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The Jim Acosta Show
BREAKING: White House Lies about Epstein Birthday Book Revelations. Top Dem on Oversight Committee Rep. Robert Garcia & Rep. Jared Moskowitz join Jim to discuss.
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Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Foreign.
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Jim Acosta
Welcome to the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and Donald Trump's cover up of the Epstein files. The White House is continuing to call the Epstein scandal a hoax, despite the fact that the House Oversight Committee just released the Epstein birthday book that appears to include a crude note from Trump to Epstein. We've all seen it. Now, here to talk about this is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, who has been leading the charge to release the Epstein files. Congressman, great to see you. And I guess first of all, let's just jump right into this. Apparently Trump was talking to NBC earlier today and he was saying that this is a dead issue. I don't know if you, I'm sure you're seeing all the quotes from Trump on this, but he apparently said, I don't comment on something that's a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It's a dead issue. So he continues to say it's a hoax and it's a dead issue. But it's not a dead issue.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
It is far from a dead issue. In fact, unfortunately for Donald Trump, we're just getting started. And so he is going to have to deal with us every single day asking the questions that need to be answered that the American public are demanding. In fact, his own base wants to know the answers as to why he campaigned for so long, for years on releasing the Epstein files and now somehow is calling the whole thing a Democratic hoax. I mean, give me a break, give me a break. It's clear that this is all part of a massive White House cover up and they are hiding everything they can. Donald Trump wants nothing. If left to Donald Trump, we know nothing else, this would just go away. But it's not going away. And the snowball is getting bigger every single day.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And the White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt, who is, I guess, outspicering Sean Spicer these days, she says that Trump's signature is not on the documents in the Epstein birthday book. She said the President has one of the most famous signatures in the world and he has for many, many years. He did not sign those documents. She went on and on about this. We should show this to our viewers. Congressman, the New York Times has compared this signature to other signatures that Trump has sent to other notable people over the years, people like Rudy Giuliani and so on. It looks exactly the same. It's, it has that, that second D and Donald with the, the tail off the end of it. I'm assuming you guys have looked at all of this. And I guess the other question that, that pops in my head is, is that if this book was compiled back in what, 2003, are they saying that somebody forged all of this way back in 2003, 13 years before he ran for president? It just doesn't add up.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
No, I mean, and that's what I think, really crazy, that somehow there was a, you know, someone slipped in a note pretending to be Donald Trump in this birthday book that was curated by Ghislaine Maxwell. I mean, give me a break. But let's be clear. Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, per Jeffrey Epstein, were best friends for over a decade, 15 years. We also know that Epstein himself had a photo of Donald Trump on his desk. These guys were buddies. They hung around, not just in New York, but also in Palm Beach. All of this happened. And all, all of these horrific trafficking and these stories we hear from victims, they all come back to Palm beach, they all come back to Mar A Lago, they all come back to New York. And we know where now President Trump spent all of his time and where he lived. And so all signs point back to Donald Trump and the fact that there was a sex trafficking ring going on, the fact that some of these women were being brought in from parts of Eastern Europe, the fact that we know that there was a ring happening, sexual trafficking ring happening, particularly when it relates to some of these talent shows that we know the President was also involved in. Yeah, look, I mean, all signs are pointing in the same direction. And I think that to say this is a hoax or to not ask the tough questions, I think is, Is shameful. I think Republicans right now are lying through their teeth and trying to cover up for Donald Trump. But what I think Donald Trump and Republicans just don't understand is we have a new next generation, aggressive fighting fire group of Democrats that are newer to Congress that aren't going to let this go and we're going to push every day.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, and I do want to get into that aspect of all this in a few moments. But we were just showing some of the other images of the notes that were put into the Epstein book. This, this was released by the House Oversight Committee, folks. One of these is an image of Epstein and some guys holding up a check that wasn't signed by Donald Trump. We know that that's not a check sign by Donald Trump there, but it talks about selling to Trump a woman who is, quote, fully depreciated for $22,500. There are other images in here, Congressman, that are not from Donald Trump, but they show images of young girls being offered balloons by Jeffrey Epstein, and then they're depicted as being older women with him by the pool and that sort of thing. There's another one here of the Epstein plane. I suppose somebody named Joel put this together. I guess the reason why I'm mentioning this is that it doesn't seem like it was a very big secret that Jeffrey Epstein was up to this stuff back in the. I mean, this. This one in particular, that was disgusting. It is absolutely disgusting. It shows Epstein offering balloons and candy to little girls, and then he's being massaged, playing the poolside, you know, by these young, scantily clad women. And. But I. The reason why I bring this up is it. It seems to me this was. This was not a secret. You know, getting back to Trump's wonderful secrets that he talked about in that. In that purported note, it seems to me that Trump knew about this stuff. Other people knew about this stuff. It was going on. Nobody put a stop to it. And I just wonder what you think about this, because it, It. I think it adds to the case that this was known, this was a known thing.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
I think that's right. I think the one real discovery from this book is that all of Jeffrey. This book was made up of friends that Jeffrey considered close friends. Right. Friends that he knew, associates that he knew. And the fact that Donald Trump's note is so suggestive and clearly hints to what maybe Jeffrey Epstein was doing. What the President knew at the time and what he knows now, I think is important information for the American public. And the more files that we get and the more documents and bank records, we're putting together a case to really give the public the truth and to get justice for these victims. And I'm just really disgusted by the President calling the victims and the survivors liars. And somehow it's all one big hoax.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
He's drawing these photos of women and very suggestive pictures and talking to Jeffrey Epstein that, you know, they. They have this special secret that they share. What is the secret? Why are you drawing women on this note? Why are you referencing all of these kind of suggestive references to Epstein's, you know, like, of younger women? And we know that Jeffrey Epstein raped girls, underage girls, let's be very clear. And this was the President of the United States close friend. It's disgusting.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And he said back to New York magazine, what was it back in 2002 that. That Epstein was one of his friends and that he liked women on the Younger side, I think, is the way he put it in that, in that article, you're mentioning what the White House is saying. Let's play what Caroline Levitt said earlier today at the White House briefing room. I mean, she's really twisting herself into a pretzel and of this, but she's. They're still calling this a hoax, even though there's a physical birthday book with all these notes. Let's listen to this, talk about it.
