Could the Epstein Vote Take Down Trump? Tara joins CNN

Summary

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Episode Summary: Could the Epstein Vote Take Down Trump?

Podcast: The Tara Palmeri Show
Host: Tara Palmeri
Release Date: September 9, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Tara Palmeri goes deep into the political and legal wrangling behind the push to release the full Jeffrey Epstein files, exploring how Congressional power plays, justice for victims, survivor activism, and the protection of the powerful are playing out in real time. As intense lobbying continues in Washington, D.C., Tara discusses whether the Epstein revelations could impact Donald Trump’s standing and details the tensions between transparency, justice, and political self-preservation. She brings her own reporting—including insights from sources and survivors—along with media analysis from her guest stint on CNN with Aaron Burnett and investigative reporter Barry Levine.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Survivors Push for Transparency on Capitol Hill

• Tara’s Reporting (00:05 – 03:00):

  • Tara describes her plans to cover a major rally and press conference in D.C. where Epstein survivors will urge Congress to vote for the release of the complete Epstein files.
  • She highlights Speaker Mike Johnson's resistance:

    “Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said, ‘no, no, no, I'm protecting these ladies by not releasing the files.’ And they're saying, ‘no, no, no, actually release the files.’” (00:41)

  • Survivors argue that genuine protection means releasing the files, redacting victim names if necessary. There’s open suspicion that the real concern is protecting influential abusers, not victims.

• Network of Survivors (01:20 – 03:15):

  • Tara shares her personal connection with survivors such as Marika Chartuni and Annie Farmer, emphasizing their bravery and the stakes for their fight.
  • She references the thematic book Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers by Deborah Turkheimer, framing the issue as a quintessential test of power and credibility bias in America.

2. Congressional Maneuvering: Power, Transparency, and Trump (03:20 – 07:50)

• Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican occasionally at odds with Trump, is seeking support to force a floor vote on full file release, in partnership with Democrat Ro Khanna.
• Speaker Johnson’s reluctance to bring the vote is seen as political self-preservation for vulnerable Republicans and, perhaps, for Trump allies.
• The narrative is clear:
  • Lawmakers must choose whether to “vote for transparency” and align with victims, or side with party interests and Donald Trump, who purportedly would prefer to see the scandal fade.

Notable Quote

“Speaker Johnson did not want his Republican members to have to vote to release the Epstein files, forcing the members of Congress, Republican members, to decide whether they will vote for transparency... or whether they will vote along with President Trump, who wants this story to go away.”
(Tara Palmeri, 04:04)

3. DOJ Document Dump: A Dribble, Not a Deluge (07:52 – 12:00)

• CNN Coverage – Breakdown (Aaron Burnett, Barry Levine, Tara Palmeri):
  • The Department of Justice released only 1GB out of 300GB of Epstein-related files—less than 1%—and 97% of that was already public information.
  • Victims, lawmakers, and media analysts agree that these selective releases are stonewalling justice.
• Disappointment in Content:
  • “We don’t have any of the juicy stuff... Where’s the autopsy report on Epstein? Where’s the 60 count indictment...the computer files, all the CDs?...We’re not seeing any of that tonight.”
    (Barry Levine, 09:52)
  • The only potentially new material are some Customs flight logs between the US Virgin Islands and Epstein’s private island, Little St. James.

4. Why Aren’t These Files Leaking? (13:11 – 14:41)

• Power and Lawfare:
  • Tara underscores the immense legal and societal power wielded by those named in the files—former foreign dignitaries, business tycoons, heads of state.

  • “There is a fear of retribution, of lawfare, of defamation suits by some of the most powerful men in the world... These were... serious circles.”
    (Tara Palmeri, 13:30)

  • Despite widespread public demand for transparency and accountability, the threat of lawsuits and institutional protection keeps the details suppressed.

