Transcription
I cannot think of two things put together that are more embarrassing for Trump than this combination right here. Now, these were projected onto the Kennedy Center thanks to Lincoln Project Advocacy and VJ bombs. And the great irony here is that first of all, it's using the narrow apparently permanent tarp because our commander-in-chief with an ego as delicate as a Faberge egg cannot bear to endure the humiliation of revealing the Kennedy Center facade without his name on it. And so now, because he inadvertently drew so much attention to it, it has become the perfect venue to host a non-stop projection of Trump's long-standing friendship with a pedophile. I mean, talk about the Streisand effect. All he would have had to do to make the story go away is to remove the scaffolding, take the L for five minutes until everybody moves on, and then be done with it. But he can't even do that because his skin is too thin. And so instead, he set up scaffolding and tarps that clearly has zero intention of removing, which in effect have ensured that this scandal endures far longer than it would have otherwise. Like for a guy who is a pro at getting attention, he sure has managed to get it for all the wrong reasons lately.
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Consider, too, of all things to project onto the Kennedy Center, the fact that it's footage of his friendship with Epstein really is the icing on the cake, considering this is the one story that Trump has tried his hardest to escape. Case in point, "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You're asking, 'We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things and are people still talking about this guy, this creep?'" That is unbelievable. Do you want to waste the time? And do you feel like answering? "I I don't mind answering." "I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this where we're having some of the greatest success and and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems uh like a desecration. But you go ahead." I mean, if ever Trump has given the game away in terms of the one thing he is so desperate to avoid, this is it. And as a result, it's been a thorn in his side on almost a daily basis. I mean, this was his vice president on The View just last week. "What I disagree with is the idea that the White House wasn't committed to full transparency. We have to remember like I I was inside the room when some of these decisions were made. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, the one that the president signed, the one that led to all these files that we're seeing, the emails. By the way, again, sorry, do I do I have to defend my boss? I know you guys don't always appreciate this, but you know, one of the things you see in the Epstein emails is that Jeffrey Epstein hated Donald Trump and that Donald Trump literally reported Jeffrey Epstein to the police. That's one of the things that came out."
"They were best friends for about a decade. And remember, he signed that Transparency Act under duress when some Republican women, Congresswomen like Lauren Boebert, like Marjorie Taylor Greene did not give in to his pressure of not signing. He brought Lauren Boebert into the Situation Room to pressure her into caving on not voting for that bill."
"So, let me respond to that. So, "That's all true." "Let me let me respond to that. So, number one is yes, Donald Trump, he said this, he knew Jeffrey Epstein back in the 1980s. He also threw Jeffrey Epstein out of his club when he found out he was a creep and reported him to the police. That's something that the media often misses when it reports the story. They tell the fact that they knew each other in the 80s, which the president himself admits. They ignore the fact that he marked on him to the police and led ultimately to Jeffrey Epstein's downfall. To that point, Anna, you know, the Republican party" "Well, it's one of the things that led to to law enforcement investigation. But on the point that you made" "It was allegedly over a real estate deal that they had got into a fight over." "But the email says the email says actually" "They didn't just know each other. Let's just be truthful and transparent here. They didn't just know each other. They were incredibly close friends." "He reported him to the police. That's what I'm saying. That is objective. That is objectively true. But Anna made another point that I I think I I would be if I may because Anna made a very important point. This question about did Donald Trump release these files only under duress from Republicans? And Annie, you know the Republican party probably better than I do. The idea that Donald Trump runs around afraid of Republican congressmen as opposed to the other way around is kind of crazy, but because the Republicans control the House and the Senate, particularly the Senate, you need the Republican sign-off. What the president did is look, I I will I will say this again, I was in there in the meetings. He was very frustrated that the Democrats were making this about him when he's like, 'Look, I threw the guy out of my club. I am the guy who reported him to the police or one of the people who reported to the police.' The president was frustrated about that. Absolutely. But he eventually came to say, 'You know what? Let's just get everything out there. Let's have this out in the public.' And he actually called the senators. I was there. He called the senators and said, 'You know what? Pass this bill. I'll sign it.' And that was it."
