‘It Was a Crisis Then!’ Joe Scarborough Grills House Dem on Why Biden DOJ Didn’t Release Epstein Files
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough grilled Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) on why Biden’s Justice Department didn’t release the Jeffrey Epstein case files after the lawmaker joined calls for the Trump administration to publish the documents.
Since a Justice Department memo concluded Epstein killed himself and denied the existence of a blackmail “client list,” Trump’s supporters have clashed with one another and the administration, with some demanding the files be made public as had been promised.
On Wednesday, Raskin warned his colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee, of which he’s a ranking member, that the refusal to release all files and names associated with Epstein was “dangerous to public health and safety.” He joined other Democrats to demand that Republican counterparts hold a public hearing on the Trump administration’s handling of the files.
Speaking on Morning Joe, Raskin doubled down on his call, saying the release was “important” and likening the case to other child sexual abuse cases in the Catholic church and across various states.
Scarborough, however, a former Republican representative for Florida, was keen to push back and challenged Raskin’s sudden drive to campaign on the issue.
“Mr Congressman, you could’ve gotten that from ‘21 to ‘25 when Democrats controlled the DOJ. Why – it was a crisis then, it’s a crisis now. Why didn’t Democrats call for it from ‘21 to ‘25?” Scarborough pressed.
Raskin replied: “So, I mean, you’d have to go back and look specifically at particular prosecutorial decisions and what was taking place in terms of the other cases. So, I don’t know, we could try to reconstruct that record.”
Rounding on Trump he continued: “But the point is, 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 was to release all of the files. And so why is that not happening? That’s the question.”
He added: “I can’t answer for [Biden-nominated attorney general] Merrick Garland or any of, you know, anybody else in the Department of Justice.”
Raskin concluded: “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, all they have to do is release the files. And not some of them – they all should be released.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
