Ex-Top Biden Aide Blames ‘Hypersensitive’ Merrick Garland For Why Previous Admin Didn’t Look Into Epstein Files
Former Biden White House official Neera Tanden joined Tim Miller on his Bulwark Podcast this week and explained why she believes the Biden administration did not touch the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files.
Miller asked Tanden about the topic, which continues to roil MAGA world, the same day that the Wall Street Journal reported Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump back in May that his name is in the files.
“If Trump is in these files as much as it seems like he is, why didn’t the Biden administration do anything about this? An administration you were in,” Miller asked Tanden.
“Yeah, so this is what I’d say to this. I mean, I get this all the time. So I think it’s like a great question,” Tanden replied.
“I didn’t think you were not gonna be expecting the question, but it is a question that merits asking,” Miller added.
“Any time I say anything about Epstein, they’re like, ‘Why didn’t Joe Biden’s—why didn’t Joe Biden release the files?’ And this is what I say. Have you met Merrick Garland?” replied Tanden.
“We are blaming Merrick Garland, OK,” Miller replied.
“I mean, I’m just saying, first of all, legitimately, the Joe Biden White House had nothing to do with enforcement on any topic. If anything, because of the abuses of the Trump administration, the White House didn’t engage in any particular enforcement matter. We barely did engage on policy with the Department of Justice. They were so arms-length to us,” Tanden continued, adding:
So I can attest to that from my experience as DPC, Domestic Policy Chair. We in the White House had no idea. So I can’t really tell you why Merrick Garland didn’t do it. I would say that he was hypersensitive about any perceptions of unfairness to a point where I think, you know, I’m not sure justice was always even done.
And I can imagine he thought, you know, after he’s doing January 6th and all the conservative blowback on that, maybe he wouldn’t even look into Ghislaine Maxwell—but someone should ask him because I—on Maxwell and Epstein—but someone should ask.
“Could have been nice and bipartisan, and nab Bill Clinton and Donald Trump would have been okay with me,” Miller replied.
“Yeah, exactly. I wish they did. I mean, I wish he had looked into it,” Tanden concluded.
Watch the clip above.