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Conservative Reporter
Epstein files are back in the news because a lot of Americans feel that those that Jeffrey Epstein's victims never got justice. Does the president care about these victims? Do you think he can delete? Does he want to deliver more justice for them? And is he willing to meet with them?
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Caroline Levitt
The president cares about victims of all crimes. And that's why Republicans in the Trump Department of Justice have done more in terms of transparency when it comes to the Epstein case than any prior administration. And why are the Democrats all of a sudden caring about this? It's because they are desperately trying to concoct a hoax to smear the President of the United States. We have seen this time and time again, Ro Khanna and all of these other Democrats, they could have cared about those victims four years ago when Joe Biden was in office. They could have pushed for transparency then. Unfortunately, the Democrats are using victims as political pawns to try to smear and to push a hoax against the President of the United States. And I will get you numbers on the amount of child predators that this administration and this FBI and this Department of Justice have locked up under President Trump's leadership. We have done more than any president to protect victims of crime, especially disgusting, heinous sexual crimes, and that includes the deportation of illegal aliens who are perpetrating these crimes against innocent victims in our country right now, today. And that remains a top priority for this administration.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Yeah.
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Jim Acosta
Congressman, your response to that? I mean, it's only a matter of time before they name check you, but your response to that. And I mean, there's also, I mean, she doesn't say that he's going to meet with these victims and these survivors. I mean, she didn't say that there.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
And, and he should. I mean, if he really cares about the victims and survivors, you'd meet with them, talk to them. He's refused to do so. In fact, he's outright saying that what they're saying are lies and that it's some, some conspiracy hoax. I mean, there, there, Jeffrey Epstein had over 1,000 victims that were sexually trafficked, abused, tortured, molested, raped and so this idea that he wants to dismiss all of this, this, this story and what happened here is not going away. And it's not just of interest to Democrats, it's of interest to every American. I talk to Republicans back home all the time that are coming up to me saying, hey, this Epstein thing is really important to me. And I, I, I've trusted the President. I feel betrayed by the President. And so we're going to continue to push and hammer the stand. And look, I think everyone can see that the President right now has historic disapproval rating numbers and his numbers with independents, even with some Republicans, have tanked. Why is that? It's because not only are people seeing that he is not responding to his campaign promises on the economy, on lowering costs, it's also because they feel like they can't trust him. Here's someone who promised me something and now he's not delivering. He's betraying the base. And so we're going to continue to remind the President that if he does not do the right thing for the victims and survivors, it's going to cost him support from his own party and from independent voters. We're going to continue to push that.
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Jim Acosta
And you mentioned that there are more avenues that you plan to go down. And you mentioned bank records. I mean, what are some of the documents? What are some of the avenues that you're looking at next?
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Congressman Robert Garcia
We know that Epstein and Ghillane Maxwell ran essentially a, a international sex trafficking ring. And a lot exchanged a lot of money in that process. And so we want to see those bank records. Who paid Maxwell and Epstein, who did they pay out, what money went where? That information is within the purview of these large banks. And so we are beginning our work there and continuing our work and having conversations with the victims and survivors about what they know and what they're willing to share.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. And what's going on? I mean, if you can tell us a little bit what's going on behind the scenes with the Oversight Committee, because you came on as the ranking member and it seems like all hell broke loose for Donald Trump. And I wonder, you know, how much the chairman and some of the Republicans had to be dragged kicking and screaming in this direction. Perhaps it was their own constituents that, that demanded this. I know you and your, your colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle worked very hard on this, but I can't imagine that this was something that they wanted to do, you know, with smiles on their faces. Putting out the link yesterday that has all of these very disturbing documents included along with this note that very much appears to be coming from the President of the United States.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Yeah, I think, I think, look, they have, they have been kicking and screaming this entire time. Let's be clear. I mean, every positive development in this case has been because of House Oversight Democrats. The only reason we have a subpoena on the books to get all the documents is because we forced a vote in a Republican subcommittee that they did not want to take and that the own, the chairman himself of that committee opposed. The reason we're getting Acosta, Alex Acosta, in front of our subcommittee to be deposed, who of course is the architect of the Jeffrey Epstein grand deal that he got, the sweetheart deal that he got. He'll be in front of us because we demanded it. And we're getting Republicans like Representative Luna and others to publicly agree with us. The only reason why this book is actually now in the hands of the public is because it was House Democrats on our committee, Ro, Khanna, myself, others, that pushed and demanded that Kumar do this through the subpoena process. So every step of the way we have been pushing and fighting aggressively. And I hope, look, I feel like right now Oversight Democrats are a model of how a party needs to fight in this Trump era. We are bringing it all on the table. We're fighting, we're pushing, we're doing, we're bending the kind of the rules of what's possible in the minority. And I think the American public want to see this in everything that we do.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, no, I mean, people are tired of COVID ups and they're tired of Trump trying to, you know, worm his way out of this Epstein matter. I mean, it's just obvious that that's what they're doing right now. And you mentioned Alex Acosta, as I like to say, no relation, but when you get him in there, is he, is this going to be on camera or reporters gonna have to chase him down the hallway? Are we going to find out afterwards what he said? I guess, because that, that could be a big moment. He's the one who cut the sweetheart deal and you know, it sounds like he has a lot of information, potentially.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
A lot of, A lot of information, potentially. We're already working through that question line. We've got obviously some great, some great lawyers and some great researchers that are working on this right now. And so. But I'll be there. I'm looking forward to asking, asking some questions as well. Some other members. Look, you got to think about the folks that are on this committee are just, are dedicated to the Truth. And I think you've got some incredible leadership of Democrats that want it, want to see change in this country, want to see Donald Trump actually being held accountable. And we're going to continue to push every single day till we get transparency and oversight for the American public.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah, I mean, the other aspect in all of this is, you know, whether the Epstein files are ever fully released in a, in a significant way. I know a couple of weeks ago you were saying, well, just, you know, what we've seen so far is about 3% new, 97%, not really new. I suppose now with these, this birthday book out, perhaps that percentage has changed a little bit. But it sounds as though there's still documents that you need to get and you still need the administration to sign off on this. And people need to understand when they hear, you know, Mike Johnson saying things like, oh, he's an FBI informant and so on. I mean, it's Donald Trump who is, who is holding this up 100%.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Donald Trump could release all the files today. Yeah, right now they have them. They're already redacted from what we understand from the victims. We need to see the files. And one other thing, you know, on this redaction issue, one thing we worked out with the Epstein estate is everything redacted in this tranche of documents. We're actually going to New York to see the documents in person later this week.