5. The Stakes: Justice, Politics, and the Trump Factor (Throughout)

• The outcome of this battle over the Epstein files stands to impact not only the survivors but also potentially upend political fortunes—including Trump's. If a vote forces the files’ release and powerful names are revealed, it could be a decisive moment in American politics.
• Political actors like Speaker Johnson are accused of hiding behind rhetoric about “protecting victims” to shield the powerful—possibly including former President Trump.

Notable Quote

“It’s interesting because Speaker Johnson says he’s protecting the innocent. And yet the innocent who were there speaking to him directly... saying, no, we want the files out there. This is what we want. You’re not protecting us. This is, in fact, the opposite of that.”
(Tara Palmeri, 11:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Congressional Self-Interest:

  “Is he talking about these women who came all the way down to D.C. to say release the files, or is he talking about the men who they are accusing of being sex traffickers, men that they have been trafficked to, powerful men, friends of Jeffrey Epstein? Are they the same men that President Trump wants to protect?” (Tara Palmeri, 00:59)

• Victims’ Demands:

  “What do the victims want? Well, they're saying they want this out there. And terrorist reporting, Barry, has shown that there's over 1,000 men, names, male names, possibly in the total files.”
  (Aaron Burnett, 12:00)

• On the Threat of Defamation Suits:

  “There is a fear of retribution, of lawfare, of defamation suits by some of the most powerful men in the world.”
  (Tara Palmeri, 13:30)

• On The Possibility of Change:

  “We can all just hope when Speaker Johnson says delayed justice, that something's going to change and that he actually is going to want justice for those men and pursue that.”
  (Aaron Burnett, 14:54)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:02 – 03:15: Tara introduces the episode, shares updates on survivor activism, and sets up the Congressional stakes.
• 04:00 – 07:50: Deep dive into the political maneuvering around the Epstein files vote.
• 07:52 – 12:26: CNN media panel analyses the DOJ release, lack of new content, and frustration of survivors and lawmakers.
• 13:11 – 14:41: Discussion of why files haven’t leaked, the power of lawfare, and the influence of those named in the documents.
• 14:54 – 15:04: Hopeful closing about delayed justice and potential for change.

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Conclusion

This episode acts as a real-time dispatch from the frontlines of a battle for both accountability and transparency, where political calculation, legal intimidation, and the demands of survivors collide. Tara Palmeri centers the survivors’ voices—making clear what real justice would require—and boldly identifies the power dynamics obstructing it. The episode leaves open the possibility that a Congressional forced vote on the Epstein files could become a reckoning, not just for political figures but for the American system of justice and credibility itself.

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Transcript

[Tara Palmeri]

