MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Gloats Over Trump Chief’s Jeffrey Epstein Rants: ‘Very Tough Day in the White House’
MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki gleefully noted that President Donald Trump must have had a “very tough day” when his commerce secretary drew attention to deceased sex criminal and former Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein in a recent podcast interview.
Trump Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick went on several disturbing riffs about Epstein during an interview on Wednesday’s edition of the Pod Force One podcast with Miranda Devine, including speculation that encounters by Epstein’s pals were captured on videotape.
On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Psaki drew on her experience as a White House senior staffer to surmise that Lutnick created a stir with remarks about “probably the last thing they want to talk about”:
JEN PSAKI: I want to start with what must have been a very tough day in the White House, because typically every morning at the White House, at least the ones I’ve worked in, there is a senior staff meeting in the chief of staff’s office to discuss everything from the president’s schedule to the news of the day, to any tricky problems they`re going to have to navigate.
I mean, those daily meetings often include the White House communications director, the press secretary, cabinet members and the heads of different agencies, depending really on whatever issues that day are most pressing.
And judging from today’s news, this morning, must have been, well, one hell of a meeting.
That’s because Trump`s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, apparently decided to sit down for a podcast interview with The New York Post, and in doing so, he singlehandedly breathed new life into the story that the Trump White House is desperately trying to wish away. Yes, that story.
Here`s Howard Lutnick earlier today on, what else, Jeffrey Epstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: That’s what his M.O. was, you know, get a massage. Get a massage. And what happened in that massage room, I assume was on video. This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. Blackmail people. That’s how he had money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PSAKI: The guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. That’s how he had money. I mean, whether he meant to or not, Lutnick raises a whole lot of questions there.
Questions like, who’d Epstein blackmail? Why can’t we see his financial records? Good question.
And most importantly, what happened to those videos, which I am certain lots of people in Congress are looking into now?
Well, it wasn’t just that, though. Trump`s commerce secretary had a theory for that one, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUTNICK: I assume way back when, they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence. I have no knowledge, but my assumption is there was a trade for the videos because there were people on those videos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PSAKI: Okay. Wow. I mean, like, you know, people can hear you, right?
This is a podcast that’s being recorded and going to be broadcast. I mean, why the U.S. commerce secretary would be speaking on a podcast at length about Jeffrey Epstein during a government shutdown? Who the heck knows?
But he somehow managed to contradict the administration`s entire story when it comes to the notorious sex predator. Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey tweeted today that a lot of people around the president are shaking their heads about this Howard Lutnick interview. I`m sure they are. I mean, it’s probably the last thing they want to talk about.
Watch above via MSNBC’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.
