Trump finally confronted on Epstein emails... it goes terribly - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

BREAKING #news - Trump finally responds to questions on new Epstein emails.

Transcript by YouTube and TxT.

BTC: The last few days for Trump have been marred by a not so subtle refusal to engage on the issue of Epstein. Case in point.

Reporter: (while Trump was walking to Marine One) What did Jeffrey Epstein mean when he said you knew about the girls? If the Epstein case is a hoax, why are you calling for more investigations?

BTC: But finally, tonight on Air Force One, Trump was confronted with questions on Epstein that he deigned to answer. I'm going to show a few individually, so stick around to the end because you're going to want to see them all. But here's the first one. And if you already thought that Donald Trump had little patience on these Epstein questions, that pales in comparison to what he does here.

Reporter 1: Sir Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman was on CBS News. She was talking about how the files should be released. We anticipate that a vote will happen in the House. I know you have been briefed about the investigation today.

Trump: (interrupting) I don't care about it, released or not, what I think he should do. If you're going to do it, then you have to go into Epstein's friends. Uh, this Reed Hoffman spent a lot of time on the island. I, I was never on his island. Uh, Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times. Uh, you're going to have to look into his friends because, you know, if they're going to do that, and I think the perfect guy to do it would be Southern District. Somebody like Jay Clayton. I understand that's who's been assigned.

Reporter 2: But does the congresswoman have a point though?

Trump: We want to release a file. Does Marjorie Taylor Green have a point?

Reporter 2: Does she have a point though?

Trump: I know nothing about her, uh, on the release of the files. All the files. Well, she can have they can have
whatever they want. They already do. I think they have 50,000 pages already. Look, this is a Democrat hoax. This is a hoax put out by the Democrat and a couple of few Republicans have gone along with it because they're weak and ineffective. But this is a Democrat hoax to get away from the fact that they just lost the shutdown and they've lost the election. Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years. Uh, but he also saw strength because I was president. So he dictated a couple of memos to himself. Give me a break. Uh, you got to find out what did he know with respect to Bill Clinton, with respect to the head of Harvard, with respect to all of those people that he knew, including JP Morgan Chase. Yeah, Jennifer. Go ahead.

Reporter 3: Is there something incriminating in the file? (multiple voices)

Trump: Quiet, quiet. (to female reporter)

BTC: That's him yelling quiet at a reporter for daring ask a follow-up while Trump was busy diffusing responsibility off of himself and onto a bunch of random Democrats for the Epstein scandal. Because that's the new plan as far as Trump is concerned, to play make believe that the files that he's refused to release for 10 months don't implicate him, they actually implicate a bunch of Democrats. which of course explains why he won't release it because he wants to protect Bill Clinton. He goes on...

Reporter 3: "Mr. President, have you ruled out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell?"

Trump: I haven't even thought about it. I mean, I haven't thought about it for months. Maybe I haven't thought about it at all. You're just asking me a question, but I don't talk about that. I don't rule it in or out. I don't I don't even think about it.

BTC: Now, I'm not the president, but I feel like if I was the president and I was asked if I would pardon a convicted sex trafficker and rapist, my answer wouldn't be that I haven't thought about it. My answer would be no. And the fact that Trump won't come out and say no suggests that he's considering pardoning her. And the reason for that is pretty simple. It's the same reason that she was moved to a minimum security prison in Texas because the information that she has could certainly hurt Donald Trump. In fact, we just found out days ago based on the
emails released by the Epstein estate that Ghislaine Maxwell lied to Trump's deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, when she told him that Trump had never been to Epstein's house despite an email from Epstein to Maxwell admitting exactly that. And yet, as far as Trump and Blanche are concerned, no issue whatsoever. They're not going to move Maxwell back to the prison that she came from in Florida. And the reason is because she wasn't moved because she told the truth. It was the exact opposite. She was moved expressly because she lied. Trump was just looking for someone to back him up and she got rewarded for that. So, if you're wondering whether Maxwell will get pardoned, just ask yourself why she's already gotten so much favorable treatment and then you might get your answer. Trump continues...

Reporter 3: "Why were you or why was your team encouraging, um, Congresswoman Boebert and Congresswoman Mace to not pursue this?"