Welcome to the Tara Palm Mary Show. Thanks to all of you who have been with me since I launched this show back in March, and to all of you who have just come along and joined this community. I'm back from vacation. Thank you to all of you who gave me those few days off. I just celebrated my birthday and I came home to a tree that is very much dead. This fiddle leaf behind me, and I think it's a symbol of my life, sadly, the symbol of a globe trotting journalist who can't deal with a plant baby right now. If you have any advice on how to save this fiddle leaf, please let me know. It has sadly been dying for a long time. But you can leave your comments and tell me what I can do. If there is anything left. Perhaps I just need to replace it with a fake tree. But, yeah, I'm heading to D.C. tomorrow at a very ungodly hour. About like four in the morning. I'm gonna wake up to get on a train so that I can cover the presser for all of the Epstein victims. They will be there and they will be telling their stories of survival. And they'll also be pressuring Capitol Hill members to vote to release the Epstein files. That's what they want. And yet the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said, no, no, no, I'm protecting these ladies by not releasing the files. And they're saying, no, no, no, actually release the files. If they're Jane does, then just redact their names. If they're not, you can put it out there. You know, when Mike Johnson says protect the victims, is he talking about these women who came all the way down to D.C. to say release the files, or is he talking about the men who they are accusing of being sex traffickers, men that they have been trafficked to, powerful men, friends of Jeffrey Epstein. Are they the same men that President Trump wants to protect? That's the real question. Right. Well, I am going down there not just to cover this event and this rally. I am also there to reunite with some of the brave, brave women that I have worked with over the years, like Marika Chartuni. She's a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. We traveled all over the country together with Virginia Giuffre, who sadly won't be there, but her family will be there for her. It'll be a moment for us to reunite and to see Annie Farmer and so many other women that I am incredibly proud to know and who have helped me report this story out so that you can know more, who have taken really, really brave positions. You know, I just bought this book that Marika has been reading and told me to read. It's called Credible why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers by Deborah Turkheimer. I think I might try to have her on the show, by the way. And I think it's interesting because it really is the overarching theme for all of this, right? Who are we trying to protect in this case? Are we trying to protect the accusers or. Or protect the abusers? And this book really goes into this whole idea of credibility bias and how the people who accuse really have to go above and beyond to prove their credibility, and that there's always a bias towards the powerful in these cases. Really, it's a. It's really a reckoning of the MeToo movement and what we've actually. What we've actually gained from that, if anything, I mean, what does it really take to be believed? And I think that's what we're starting to see with this Epstein story. But, you know, it's incredible what Congressman Thomas Massie was able to do with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna. Massie is a Republican who has been on the wrong side of Trump, and he is not afraid to pick a fight. And this was one of the fights he chose to pick. It's one that has dogged Trump for months. And he is basically saying, release the files. Speaker Johnson did not want his Republican members to have to vote to release the Epstein files, forcing the members of Congress, Republican members, to decide whether whether they will vote for transparency, to release the Epstein files, to vote along with what the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein want, or whether they will vote along with President Trump, who wants this story to go away, who says that he does not want this release because he's protecting the innocent, but never really clarifying who the innocent really are. Now, I heard from a source inside of the room. Speaker Johnson met with some of the survivors, Jeffrey Epstein, and their attorney, Sigrid McCauley. She's a powerhouse attorney. She's a partner of David Boies, who really took them on, took Epstein on, and represented so many of the victims. And she said she warned them, if you get these files from the Department of Justice, if they're released and the names are unredacted, it's going to show you the names of very powerful men that my clients have been trafficked to. And what are you going to do about it? Are you going to build a real case? And, you know, these members promise justice for these victims who have for so long been overlooked and disregarded by the justice system. We'll see if they are actually able to do that. In the meantime, the DOJ Department of Justice is dribbling out just really, you know, small dribbles of information. 1% is the latest of the gigabytes. The 300 gigabytes that they're holding on to. 1 gigabyte came out okay, and here's the problem. How much of it is actually redacted? How much of it is new? House Oversight Chairman James Comer, who received them, told NBC that there is nothing new in these files. Now, there are some flight logs from the Customs and Border patrol between the U.S. virgin Islands and. And Jeffrey Epstein's little St. James island, where so much of this depravity happened. And if those flight logs, which I haven't been able to look over yet, show the names of victims and the men that they've accused of sexually assaulting them or molesting them on the same flights, I mean, that could certainly help if you wanted to build a trial. Right? If these prosecutors actually wanted to build a trial, they could do that, and they could use that as evidence. I mean, certainly that was used in the cases against Epstein and Glenn Maxwell. Well, it would have been used in a case against Jeffrey Epstein if they actually brought it to trial. But in Maxwell's case, I mean, they used Jane does to prosecute her. You can use Jane Dodes to build a case, and this is the kind of evidence you need. You need the flight logs, you need the pilots, the chauffeurs, the chefs, the people, the witnesses around. This is just more of that, if you choose to use it and to actually build a case. So, you know, this has been, you know, very underwhelming, obviously, that only 1% of the files have been released. But if the Congress votes to release them, maybe all of them have to be released. We'll see what happens. But, you know, I'm really proud to see so many of these survivors out there. They're sharing their truth. They're pushing, you know, our leaders, and they are, you know, doing what they believe. And they are. They're coming from all over the country. I mean, Marika is coming all the way from the west coast, from Washington State, and, you know, they're doing this because they really believe in it. And I don't think we can dismiss them. And I hope that they'll be heard on those Capitol Hill steps, that the government will finally take them seriously. I break down all of this and more on Aaron Burnett's show on Tuesday night. Take a Listen here.