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Jim Acosta
Okay.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
And we will compare the full document with the redactions to make sure that they haven't redacted anything that has, that has. Goes beyond protecting the actual.
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Jim Acosta
I was gonna say who's doing the redacting at this point? Sorry to interrupt, but who's doing the redacting right now? Is that the state or.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
The state's doing the redactions from what we got last night, but we're going to see the non redacted version later this week at their office in New York.
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Jim Acosta
Interesting. And you'll go with that on that trip where there'll be staffers or we.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Have our best lawyers that are kind of experts on this work, particularly as it relates to redactions. And you know, our ask of the, of the Justice Department is the same. When we get these EPC documents, they should give us access to the unredacted version of those documents so that we can see what they're actually redacting. We're now getting reports, as you probably saw, from folks within the DOJ saying that they're going to redact all the Republicans names from the files and just leave Democrats. I mean, this is not a partisan thing I've said. And Jim, you know this, too. I, I don't really care what political party these men were from. Who cares? I don't care how powerful they were or if they were a former elected official or a CEO of a large corporation. If you cause harm, then you should be held accountable. And who cares?
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Jim Acosta
And they've been trying to go after the Clintons all this time. And Bill Clinton's note in the Epstein book came out yesterday. It did not have the curves of a female there. It didn't talk about wonderful secrets. I think it mentioned something like a childlike curiosity. And then Fox tried to run with that and make it to be something. And nobody here is trying to say let's, let's stop Bill Clinton from being exposed for anything. And nobody's on your side of the aisle. Nobody is saying that. But on the Republican side, they're doing it's all hands on deck to try to prevent Donald Trump from being embarrassed in all of this.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Exactly right.
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Jim Acosta
That's the way it looks to the public. I mean, it does.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
And I think we're winning the argument with the American public. I really do. I think they understand. I think every day more and more folks get that Donald Trump is, is right now the mastermind of a White House cover up on the EPC files.
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Jim Acosta
All right. Well, Congressman Robert Garcia, great to have you. I mean, I have to say I've covered politics a long time in D.C. and the disclosure that came out yesterday with this birthday book as it relates to a president of the United States, I have not seen something like this in a very long time. You might have to go all the way back to the Monica Lewinsky stuff. I mean, it just, it's been a very long time since something like this level that is embarrassing to a president United States has been released. And I, and, and folks just need to know it is because of the Democrats on the committee who have been really pushing the Republicans to do this. I guess Thomas Massie on the Republican side, he has been helpful as well. But I mean, I would have to say to you, Congressman, you must feel pretty good about the work that that.
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Congressman Robert Garcia
Was put into this incredible team of folks, incredible staff. The committee members are great. I think everyone's committed to the truth. And I think, and of course, just the idea of getting justice for these victims. I'll tell you, Jim, like having spent time with them last week, I met a lot with a bunch of them both one on one and also in some group meetings and settings. And it's just really hard to hear what they've gone through. And I've been communicating with some of them. So we want to bring justice and bring them closure as well.
