Rachel Maddow Goes Off on Trump and Allies ‘All Over the Epstein Files’ — But Are ‘Still in Place’

MS NOW host Rachel Maddow went off on President Donald Trump and his allies and officials who are “all over the Epstein Files,” but are “still in place” in the administration and GOP politics.

The fallout has continued since the Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of Epstein documents a little over a week ago. Trump appears in the documents thousands of times, and so do current and former Trump officials like Howard Lutnick, Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, John Phelan, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. None of them have been charged.

But on Monday night’s edition of MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show, the host opened her show with a marathon commentary pegged to revelations in the files and redactions that have kept other revelations hidden.

Maddow called out the fact that despite their associations with Epstein, the Trump orbit remains intact:

RACHEL MADDOW: Today was the first day that members of Congress were allowed, under very strict conditions, to physically go to the Justice Department, where they were allowed to see unredacted versions of some Epstein documents. Judging by the reaction from members of Congress like Jamie Raskin, who took advantage of this opportunity today, members of Congress today seem just as frustrated as ever about what the Trump administration is doing and continues to do with all this Epstein-related material.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): There were to be no redactions in order to spare people embarrassment or political disgrace. We didn`t want there to be a cover up. And yet what I saw today was that there were lots of examples of people`s names being redacted when they were not victims, and so, we still haven`t gotten from the DOJ their privilege log explaining why certain redactions were made.

But I can tell you that I saw a whole bunch of them that seemed very suspicious and baffling to me. Donald Trump`s name was redacted in a number of different places, and I saw one conversation between Epstein lawyers and Trump lawyers relating to the 2009 investigation, which had been redacted. And I don`t see any particular reason that it should have been.

Donald Trump`s name is all over these files, all over it. I mean, thousands and thousands of times.

REPORTER: One thing, sorry, one thing that came out in the release last month was a bunch of tip — tips from through the tip line, including about President Trump and a potentially with a 13-year-old girl. Did you get to see any of the how those tips were investigated? Did you feel comfortable about them being dismissed?

RASKIN: I saw nothing about that. But if you spend any real time with these files, you will see references to 17-year-old girls, 16-year-old girls, 14- year-old girls, 11-year-old girls, 10-year-old girls. And I saw a reference today to a nine-year-old girl.

So, it was a really gruesome and grim story. And I think in order to see our way through this and to try to make progress on criminal investigation and prosecution and some kind of social redemption from this whole nightmare, we need to listen to the survivors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: A nine-year-old girl.

President Trump is mentioned thousands of times in the files, as Congressman Raskin said there.

Trump`s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, is also all over the files, including in the files, apparently trying to negotiate a trip to Epstein`s island, the top Republican Party donor in the country by far, Elon Musk. He`s all over the files, including trying to get Epstein to invite him to what Musk called his wildest parties.

And yes, the Navy secretary, John Phelan is there as well, flying on Epstein`s plane with who knows who. But one of the people on board the plane was the French modeling scout guy who killed himself in jail when he was charged with Epstein related trafficking crimes. There`s no criminal allegations against any of these men from the Trump administration that I just mentioned, but they`re all still in place in the administration and in Republican politics, at least at this hour.

Watch above via MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

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