[Aaron Burnett]

Breaking news. Congress just releasing tens of thousands of pages from the Epstein files. Tens of thousands of pages now. Right now, CNN's combing through these documents. There are redactions in there as well. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, though, have complained that this batch from the DOJ contains very little new information. It does come as members of the committee, along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, met with six Epstein accusers for more than two hours today. That's important. They were able to share their harrying stories with the speaker as they are pushing the Trump administration to release all of the files.

[Barry Levine]

There were tears in the room. There was outrage. It was both, I would describe it as heartbreaking and infuriated, infuriating that justice has been delayed so long.

[Aaron Burnett]

Speaker Johnson making those comments, talking about delayed, which would imply that now it's time for justice. But he is also, in terms of his action, opposing a push from Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who at this hour is collecting signatures for a petition that would force a vote on the release of the full Epstein files. He only needs six Republicans to join him. All right, Barry Levine's with us, former editor of the National Enquirer, author of the Spider about the Epstein investigation, and Tara Palmieri, who has reported extensively on Epstein and also has been speaking with some of his accusers today. So, Barry, just to go through these, the data we were all just sitting here prior to this of what we got, Ro Khanna told NPR this morning, jotting it all down because I thought he laid it out well, one gigabyte of information was released. Sounds like a lot. Oh, a gigabyte. Well, there were 300 total. So we got one out of the 300. That's less than 1%. And of that, less than 1% of the Epstein files, almost all of it, 97% of that little bit was already out there. So when people say we want the full Epstein files, that's not what this is. That's why Massie and Connor are up in arms. So is this anything new in here?

[Barry Levine]

Aaron, I wish we had something really bombshell to talk about, but what we're seeing, at least what I started going through, I'm seeing the same stuff that's already been out in the public domain that already has redactions on going back to the original Palm beach case. We have Maxwell's Court case. We don't have any of the juicy stuff that might tell us something and might give some of these victims closure. Where's the autopsy report on Epstein? Where's the 60 count indictment that was drawn up by the FBI that never came to. To pass. Really good informations in that material, the computer files, all the CDs. We're not seeing any of that tonight. What we are seeing is the possibility of a tidbit or two from the Customs and Protection list of Epstein flights from 2000 to 2014.

[Aaron Burnett]

So some more flights.

[Barry Levine]

There might be something new in some of that that may be or may not be redacted. I haven't gotten to that portion of it yet. But I'm expecting no real bombshells tonight from the new material.

[Aaron Burnett]

And really, Terry, I mean, the takeaway here is okay. It's nice they're releasing what they were given.

[Tara Palmeri]

Right.

[Aaron Burnett]

But why 1 gigabyte out of 300? I mean, what is the problem here, Right? If everyone wants transparency, give it to them all. Put it out there. That's not what happened happened.

[Tara Palmeri]

It's interesting because Speaker Johnson says he's protecting the innocent. And yet the innocent who were there speaking to him directly, six Epstein survivors in a room with him saying, no, we want the files out there. This is what we want. You're not protecting us. This is, in fact, the opposite of that. I know that from a source that their attorney, Sigrid McCauley, she's a partner at David Boyes firm. She's a powerhouse attorney. And she said, when you get those Epstein files, when the DOJ hands them over, they are unredacted. You are going to see the names of men that my clients have have accused that they have been trafficked to. That these people, they are out there and that they want justice. They're not okay with Jessica, Len Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein being prosecuted.