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Jim Acosta
Yeah. Well, Congressman Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. And come back anytime and, and keep us posted. Sounds like you still have work on your hands, so we'll let you go. Thanks a lot, Congressman. Appreciate it. It's Congressman Robert Garcia and he's, I mean, I, I do think he's right. I mean, I've talked about this on my show a million times. I've heard from the viewers on this a million times. We've talked about this with multiple guests over and over again. There's, there's a concern in the progressive base of the Democratic Democratic Party that a complacency has kind of set in, that the Democrats are not really doing enough to hold Trump's feet to the fire and so on. Folks, that that is changing somewhat. And I think Congressman Garcia hit the nail on the head a little bit. There is sort of a next wave of Democrats who are coming in like Robert Garcia, like Ro Khanna and some of their colleagues who are, you know, not so much tied to the establishment of Washington, D.C. as somebody who's been here for a while and understands that, that culture and that climate. You know, Congressman Garcia has not been in Congress for very long. And so there aren't as many people to piss off at the cocktail parties and so on. If he pushes the envelope on some of this stuff and they are getting results, it is quite astounding. I do want to tell our viewers, you want to hang in there a few more minutes because Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida is going to be joining in just a few moments. He's on the House Judiciary Committee. He, too, has some thoughts on all of these Revel from the Epstein book as it relates to Donald Trump's cover up in the Epstein files. I do want to recap where we see things right now because the congressman is going to join us in just a few moments. As you just heard from Congressman Robert Garcia, they do have plans to send attorneys with the House Oversight Committee up to New York here in the coming days to meet with officials with Jeffrey Epstein's estate. Those are the people who turned over the birthday book. You just heard this a few moments ago. It was the Epstein estate and officials with the estate who were doing some of the redactions that you see in those photographs. So for Folks who are wondering, why are there, you know, black squares over this person or that person? According to Congressman Garcia, that was handled by people with the Epstein estate. Now, what the House Oversight Committee is going to be doing here in the coming days, it sounds as though you're going to have attorneys with that committee, according to the congressman, going up there and now going through those, some of these documents again, to see what can be released to the public or what they can look at and then pass on in terms of what that information is to the public. So that's going to be very interesting to see how all this unfolds. I mean, and just again, I hate to gross people out, I know it's getting close to dinner time, but this is important stuff. When you see this kind of material in the Epstein book and that Donald Trump, way back in 2003, is asked to contribute to a birthday book. And this is some of the material that Ghislaine Maxwell is putting together, this atrocious, disgusting material. You know, there's a plane, there's women, there's a birthday cake. I mean, it does not take a genius to put the pieces of the puzzle together here, folks. Connect the dots. And that Donald Trump was being asked to contribute to something like this is pretty appalling. And of course, when Donald Trump makes his contribution, there's a drawing of a female body and there is this back and forth, this fictitious, I suppose, who the hell knows? Back and forth between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. And it ends with Donald Trump saying, may every day be another wonderful secret signed by Donald J. Trump. And the signature there, as we'll note, White House, I mean, even House Speaker Mike Johnson was saying earlier today, oh, I was told that the signature is not true, the signature is not real. The New York Times folks compared Donald Trump's signature to other signatures on other notes that were sent to other people in this time frame. In 2001, in a letter, Rudy Giuliani and a 1998 letter to two New York City officials. It's the same damn signature with that long tail coming off of the second D. Another 1998 letter, Rudy Giuliani, a 1995 letter to Rudy Giuliani. If anybody saw Lawrence O' Donnell last night on MSNBC, Lawrence O', Donnell, apparently he got a note from Donald Trump. It has the same Donald. For folks who don't know this, and I, I know this from going back to the campaign, Trump would routinely send these notes out to people with his big squiggly signature, and he would write these Signatures and notes on articles and so on, to send them off to people in kind of a Sharpie looking or heavy ink, pen looking sort of format. And so it's not surprising at all to see that these signatures match up. And so the question has to be asked, I mean, Maggie Haberman with the New York Times at the briefing earlier today asked, you know, well, are you saying that the documents are a hoax? What are you saying? And Caroline Levitt said, no, it's just that the whole thing has been concocted to harm Trump and that's the hoax. Okay, that's not a hoax, folks. That's, that is not a hoax. And so somebody has to ask the question of Caroline Levitt. If this book was put together back in 2003, are you saying that somebody back in 2003 forged Donald Trump's signature and put together this note and slipped it into this birthday book to embarrass him 22 years later when he's the President of the United States, Folks, it just doesn't make any sense. And so when you hear, I mean, obviously we all know Caroline Levitt, you know, she's out Spicering, Sean Spicer, she's out huckabeeing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, she's going for the gold when it comes to being the most full of crap White House press secretary under Donald Trump. Their job is for, for folks who don't understand this, the job of the White House press secretary going back many, many years is to go out to the public and give the truth to the American people, give facts to the American people. So when journalists around the world write about what's happening in the United States, they say, the White House said this, the White House said that it's supposed to be factual information under Donald Trump. They have White House press secretaries who just lie to the public. This is what they do. Their job is to lie to the public. And Caroline Levitt, I mean, she's, she's certainly no exception when it comes to that. And you know, you can see when she was talking, this was a conservative reporter, she was talking to that clip that I played to Robert Garcia earlier. She was speaking to a conservative reporter who was asking Caroline Levitt whether Donald Trump cared about, cared about these Epstein victims and whether he's gonna, whether he's gonna meet with these Epstein. Let's play one more time if we can, and let's, let's listen to this.
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Conservative Reporter
A lot of Americans feel that those, that Jeffrey Epstein's victims never got justice. Does the President care about These victims, Do you think he can? Does he want to deliver more justice for them? And is he willing to meet with them?
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Caroline Levitt
The president cares about, about victims of all crimes. And that's why Republicans and the Trump Department of Justice have done more in terms of transparency when it comes to the Epstein case than any prior administration. And why are the Democrats all of a sudden caring about this? It's because they are desperately trying to concoct a hoax to smear the President of the United States. We have seen this time and time again, Ro Khanna and all of these other Democrats. They could have cared about those victims four years ago when Joe Biden was in office. They could have pushed for transparency then. Unfortunately, the Democrats are using victims as political pawns to try to smear and to push a hoax against the President of the United States. And I will get you numbers on the amount of child predators that this administration and this FBI and this Department of Justice have locked up under President Trump's leadership. We have done more than any president to protect, protect victims of crime, especially disgusting, heinous sexual crimes. And that includes the deportation of illegal aliens who are perpetrating these crimes against innocent victims in our country right now, today. And that remains a top priority for this administration.
