Kennedy. Not only was he one with the arts, he was a modded president. It's a mixture of memorial. Next he'll be saying, bill, a statue of me sitting on the lap of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. I mean, there's no stopping this guy. And I think that it's very, very unfortunate for the country how, again I say how we look globally, how do we look? This is absolutely off the charts.
- [46:38]
Nicole Wallace
It's off the charts. Is it even legal to rename? I mean, it is in part a memorial?
- [46:44]
Eva Longoria
It's a good question. I don't know the answer to that. One would think that, that there would have to be some kind of. The board would have to go through some process to be able to make that change. But I don't know the answer.
- [46:58]
Nicole Wallace
He said the board voted unanimously. We know at least one board member said she wasn't allowed to speak.
- [47:02]
Lisa Rubin
She was muted. But I will tell you that online there's a lot of chatter that the Kennedy center is congressionally chartered. It was named by an act of Congress. And so there are some folks who are saying, yes, this is not legal, that only Congress having created the Kennedy center and naming it, can change the name of it. A bunch of gold plated letters, I guess, on its exterior doesn't change an act of Congress. But of course, this is an administration that today is telling us that they can change the rules when they see fit, even if it is an act of Congress. That act said no later than 30 days from the date of enactment. They owed us all the files. And still under the leadership of the Deputy Attorney general and his boss, they've decided to make this a rolling production. So I guess, you know, law is fluid to them.
- [47:46]
Nicole Wallace
I don't want to laugh on such a morbid day, but there's. I have a two year old and there's something about like when you give a kid a Tootsie Pop, it's because they wanted like a cake. And so like, they, like. I just keep wondering, like, what did he want that Susie Wiles put his name on the Kennedy center, right? Like maybe he wanted something worse. And so she's like, fine, fine, fine. Just go by the letters. They have them at Home Depot put up T, R, U, M, P. He's got some leftovers when we had to take him off all the, you know, buildings in the west side of New York City. I mean, what is going on that they're just like putting it past pacifier in his milk and sticking his name on the Kennedy Center? It's amazing. It's a question we'll ask every day. Christy Greenberg, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Lisa Rubin, for being here for the whole two hours, thank you so much. One more break. We'll be right back. We saved the best for last today. Our final note. All of us here at Deadline White House want to extend a huge, mushy hug and congratulations to our beloved stage manager and friend Eddie Tamborski on the birth of his beautiful, perfect new baby boy, Edward John Tamborski iv. To Eddie, to his wife, Maurino Sullivan, most of all, to his daughter, Maeve, who is now a big sister. We love you so much. We are so happy for you and baby Edward. To all of you at home, thank you for letting us into your homes. We are grateful. Want the same expert advice from the pros at a discount tire store while.
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