[Aaron Burnett]

And just to be clear. Right. And I think this is so important is what do the victims want? Well, they're saying they want this out there. And terrorist reporting, Barry, has shown that there's over 1,000 men, names, male names, possibly in the total files. Right.

[Tara Palmeri]

A thousand victims. Yeah.

[Aaron Burnett]

A thousand victims. I'm sorry.

[Tara Palmeri]

Right, right.

[Aaron Burnett]

I'm sorry. And countless men. Right. We don't know, but that part is redacted.

[Barry Levine]

Yes.

[Aaron Burnett]

Right.

[Tara Palmeri]

Dozens and dozens of men.

[Aaron Burnett]

Yeah.

[Barry Levine]

This is certainly something that really is the heart of the files. Let's go after these individuals. Not only the men who took part in the sex trafficking, but also the enablers, the men who put some of these victims on planes to the Virgin Islands. For Jeffrey Epstein, he had international fixers in several different countries who were supplying young girls to him. We know from the Attorney General in the Virgin Islands that there were girls as young as 12 years old who got off planes. There were men who put these girls on those planes. And we need to do a full sweep of all these files to come up with as many names of enablers and also individuals who took part in the trafficking.

[Aaron Burnett]

So, Tara, why is it. And every time I talk about this with anybody, you know, in conversation, it comes up a lot. What they say is, how come it hasn't leaked? How come something like this where justice could be done by those men being exposed, why hasn't it ever leaked? I mean, you've been covering this and reporting on it for a long time.

[Tara Palmeri]

It's interesting that you said that, because I think it's the fact that the people that are in those files, the men that are mentioned, are just so powerful. And this is just another extension of what we're seeing right now in our government lawfare. If these names are released, those very powerful men, first of all, they've already fought the courts to keep their names redacted in all these depositions, in all these files that are public. As you saw when Virginia Giuffre's documents were released by Graham Bondi, the classified documents, they were just her redacted depositions. Right. Already public. And that's the thing. I mean, there is a fear of retribution, of lawfare, of defamation suits by some of the most powerful men in the world. I mean, we're talking about foreign dignitaries, leaders, politicians, heads of state, business, finance. I mean, these were he rolled in some serious circles. I do think if there are some details in these flight logs, maybe it can be used to put together a real case. If a prosecutor wanted to do it, to show, okay, I can place this victim on this plane going to this island with these people. I mean, if you actually wanted to build a case, you could do it.

[Barry Levine]

Yes, you have that evidence, and you also have the existing flight logs. And if you match up some of the new material that's coming out tonight, there may be substantiated evidence that could be used in a possible prosecution.

[Aaron Burnett]

And we can all just hope when Speaker Johnson says delayed justice, that something's going to change and that he actually is going to want justice for those men and pursue that. Thank you both very much.

[Tara Palmeri]

I want to thank my producer, Eric Abenate, Adam Stewart, who handles my thumbnails, and Abby Baker on my social media. If you want to support my independent journalism and get my scoop straight to your inbox, please sign up for the red letter. You can do that by going to tarapaulmary.com that's T A R-A P A L M E R I dot com. You can obviously share this with your friends. Like subscribe, leave a written review. I'm not backing down. I'm back from my vacation. I feel so much stronger. Thank you to all of you who have sent me notes. Just turned 38 and it's gonna be 30. Great. And I really feel positive about what I am able to accomplish with this community, what we can all do. And I appreciate all the tips and everything you've sent to me. And of course I'll be in D.C. on Wednesday, so check out my social media. I'll be on. I'll be on msnbc. I'll be on Nicole Wallace's show. I'll be doing a live on Substack with Terry Moran. You can go to Substack. I'm on there at Tara Palmeri and I'll be live from the Capitol. So check out all of my social media, check out my podcasts, everything. I will be there. Twitter X whatever they're calling it now. I'll be back again soon.

[Aaron Burnett]

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[Tara Palmeri]

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[Tara Palmeri]

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[Tara Palmeri]

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