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Jim Acosta
So you see what Caroline Levitt does right there at the end of this. She tries to. Oh, hold on a second, folks. Let me switch gears over to immigration, because, you know, those, those doggone illegal aliens, you know, they're, they're just totally outdoing Jeffrey Epstein. And all of this, I mean, the craven, just cynicism baked into what she's doing there, just the dishonest, just repugnant dishonesty that she's laying into that when it's, look at this. This is a note from what appears to be Donald Trump's hand to Jeffrey Epstein. And I'm sorry, Caroline Levitt, in what way does it make sense that this was forged back in 2003 and slipped into this book that was being held by the Jeffrey Epstein estate? And then now suddenly, this is some, Some hoax? It doesn't make any sense. The other thing that needs to be asked is a viewer comment says she thinks we're a bunch of idiots. It's exactly right. She thinks we're a bunch of idiots, but we're not. The American people are on to you, Caroline Levitt. They're on to you, Donald Trump. That's why Trump said earlier today, it's a debt issue. It's not a debt issue. You're breathing life into the issue with your stupid lies. That's why if you release the Epstein files, we can get to the truth. Now, if, if, if Donald Trump had nothing to worry about, he folks, he would have released the Epstein files months ago. This would have been released over the summer. You bury things in the summer. That's how it works in Washington. It's now. Well, I guess technically it's still, it's still technically summer, but the clock is ticking on that, too. It's after Labor Day, Congress is back. The time to release the Epstein files. They know politically speaking is probably passed. And so this is going to continue to go on. The other thing that needs to be asked is that they're so concerned about child sex trafficking. And here's the other thing. If it, I mean, if Donald Trump had no knowledge of any of this going on, why is his name on a check in a Jeffrey Epstein book and on this note in a Jeffrey Epstein birthday book, not only is it, does it appear to be known that Jeffrey Epstein was engaging in this kind of repugnant behavior and engaged in sex crimes against children for some reason, Trump's name just popping up in here, just popping up in this book. Very strange. Very strange. And the other thing we should ask, you know, of Caroline Levitt, if you're so concerned about child sex crimes and sex trafficking, why did you move Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security President Carol Lang? I like that viewer comment, Caroline. Exactly. No, the question has to be asked, if you're so concerned about sex trafficking, why was Ghislaine Maxwell moved to a minimum security prison? She should be asked that over and over again. They don't have a good answer for that. They don't have a good answer for it because the answers are, are not good for them right now. They're, they're, they're, they're politically painful for them. I mean, this was, this appears to have been common knowledge. Look at these, look at these images. Happy 50th of, of scantily clad women, a plane, the Epstein plane, a birthday cake and some balloons. And this was known stuff. Congressman Jared Moskowitz is going to be joining me in just a few moments. I just heard from his staff. Again, look at this absolutely disgusting, disgusting stuff in this birthday book. And this would not, I mean, if you think, if somebody at home thinks that Congressman James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, was just on his own going to release this information, I mean, you got to be kidding yourself. And look at this, this is how common knowledge it was that Jeffrey Epstein was engaging in this kind of stuff back then. There's a picture here. Look at this. Handing balloons and candy to little kids and then being massaged on the beach of women in, in scantily clad outfits and, and some topless. I mean, it's just absolutely disgusting. And so this is who Jeffrey Epstein was. Donald Trump was apparently very good friends. Not apparently, he was very good friends with Jeffrey Epstein. We've seen the video of them dancing on the dance floor. We've seen the video of Donald Trump telling the joke in Jeffrey Epstein's ear and Epstein laughing. Come on, put the pieces of the puzzle together. I mean, this, this is not, this is not brain surgery, folks. What was going on here? And the American people deserve to, to have some answers here. The survivors, the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and their families deserve to have answers. It's absolutely appalling. Like I said, Jerry Moskowitz, Congressman from Florida, is going to be joining me in just a few moments. I, I do plan on getting into this with him. A couple of things we should just lay out in terms of headlines. Trump apparently has said that he is going to be moving forward with a second phase of sanctions on Russia. He has gone back and forth on this. Congressman Moskowitz has been working on this issue. We'll talk about this in just a moment. But this just happened in the last 24 hours. Russia launching its largest air attack of the war in Ukraine. This happened overnight, setting the main government building on fire in Kiev and killing at least four people, including a baby. This is according to Ukrainian officials. Zelensky said the drone and missile barrage killed four people, caused damage across the north, south and east of the country. But the fact that they're hitting Kyiv, folks, is, is, it's a, it's a very disturbing development. Let me just check in with his staff here. But Trump has gone back and forth on this ever since. Well, I mean, before, obviously, that disastrous summit that he had with Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage, Alaska. But since then, he has hinted that he's going to be again revisiting this issue of sanctions. Folks, as I've said many times on this program, at every turn, at every turn, Donald Trump plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin. At every turn, you cannot find a situation where he has not played into the hands of Vladimir Putin. And so for folks who are holding their breath at home, hoping that he's going to put forward new sanctions on Russia, that'll be interesting. That'll be interesting to see if that actually happens. Well, all right, listen, folks, I'm going to try to see if I can get in touch with Moskowitz's team right now. Let me just see here real quick. Standby. Stand by, stand by, stand by. The other thing we want to get into with the congressman when he joins us, another issue that happened today, I'm sure we saw this. Israel attacked Qatar. This was a, an attack, the Israelis say, that was aimed at members of Hamas's leadership. And the Qatari Foreign Ministry said that the reports about being informed about the Israeli attack on Doha beforehand are false. The White House was saying, the Trump administration was saying that, that the Qataris were warned in advance. But according to Qatari call received from a US Official came when sounds of explosions were heard in Doha. This according to Qatar. And the statement came as White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt briefed reporters on the Doha attack. She said that Trump directed a top aide, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar that the attack was coming. Folks, this is, this is, this is a highly important development in all of this. I mean, first of all, we do know going back to the October 7th attacks that members of the Hamas leadership, they, they were showing up in places like in Doha. And there's Congressman Moskowitz now. Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it.
- [36:39]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
No, pleasure to be with you again. Thanks for having me.