Huh? Trump has JD Vance out here playing make-believe that Trump hated Epstein, which of course is very believable. Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, here's this. Also, you got to love JD Vance trying to give Donald Trump all this credit for signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act. He signed it because it would be political suicide not to. He signed it because there was only one member of Congress in the entire government who didn't sign the bill. It had a bipartisan, fully veto-proof majority. This wasn't Trump leading on this issue. This was a complete hostage situation that left him no other choice but to sign it begrudgingly. And even still, he tried every avenue he could to avoid allowing the discharge petition to advance. Dude literally summoned Lauren Boebert to the Situation Room to pressure her into not signing it. He sent his former personal criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, to chat with Ghislaine Maxwell, who then claimed that Trump did nothing wrong before she was rewarded. Uh, sorry about that. Before she just so happened to be moved without explanation to a minimum-security prison in Texas. And on top of all of that, there are still over 3 million files that haven't yet been released. This thing was signed on April 19th, 2025. Meaning, not only was Trump dragged over the finish line kicking and screaming, he still is. This White House is violating the law in real time while simultaneously trying to run a victory lap for their compliance. Give me a break.
And in fact, Vance himself is now directly implicated, as Robert Garcia explains here. "The New York Times has obviously put out a pretty significant report. We also hear there's there's more to come about JD Vance actually now being centered in this Epstein scandal and cover-up. Uh, we had no idea that Vance had really been involved in the past. He's made some comments, but now we learned that JD Vance is basically hosting and leading meetings in the Situation Room about the Epstein investigation. Now, the Situation Room is used for national security, for issues of war and peace, for major issues around the country, and JD Vance, Susie Wiles, uh, Cash Patel, Todd Blanche are having these meetings about Epstein in the actual Situation Room. And it's clear from this reporting that they're talking about ways of protecting Donald Trump. So, it's very significant. It's the first time Vance is now at the center of this cover-up, directing, giving ideas, making suggestions, like including really bizarre ones. And so we've said we've got to talk to JD Vance and the rest of the folks in that room. Why are they playing cover-up for Donald Trump?"
"In terms of getting JD Vance in front of the House Oversight Committee, what is the likelihood of that happening and what action can and are you taking uh in in service of that? Well, we just made the formal request to get JD Vance, to get um Patel, uh Susie Wiles, some of the communication staff, folks that were in that room in front of the committee to come. At the end of the day, it's Comer's decision. Now, look, he may not go along with this, but we can put the pressure on. When we've put pressure on, we've heard from folks, we forced people to come in, and certainly when we win the majority, we're going to expect these people are in front of our committee actually answering these questions. Look, JD Vance made some wild, wild accusations as well as provided some crazy ideas. He suggested that Tucker Carlson interview Ghislaine Maxwell. They're talking about how they can maybe pardon what a pardon would mean for Ghislaine Maxwell. How can we get Ghislaine Maxwell to to say that she had nothing to do with Donald Trump or that Donald Trump was had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein? This is a cover-up that we are reading about in real time, and now we know that JD Vance and Susie Wiles have been in on it. So, they have a lot to answer for, and quite frankly, they have a lot to answer for, to the survivors."
