MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough bluntly asked Democrat Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin on Thursday why his party did not call for the release of files related to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when they were in power.
Democrats, led by California Rep. Ro Khanna, attempted to vote on a resolution intended to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all of the Epstein records, though House Republicans blocked this effort in a procedural vote on Tuesday. Scarborough challenged the Democrats’ timing of demanding the release during a segment of “Morning Joe,” telling Raskin that congressional Democrats could have called for it when former President Joe Biden’s administration held power.
“But congressman, you could’ve gotten that from [2021] to [2025] when Democrats controlled the DOJ. It was a crisis then, it’s a crisis now. Why didn’t Democrats call for it from ’21 to ’25?” Scarborough asked.
“You have to go back and look specifically at particular prosecutorial decisions and what was taking place in terms of the other cases,” Raskin answered. “So, I don’t know. We could try to reconstruct that record, but the point is that Donald Trump is the one who has led the crusade to say that Epstein, who was his very close friend and there’s all kinds of pictures of them and so on, that Epstein was at the center of this broad conspiracy. He’s now in a position to do exactly what he demanded which is to release all of the files. And so, why is that not happening? That’s the question. I can’t answer for Merrick Garland or anybody else in the Department of Justice.”
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Raskin further noted that there is a “bipartisan consensus” among the House Judiciary Committee that all of the files should be released.
“But I will tell you that I believe there is a bipartisan consensus in the Judiciary Committee now that all of these records need to be released and it’s within their power to do it. That’s what they were demanding and all they have to do is release the files. Not some of them, not the ones that Pam Bondi deems credible, they all should be released,” Raskin continued.
Bondi has come under scrutiny by both Democrats and Republicans since the DOJ and FBI concluded there is no evidence that Epstein did not commit suicide in 2019 or that he possessed a so-called “client list.” The attorney general alluded to having the so-called list on her desk during an interview with Fox News in February, though the DOJ and White House have since said that she referred to several documents relating to several cases.
Bondi also said during a July 8 cabinet meeting that she cannot release any additional footage related to the Epstein case because it contains child pornography. During a Tuesday press conference, she refused to take any questions relating to Epstein.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Bondi should release “whatever she thinks is credible” concerning Epstein. He has staunchly defended Bondi by saying she is doing a “fantastic job” and that the public needs to move on from Epstein.
Trump accused Democrats of creating a “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” similar to the now-debunked Russiagate story, which led to an investigation into the false accusations that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. He further alleged on Wednesday that many Republicans “got duped” by Democrats as many on that side of the aisle have expressed frustration with the administration.
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