- [36:42]
Jim Acosta
I was just, you know, I was just talking about this situation in Qatar, and maybe you can just give us a quick comment on this. I know you've been following the events since October 7th very closely. Your thoughts? I do want to get into, you know, Epstein and Russia and Ukraine and so on, but just, I was just reading this headline about what took place with what appears to have been an Israeli attack on, on Doha today. Your thoughts on that? What kind of information can you, can you offer?
- [37:11]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Well, I know what you know, Jim. I just know what's publicly available. We don't know how successful the attacks are. There's conflicting reports at the moment. You know, obviously, it has been bewildering to me for a long time. Why Hamas has been able to have safe harbor in Qatar since October 7. They should have been expelled, quite frankly, from the country. But Qatar has a hundred lobbyists hired up here. The attorney general is a former Qatari lobbyist. And so, you know, they've given the President a plane as, as we all know. So the Qataris are very advanced on how to deal with the American political system and how to fight back on that. That being said, I think President Trump gave Hamas a warning, saying, take the Deal. This is your last warning. That was, I think, a day or two ago. And then obviously, this attack happened. No one believes. No one believes that Israel didn't do this without the US Being aware of it. And, and by the way, I would actually be surprised if the Qataris didn't have some idea that patients had run thin and this was coming.
- [38:24]
Jim Acosta
Qatar, I mean. I mean, you know, Qatar, yes. They have a. I mean, this is, putting it mildly, a complicated relationship when it comes to the issue of Hamas. But they are considered to be a US Ally, are they not? I mean, that's not exactly, you know, putting things over the top.
- [38:43]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Yeah, which is why, Jim, I think this was probably something that has been choreographed behind the scenes now for weeks, that patience had run thin, that there isn't a deal. Because I want there to be a deal. I want the hostages to be released. I want the war to come to an end. I want Hamas to be disarmed and not be involved in the political system in Gaza and for a new political system for the Palestinians in Gaza to come up and end this horrific chapter in the region that was brought on by Hamas on October 7th. So we all want that, but because Hamas is winning the PR war, and they are winning the PR war, there's just no doubt about it.
- [39:24]
Jim Acosta
What do you mean by that? I mean. Well, I mean, the suffering in Gaza is not pr. It's real.
- [39:30]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Oh, listen, that. What's going on in Gaza is real. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but Hamas doesn't care about that. Hamas doesn't care about the Palestinians. They cared about the Palestinians. They would release the hostages, so they. They don't care about the Palestinians. It's why they locate their weapons amongst the civilians. It's why they do exactly what they do all day to let. To make sure the Palestinians are in fear. None of the Palestinians are invited in the tunnels. They didn't build any bomb shelters. Right. What they want, quite frankly, is as much carnage as possible, because Hamas's mission isn't the future of Gaza, it's the destruction of Israel. So if Hamas goes down and takes Israel with it, that's success for Hamas. They don't care what happens to the Palestinians. I mean, if you actually. If anyone watching believes that Hamas actually cares about the Palestinians and.
- [40:24]
Jim Acosta
No, I hear what you're saying, but would you, if you had a chance to tell Bibi Netanyahu to knock it off? I mean, in terms of these. These attacks on civilian targets in Gaza, would you tell him to do that? I mean, because it seems to Me, this is. This has gone on long enough. I mean, a lot of what, What.
- [40:41]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
I, What I've said is, to me, for a while now, there seems to have been no strategy in Gaza. Okay, you look what they did with the Iranians, right? Taking out the air defenses, taking out the upper levels of the regimes. You look what they did with the Houthis a couple weeks ago. You look what they did with Hezbollah. You look at this targeted strike. Obviously, Israel can be more targeted, and I think that that's what they need to be doing in Gaza at this standpoint. They need to figure out how to be more targeted, how to be more careful. And look, war is terrible. There's a million dead people in Ukraine, by the way.
- [41:14]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, And I did want to get to that. Yeah.
- [41:16]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Between the Russians and Ukrainians, there's a million people that have died there. There's 60,000 people, which includes Hamas fighters. Okay. That have died in Gaza. War is horrible. We want these wars to end. But we also have to understand, when I say Hamas is winning the PR war, they have sold the war to Americans over TikTok. I mean, Israel is more popular with the Arab League than they are with Europe. Okay, how did that happen?
- [41:44]
Jim Acosta
Well, and I, I. You. You popped up. We were waiting for you. We popped up right when I was reading a headline about what took place in Qatar. But I do think that it's more than just. I, I see what you're saying about the PR thing, but it, to me, it seems it's more than just a PR thing, that the, the level of suffering. And, and Again, I covered October 7th.
- [42:06]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
I don't want to conflate the two. There is dramatic suffering going on in Gaza.
- [42:09]
Jim Acosta
Dramatic suffering.
- [42:10]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Yeah, dramatic suffering. Okay, but that's different than what Hamas is trying to do in the tech space.
- [42:17]
Jim Acosta
Okay, No, I get that. No, I get. But, but all actors are in the tech space. But anyway. All right, I see what you're saying. On, On Ukraine, and I do want to get to Epstein, but on Ukraine, I mean, what they. It is quite something for Reuters to be reporting that this is the most. That this is the biggest barrage of attacks that have been unleashed on the UKRA in the war thus far, what took place overnight in Kyiv and across the country. Putin is just not getting the message. It seems to me the, the summer that. That Donald Trump had with Putin in Anchorage was a complete failure. He keeps going back and forth on sanctions, which is just signaling weakness of Vladimir Putin. Is. Is. I know you've been working on getting a bipartisan group together to. To push for more sanctions. Where is that going? Does it have much, much of a hope for success with Donald Trump as the commander in chief?
