‘Release the Damn Files’: Tillis Says Trump’s Handling of Epstein Scandal ‘Makes No Sense’
Screenshot via C-SPAN
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was unflinching in his advice to the Trump administration about the Epstein scandal, urging them to “release the damn files” and warning it was going to be an issue all the way through the midterm elections.
President Donald Trump has sought to downplay his friendship with deceased convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as his administration faces growing criticism over the failure to produce the “Epstein files” his cabinet appointees repeatedly promised. Trump has furiously denounced Epstein and claimed the two were never very close. Meanwhile, media reports have continued to unearth photos, videos, and witnesses who were around them years ago that paint a different picture.
Tillis has lobbed several notable criticisms Trump’s way, including being a key vote blocking the confirmation of Ed Martin from getting a permanent gig out of his interim acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia nomination. Last month, the senior senator from North Carolina announced he would not seek re-election.
At a summit held by Axios, Tillis was interviewed by political reporter Stef Kight, and she asked about Epstein at the end of their chat.
“So I did want to ask before we wrap,” said Kight. “What does the Trump administration need to do to handle this Epstein saga?”
“Release the damn files,” Tillis bluntly declared.
“Look, it makes no sense to me,” he continued, explaining why he believed the issue was not going to go away:
One of two things is true, I believe. Either it’s a nothing burger in terms of the evidence we have — let’s separate it from this guy being disgusting and what he did, and the systematic trafficking of young people, minor age people, for sex purposes, but the promise to release the files during the campaign was either overplayed and we got a nothing burger if the files get released, or it’s something really disturbing, and that’s actually even a more compelling reason to release it.
And this nonsense of, well, we’ve got to protect the innocent witnesses, those sorts of things — that’s called redaction. We do that all the time. That’s sort of a fake for — a bad, a bad reason for trying to stop something that you don’t want to happen.
So I think the files should be released. Let the light of day, let the sun shine through. And that’s the best way to get past it. Otherwise, if anybody thinks that this is going to go away because the House left the day early or something, it’s going to be like those zombies in The Walking Dead. Every time you think you’ve killed it, another one’s just going to come running out of the closet after you. This is going to be an issue all the way through next year’s election.
Watch the video above via C-SPAN (relevant section starts at 50:19).
