MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Roasts Republicans Swallowing Trump’s ‘Ludicrous’ Epstein Denial

MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki roasted Republicans who cosigned President Donald Trump’s “ludicrous” denial that he wrote the newly-released birthday letter to former Trump pal and deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

The now-infamous “Birthday Book” note that Trump sued the Wall Street Journal over was released by the House Oversight Committee on Monday. Trump had previously denied writing the note, and Trump has joined the White House in now insisting the signature was not his.

On Tuesday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Psaki called out a parade of Republican figures who are going along with the denial, then drilled down on the logic behind the claim:

JEN PSAKI: Well, turns out, as we all basically — all of you watching would have predicted, we knew that would be the case all along. The letter definitely does exist, as do a whole bunch of other creepy letters to Epstein that were compiled in that birthday book.

Now, I should warn you, many of the 200-plus pages which were contributed by Epstein’s friends allude to his lifestyle with lewd references and suggestive images and incredibly crude and disgusting jokes. I mean, for example, one contributor expresses birthday greetings to degenerate one, saying, so many girls, so little time.

Another contributor wrote a poem noting that despite being an outrage to public decency, Epstein had avoided the penitentiary.

One page seems to reference his lifestyle through clip art — clip art, depicting his plane and women in swimwear. You can see that on the screen. A little bizarre birthday note there.

Then there is this particularly creepy illustration on the screen right now appearing to show Epstein giving candy and balloons to female children in 1983, and then receiving massages and other things apparently from those same girls 20 years later. Disgusting.

Now, taken together, they suggest, of course, all of this stuff. These were all birthday notes to the same guy suggests that his behavior was a very open secret. I think we all know that by now. And it was among those horrifying pages that we saw this birthday message, appearing exactly as it was first described by “The Wall Street Journal”, and bearing Trump’s very distinctive signature.

And so, Trump, who confidently told the world that this drawing did not exist, of course, changed his tune. I mean, immediately the White House and its allies started pushing a new claim. Now they say that it’s not the letter that is fake, but Trump’s signature on the letter that is fake. Maybe they sat in a meeting and discussed that was the thing they should say. Who knows?

Never mind the fact that there are multiple, nearly identical examples of Trump’s signature on letters he has signed throughout the years. So, you can see them all on the screen, including ones he himself published in a book called “Letters to Trump”. Who knew when he had that book put out, it would be so apt today.

Now, Trump’s claim that this signature was fake was so obviously far fetched that by this morning, even Trump himself appeared to have given up selling that particular storyline.

When reached by NBC News, Trump did something he almost never does, rarely — can barely count how many times he’s done it. He gave a rare “no comment” basically.

He said, quote, “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue”, as if saying it’s a dead issue means it’s a dead issue.

But clearly, the issue is still very much alive, because by this evening, Trump was back to denying that he had anything to do with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It’s not my signature and it’s not the way I speak. And anybody that’s covered me for a long time know that’s not my language. It’s nonsense. And frankly, you’re wasting your time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: I mean, look at J.D. Vance on that whole video there.

Anyway, and now, as implausible as it may be, that faked signature theory has become kind of the official party line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): From what I see, it’s not his signature. I’ve seen Donald Trump sign a million things.

REPORTER: This doesn’t look like his signature to you.

DONALDS: Nope.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, I don’t know. I mean, anybody can do a signature.

REPORTER: So, you think really someone might have just forged this somehow?

BURCHETT: Yeah. I mean, somehow, it’s so easy to do.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I think the — you know, there’s a dispute about whether that’s really a signature. So, I mean I think right now, it’s just going to be — that’s going to be argued back and forth.

REPORTER: So you’re just going to take the president’s word that he —

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, what does it — what does it have to do with anything? President says it’s not. I take the president’s word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: What does it have to do with anything? He asks.

Well, it has to do with a lot of things. I mean, let’s just game this out here for a second.

The theory James Comer is referencing is that 22 years ago when Donald Trump was still a Democrat sending texts to Hillary Clinton of all people, by the way, when Trump and Epstein were still friends who partied openly together at Mar-a-Lago and before Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes became known to the public, someone out there somewhere had the foresight to fake Trump’s signature and then included in a book to his close friend in the hopes that it would damage his reputation when he was miraculously sitting in the Oval Office 22 years later, which nobody on the planet predicted. Why would anyone believe that? They wouldn’t.

I mean, Trump’s claim that this is all fake as well — pretty laughable. But frankly, that’s to be expected with this guy. We know because anytime he encounters a story he doesn’t like, he reflexively calls it fake. And those claims are becoming increasingly ludicrous.

Watch above via MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.