- [43:08]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
We have to ask my Republican colleagues, who are afraid of the president themselves. They're more afraid of the president than Vladimir Putin is afraid of the president, and that's clear. The summit was clearly a failure. We didn't want it to be a failure, by the way. I mean, we wanted that summit to be a success, to bring the war to an end, but that's not what happened. Vladimir Putin clearly played the president, and the war is in a worse spot after the summit than it was before the summit. And so where we go from here is not clear. What I don't understand and I've not understood is the president is tougher on Canada than he is on the Russians. He's tougher on Greenland than he is on the Russians. He's even tougher on India now than he is on the Russians. Just do the sanctions already. Like, we got to move forward. The president actually has a very strong hand. Like, we're a very powerful country economically. We can do lots of things. Right. You tried appeasement. That didn't work. You tried talking this. Talking to him and sitting down with him and showing him Alaska. Right. That didn't work. Okay, so maybe now try the stick. If the carrot didn't work. Try the stick and do the economic sanctions.
- [44:24]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. I mean, he. He brings Vladimir Putin onto American soil in the middle. In the middle of a war where he's basically a war criminal. And the way he's prosecuted that war, I mean, that to me is so. Is so much of a concession that, I mean, it would make Ronald Reagan roll in his grave. And he got nothing out of it, just nothing from Vladimir Putin. And I don't understand why we. Why anybody thinks that Trump even is considering doing anything that would remotely hurt Vladimir Putin or Russia.
- [44:54]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Again, the president is tougher on Gavin Newsom and Governor Pritzker than he is on Vladimir Putin.
- [45:00]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [45:00]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Okay. And so, look, this is something that has bewildered the.
- [45:04]
Jim Acosta
Why doesn't he have a nickname for Putin? He has a nickname for Gavin Newsom. Yeah.
- [45:08]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
I don't know. Maybe you don't give your friends nicknames. I don't know. You're asking me to figure out why? Yeah, But. But there's no doubt the policy that he criticized of Joe Biden, okay. Towards Vladimir Putin and the war. We're nine months into the Trump administration, and at this point, the policy has failed. The Trump doctrine against Vladimir Putin has failed. Befriend him, bring him to America, take him fishing in Alaska. Do that stuff. Okay. And maybe, maybe we'll, we'll try something different that hasn't worked.
- [45:43]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. Let me ask you about the Epstein matter, because we just had. Congressman Garcia on the House Oversight Committee has gotten these documents. They're, they're absolutely disturbing. And you're on Judiciary. I'm wondering, you know, shouldn't the House Judiciary Committee be holding hearings on this in particular? I mean, Caroline Levitt was out in front of the White House press corps today talking about how Donald Trump has been so tough on sex trafficking and how he's really cracking down on child sex trafficking and so on. Meanwhile, they've transferred Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison out of, out of your state and over to Texas to kind of a Club Fed situation. That, to me, seems to be something that a House Judiciary Committee would want to look into. I mean, how is that possible that she got transferred to this, this minimum security prison? I guess because she gave them the information that they wanted. But that, that still doesn't take care of the answer.
- [46:39]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Yeah. I mean, listen, you know, there is no doubt that the Trump administration and many people in it have bungled this Epstein thing for the last couple of months. Right. And first of all, in Judiciary, we're going to be getting Cash Patel next week, I believe, the Director of the FBI, in front of the committee. And then after a couple weeks later, we'll be getting the Attorney General, Pam Bondi. So we're about to have hearings with that. I can assure you we'll be asking them a lot about Epstein and, and how Dan Bongino is doing. Right. I mean, you know, Dan Bongino, please. How's he, how's he doing?
- [47:11]
Jim Acosta
I haven't seen him lately.
- [47:12]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Yeah. With this whole, with this whole matter. So here's what I would say. Right. Right. We have the list. The list is on my desk. Remember that? Let's not forget that. And that was after we gave binders to all of the Republican influencers. Part one of the binder, that would have meant that there was a part two, which has never happened. You know, then obviously there's the memo of there is no list. And that's when everything went haywire. Right. MAGA came for the Attorney General. Then the President starts saying the whole thing's a hoax. It's a Democratic hoax.
- [47:46]
Jim Acosta
Yeah. And there it is, right there. Look at this. I mean.
- [47:49]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's. I mean, it's a decent doodle, I guess. So you know, it's a hoax. That was this whole thing. Democratic host Barack Obama. Blame Obama. Back to the. Back to the playlist. Right. He went after his own base and told them that they were taking Democratic propaganda. Right. Even though his base has been on this for years. Dan Bongino has his job because of the Epstein thing. Cash Patel has his job because of the Epstein.
- [48:17]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [48:18]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Okay. That was their seminal issue. Trump said he was going to release the files, and then all of a sudden, we get massive distraction. You know, they send us home a day early from Congress. While we're away, the deputy Attorney General goes to meet with Maxwell. He happens to be President Trump's former personal attorney. Ghislaine Maxwell says Trump had nothing to do with it. Then immediately she gets transferred to a. To a prison. I mean, those things are not connected, obviously. Right, right. I mean, you know, then we come back, they dropped files that were 97% already public. Okay. They're telling people if you sign the Thomas Massie discharge petition, which just says release the files, that that's going to be considered a hostile act against the administration. They're tougher on Republican members saying it's a hostile act. And they aren't Vladimir Putin again.
- [49:09]
Jim Acosta
Right, right.
- [49:10]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
I mean, wow, Jim, this is a lot. This is a lot like, I want to be in the room. Like, are they like, hey, we got to get this Epstein thing off the COVID Right. A lot stuff's going on, like, what should we do? And someone's like, oh, maybe we should, like, invade Washington, D.C. and someone's like, yeah, yeah, put that into motion. That will change.