Trump: Because we think it's bad to talk about it because it gets away from the subject of how well the Republicans are doing. We have the greatest economy. We have the largest investment ever made in our country's history. We have all of these great things happen. We have very little inflation, whereas he [Biden] had record
setting the biggest inflation in history. All of these things are good. And when you talk about the Epstein hoax, what happens is you're not talking about how well we've done. That's the whole purpose behind them. They want to waste people's time and some of the dumber Republicans like that.

BTC: Ah, so the reason that Trump won't humor the Epstein files is because it takes away from his other accomplishments. Let me pose this question. Do you think that maybe if you do the one simple thing that nearly the entire country has been asking for for 10 months that that would be a more effective way to get them to stop talking about it so that everyone can move on to your big beautiful accomplishments? Don't you think that
maybe your cagey weird unwillingness to release these files might be the literal reason why people are so focused on it to the detriment of everything else?

And beyond that, not that it's worth it to humor all of Trump's lies, but on the accomplishment front, let's consider what he promised on the campaign trail and what he's actually done. That he would end the Russia-Ukraine war--didn't happen. That he would lower costs--didn't happen. That he would protect earned benefits--didn't happen. That he would make IVF-free--didn't happen. That he would lower inflation--didn't happen. Honestly, maybe talking about the Epstein files as a net positive for Trump because his actual accomplishments in office aren't exactly resume worthy. And finally, Trump says this...

Trump: I will say this, if they had anything, they would have used it before the election. Okay, I can't tell you what
they put in since the election, but if they had anything, you don't think they would have used it before the election?
They would have gladly used it before the election.

BTC: Now, I think this is a point worth discussing. Why not release anything if they had it before the election? Two
reasons. One, Ghislaine Maxwell's prosecution was ongoing until her conviction in 2022, and then her appeal was ongoing until 2025. I know that we live in a world where the DOJ is completely weaponized, but a normal Justice
Department wasn't going to release the files during an ongoing prosecution and risk undermining their own case. Second, even if there was an opportunity to release anything, the decision rested with one person, Merrick Garland, the most cautious, circumspect, wrong man for the moment attorney general that we've ever had. Garland's principal focus was not seeking justice without fear of favor. It was avoiding the optics of politicization. So, color me 0% surprised that Merrick Garland's DOJ opted to avoid releasing any files in which Trump's name is quite obviously mentioned enough that Trump himself put a team of FBI agents to make sure that his name is flagged and redacted. Frankly, if you ask me, Garland should have made sure to release those files, but he didn't. And you can add that to the list of missed opportunities by a failure of an attorney general.

So look, the reality is that Trump is clearly dissembling. The deflections, the obfuscations, the diffusions of responsibility, the panic, it all points to one very obvious truth. Trump knows that these files are egregiously damaging. The only reason that he would be willing to sustain months and months and months of the most miserable press possible can only be because the only thing worse than that is what's actually in the files. And he knows that. The guy is a marketer. He is well aware he's a TV entertainer, but he's made that calculation and his thought process certainly speaks volumes. Which is all the more reason that the rest of us should continue to beat this drum because he wouldn't be in such a panic if there wasn't something to panic about.

[Wiz Imp]

1. Every time he opens his mouth, he makes it worse.

Sure, the vast majority of his cult remain unfazed, but I can guarantee, every time he opens his mouth and says something ridiculous about Epstein, the light goes on for a few more cult members and they finally realize everything Trump is saying makes no sense. It's a very slow process, but it is happening. If/when a whole bunch of House Republicans vote to release the files, I believe even more cult members will think to themselves - "Why, all of a sudden are all of these Republicans willing to go against Trump" - and some will start connecting dots and conclude there really must be something in there that reflects really badly on Trump. The majority won't change their mind, but even a small number of cult members awakening will be disastrous for Trump.

I can't predict exactly how all this will play out, but at this point I really do believe this will ultimately take Trump down.

PS - Oh, and one point that BTC glossed right over. Trump said this:

I will say this, if they had anything, they would have used it before the election. Okay, I can't tell you what they put in since the election,

He's saying Democrats may have "added" something to the files after the election. So how were they supposed to do that when Trump controls the DOJ? It yet another unhinged, nonsensical statement from Trump which clearly points to how scared he is of this information getting out to the public.