"Yep. Hope it was worth it, JD, to weigh yourself down by associating with Epstein's best friend. I'm sure it definitely won't impact your 2028 presidential run." The reality is, no one has been able to explain this dichotomy between what Trump promised on the campaign trail regarding the Epstein files and his unwillingness to deliver now, even when I myself have tried to get Republicans to do so. Listen to this straight comedy when I asked two Republicans on air whether Thomas Massie's ouster had anything to do with Epstein. "I I think it's interesting that in in none of the lead-up to to what you're discussing now with Thomas Massie did anybody name the number one thing that caused Donald Trump to push out Massie in the first place, and that was his support, Massie's support for the Epstein files. That's why this is all happening. That's why Donald Trump turned on him, which is especially ironic given the fact that Trump and all of his administration officials were falling over themselves to demand the release of the Epstein files when they were just on the campaign. But as soon as it became clear that Trump was implicated in those files, that his name was listed in those files, God knows how many times, uh, then all of a sudden they wanted Massie out." "Brian, we all know that President Trump signed legislation to release millions of Epstein documents and he is not implicated criminally in any of this. Three and a half million files. They refused to release" "in any of this. So for you to imply that there are crimes committed is completely dishonest. Ashley, your response to that." "So then so then why don't they release the other three and a half million?" "That's not why President Trump went after Thomas Massie, as Ashley eloquently pointed out. But Ashley, please go ahead." "Yeah. Yeah. No, I was just going to say that. I mean, Massie's been a problem uh for a long, long time. I mean, obviously, this is his eighth term. I mean, he doesn't vote with us ever. So, I understand your talking point in regards to the Epstein files on the Democrat side, but that has nothing to do with how bad of a Republican member he was." "Just" "Neither one of you neither one of you think that the Epstein files had anything to do with Trump turning on Thomas Massie?" "Brian, Matthew hasn't voted for any of the Republican priorities. Not the big, you know, bill, you know, big beautiful bill." "It's It's funny to me. You I I understand I understand like everybody has to pretend that the Epstein files on the right has to pretend the Epstein files are are not a thing anymore. But everybody watching and everybody who's going to see this on the internet is going to know how clownish all of this is that you are both pretending like the Epstein files had nothing to do with this when the people that Trump has turned on, he's done as a direct result of their of their support for the" "President has been very clear over and over again for months why he believed that Thomas Massie was not the man for the job. The person who replaced him is a former Navy SEAL who is going to go in and vote for the party, for the country, for the president's agenda when this is a district that President Trump won by 85%. So, I know that Democrats only started to care about the Epstein files when it was politically convenient for them. They had nothing to say about it for four years under Joe Biden when he was in charge of the DOJ. They were releasing nothing. President Trump is the one who decided to sign the legislation to release these documents. And I find it quite interesting that when I ask you who's the who is the leader of the Democratic party when Barack Obama and Kamala Harris got their butts kicked tonight in Georgia and in other places around the country, losing that Supreme Court case in Georgia, losing the redistricting fight in Virginia, losing the fight in Louisiana, losing the fight all over the map. You want to change the subject and talk about the Epstein files once again?"
"Answer answer Answer me one just one question. Did they release all of the files?" "They are in the process of redacting to release all the files because we want to make sure, and I would hope you agree with that." "Look, I'm not going to allow a conversation about September 19th about elections to be derailed by you to talk about the Epstein files when you don't want to talk about how the Democrats lost tonight. They continue talking about Thomas Massie. Thomas Massie is not in Congress for one reason. Democrats are losing is not in Congress for one reason because he co-sponsored the Epste-" "Can't even tell me who's in charge of the Democratic party because Barack Obama clearly, as he keeps losing, Barack Obama is not in charge of the Democratic party. I'm going to cut your mic. Stop talking over everybody. Nobody can hear you. No, no one can understand what you're saying. We'd like to have a conversation, not a talking over each other."
I mean, you know things are bad when I find myself laughing on TV because of just how absurd all of this performance art on the right has become. So, I get that Trump and his pals are desperate to run away from this thing, but the faster they try and run, the more it's going to haunt them everywhere they go, every single day, including in the places that they once used to care about oh so much.
Before you go, I'm very excited to announce that I've written a new book titled The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World. The book explores what is, in my opinion, the single most important theme that we're dealing with in politics today and moving forward: Power. Specifically, how Republicans abuse it and how Democrats refuse to wield it. This book explains how we got here and, more importantly, how we should finally wield power if we're fortunate enough to get it back. It is the blueprint for progressives who want to do far more than just restore the status quo. Please pre-order today by visiting the link in the episode description or go to brianttylercohen.com/book. You can grab yours from any of the major retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or find an independent bookstore closest to you that's also listed on that website. Thanks so much for supporting Independent Media.