- [49:29]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [49:30]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
And then Epstein comes back, and they're like, shit, that didn't work. What do we. What do we do now? And. And someone's like, I don't know, have the speaker of the House say he was an FBI informant. Okay. You put out the third most powerful person in the country, and he's like, and Trump was an FBI informant. And then people were like, like, oh, well, we have lots of questions. How did he become an FBI informant?
- [49:49]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [49:49]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
On the inside. Did they turn him? Was he undercover? Was he ever part of it? And people like, okay, no, no. So stop this FBI informant thing. So they put the speaker back out there. It's like, oh, wrong words. I use the wrong words.
- [50:00]
Jim Acosta
I'm trying to imagine, like, Donald Trump as an FBI informant, too. I mean, you can, you know, do I have to wear a wire? Where are they going to put the wire? You know, does it go in the head.
- [50:10]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Do you think he used the same shade of, of COVID up?
- [50:13]
Jim Acosta
You have to spray orange. You got to spray tan that wire in there or else it's not going to blend. Although, you know, with the hand and everything, who knows?
- [50:20]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
I mean, listen, if this, if think about where we are now, okay? If this Epstein thing continues to go on, imagine the distractions and misinformation that are about to come. I mean, you know, if the DC thing and the Chicago thing didn't work, imagine what's about to come our way.
- [50:36]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [50:36]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
To try to turn the page for, from Epstein.
- [50:39]
Jim Acosta
Well, I mean, to, just to stay on that vein. I mean, you know, if Cash Patel is coming, I mean, I have to imagine somebody's going to ask him the question, do you have any information about Donald Trump being an FBI informant? The White House tried to knock this down today and say he was, he was not a White House or he was not an FBI informant. But I mean, that is one of the more ridiculous lies I've ever heard out of the mouth of a Speaker of the House.
- [51:04]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
But let's be clear. The speaker of the House is the third highest ranking yes. In the government. Right? President, vice President, speaker of the House. Okay. He's someone who, who gets four eye only intelligence. Okay. He gets briefings that no other members of Congress get, that very few people in the government get. And he comes out clear eyed, looks everyone in the camera and said, and Donald Trump was an FBI inform informant. Okay.
- [51:32]
Jim Acosta
Yeah.
- [51:33]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
What?
- [51:35]
Jim Acosta
Right.
- [51:35]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
And then because that one didn't stick, it didn't work, they immediately pulled it back. They're just throwing things at the wall, trying to see what happens. I mean, maybe they'll bring back Greenland. Maybe we'll actually invade Greenland this time.
- [51:47]
Jim Acosta
Yeah, well, and, and I mean, I.
- [51:50]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Don'T want to give them any ideas.
- [51:51]
Jim Acosta
Sorry, I was gonna say don't give them any ideas because right now there, there's stuff happening in, I guess Puerto Rico and, and, and possibly Venezuela, who the hell knows what. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us. We appreciate. Always good to talk to you. Let's do this again soon.
- [52:05]
Congressman Jared Moskowitz
Thanks, Jim. Appreciate it.
- [52:06]
Jim Acosta
All right, thanks a lot. Congressman Jared Moskowitz of Florida, folks. I mean, again, going back to the conversation we were having earlier on in the program, there's one person who can put all of this to rest. You know, Caroline Levitt can go out into the White House briefing room and twist herself into a pretzel and, you know, spin all of these tales about how Donald Trump is hard. He's tough on sex trafficking and he cares about the victims of all crimes and so on. Well, if he cares about the victims of all crimes, first of all, he should meet with the survivors and the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. He has not offered to do that. Why has he not done that? When is that going to take place? That seems to be something he should do, at least behind closed doors in the Oval Office. And the reason why he's probably not going to do it is because of this note right here. This note right here that Caroline Levitt said earlier today is a fake, that the signature on there is not Donald Trump's signature. And that somehow, way back in 2003, 22 years ago, somebody forged Donald Trump's signature exactly the way it appears in all of these other letters, and then tucked that into this Epstein birthday book so it would blow up in his face 22 years later when he's serving his second non consecutive term as President of the United States. Does anybody buy this? Does anybody buy this? That Donald Trump did not know what was going on? That Donald Trump did not know what Jeffrey Epstein was doing? It appears to have been common knowledge what Jeffrey Epstein was doing. If you go by these images that came out of the birthday book, everybody knew about it, it seems, down in, in West Palm beach and Palm beach and Mar A Lago, South Florida, New York. Anybody who ran in that circle. And if this, I mean, if this can somehow be proven that this was Donald Trump and he drew that female figure and put in their wonderful secret. I mean, come on, people, come on. The President of the United States and Jeffrey Epstein were buddies. It seems like they were the best of friends for years. And Caroline Levis as well, he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar A Lago for being a creep. Really? Is that what was going on? That's not. According to experts who have looked at this, journalists who have reported on this for many, many years. That is not what happened. And it sounds, I mean, this is kind of. This is pretty creepy stuff. People like Steve Chung, Caroline Levitt and others have said that Trump kicked him out for being a creep. This is pretty creepy stuff. And it looks like Donald Trump knew about it and knew about this for years. Knew about this for years. And if he wasn't an FBI informant, I mean, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, as Congressman, was saying, one of the most powerful people in the world goes out there with this lie that Donald Trump was an FBI informant. Maybe he should have been one. Maybe he should have been going to the FBI and somebody needs to ask Donald Trump the question, if you weren't an FBI informant, why weren't you one? Why didn't you go to the feds and say that this disgusting behavior was going on? Why didn't you tell them about these wonderful secrets that Jeffrey Epstein had? Lots of questions to be asked. We're still not getting any good answers. I want to thank Congressman Robert Garcia for joining me on the show. Congressman Jared Moskowitz as well. Thanks to all of you for watching. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Hey, have a good evening. We'll see you next time.