Transcription
I am Stephanie Ruhle, and we are now 273 days away from the midterms. Tonight, we're keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill as House Speaker Mike Johnson tries to figure out if he's going to be able to end the partial government shutdown. We're going to get into that in a moment, but you know, we are beginning tonight with what President Donald John Trump said today about sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Watch this.
"I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein and, in fact, if you look at the DOJ, they announced, you know, they released three million pages. It's like, this is all they're supposed to be doing. And frankly, the DOJ, I think you just say, 'We have other things to do,' because that whole thing has turned out, I mean, other than Bill Clinton and, you know, Bill Gates and lots of people that have, there are a lot of questions about it, but nothing on me."
Of course, they, the DOJ, can't say they have other things to do. It's required by law to release this. In fact, Donald Trump's name is all over the newly released three million pages of Epstein files. The New York Times identified more than 5,300 files containing more than 38,000 references to Trump, his wife, Mar-a-Lago, and other related words and phrases in the latest batch of files. Today, on social media, the president denied being friendly with Epstein, despite the photos that we have all seen that are on your screen right now.
Now, it is very important to note, the newly released files do not contain any direct exchanges between Trump and Epstein, and the references to him are not proof of any wrongdoing. Side note, Donald Trump doesn't email anyone. But, of course, the DOJ is still holding on to millions more pages of documents, and some of the ones that were released are heavily redacted.
Now, two of the lawmakers who spearheaded the release of these files, Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna, are now trying to get access to the full, unredacted documents. Now, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and those millions of pages of documents, we would not be here today without the women who stood up publicly to speak about what they experienced. And as we learn more about Epstein's years of abuse, we are learning more about a huge network of contacts he had with powerful men in technology, real estate, finance, American politics, and British royalty. Pretty much everyone in charge of everything.
But before we start to go through these, and it's going to take a minute, so bear with me, but it is important. I want to remind you of the timeline. While Epstein was not arrested on federal charges until 2019, he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor, also known as a child, in Florida back in 2008. All of the emails I'm about to take you through happened after that. And remember, these are just some of the people we learned about in the latest batch.
Let's start with Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and one of Donald Trump's most powerful allies. Last year, Musk posted online, quote, "But the new documents show Musk trying to socialize with Epstein. In 2012, he asked Epstein, quote, 'What day and night will be the wildest party on your island?'" Then emails in 2013 appeared to show Epstein's staff coordinating a visit for him to SpaceX, one of Musk's many companies. In response, over the weekend, Musk wrote the following: "I had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island." But Musk did not address his emails asking to visit and party with Epstein or giving him that tour of SpaceX.
Then there's Steve Tisch. He's a film producer and co-owner of the NFL's New York Giants. Tisch is mentioned more than 400 times in the new files. Messages between Tisch and Epstein show Epstein offering to connect Tisch to several women. In one 2013 exchange about a woman, Tisch wrote, "Pro or civilian." In a statement from the Giants, Tisch said, "We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments. I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. And as we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with."
Next, and you knew he would be on this list tonight, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. And if you're going, "Who's that?" Of course, it is the man formerly known as the United Kingdom's Prince Andrew. His name appears several hundred times in the new documents. That includes an invitation for Epstein to have dinner at Buckingham Palace in 2010, and photos that appear to show Andrew kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor. Andrew has long denied any wrongdoing.
Then there's Brad Karp. Remember this name? The chairman of the powerful Wall Street law firm, Paul, Weiss. For years, the firm represented Apollo Global Management, whose co-founder Leon Black is closely tied to Epstein. The documents show Epstein's team arranging for Karp's children to attend a Woody Allen film screening. And in 2015, the day after a scheduled dinner, including Karp and Allen, Karp emailed Epstein to say the following: "You are an extraordinary host, and you're amazing." Paul, Weiss issued this statement to The New York Times earlier today: "Mr. Karp attended two group dinners in New York City and had a small number of social interactions by email, all of which he regrets."
And that, of course, brings us to Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. Last year, Lutnick acknowledged that he used to be neighbors with Epstein and spoke about the time Epstein had him over for dinner and gave him a tour of his house back in 2005. Watch this.
"We left, and in the six or eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will, I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again. So I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even in philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn't going because he's gross."
Hmm. Well, here's what The New York Times said from the new Epstein files revealing about a trip Lutnick was planning with his wife and his kids. Quote, "Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein's island in 2012, though he previously said he severed all ties with Epstein around 2005." Reached by phone on Friday, Lutnick said he could not comment about the island visit because he had not seen the latest Epstein documents. Quote, "I spent zero time with him," Lutnick said, and then he hung up the phone. The gathering was set for December.
A day later, an assistant to Epstein forwarded Lutnick a message from Epstein with the following quote: "Nice seeing you." Tonight on Fox News, Laura Ingram asked Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about the men who partied with Epstein, and here's what he said.
"It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And so, as horrible as it is, it's not a crime to email with Mr. Epstein. And then, some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it's also the kind of thing that the American people need to understand, that it isn't a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. You better believe we will."
As a gentle reminder, Todd Blanche is formerly Donald Trump's personal attorney. Let's take another breath. I know that was a lot, but it mattered. Now, let's get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel this evening. Luke Broadwater is here, a Pulitzer Prize-winning White House correspondent for The New York Times. Daniella Diaz, congressional reporter for NOTUS. And my dear friend, Susan Glasser, staff writer for The New Yorker. All right, Susan, as Todd Blanche said, emailing with Epstein might not be illegal, but right now, a whole lot of very powerful people are aggressively apologizing for doing it. What's your reaction to all of this?
Yeah, Steph, thank you so much for walking us through. I think the key point here is one that you made by telling people, pay attention to the dates here. The conduct that we're talking about is conduct that occurred after Epstein was a known pedophile, after it was already clear what kind of a person he was. I just, I think it's really important to emphasize that Howard Lutnick is the Senate-confirmed Commerce Secretary. He is, you know, a participant in the inner circle of the Trump administration. And, you know, in addition to having just blatantly lied, I mean, I found listening to that podcast, it doesn't do it justice, but just to see him do this apparent play-acting in such a recent interview and pretending that he had nothing whatsoever to do with Epstein for years. I mean, again, this guy is a senior cabinet official right now. And, by the way, the papers also disclosed a contribution, I believe it was a $50,000 contribution in Lutnick's name. And you noticed in that interview, he said, "Oh, and I also had nothing to do with him in philanthropy." So, you know, I think it's important that people are going through these, that people are examining their own institutions to see if there are people who have connections to Epstein. And that was, I think, what was envisioned by the people who passed this law is that at least there would be more transparency and potentially accountability as people are forced to answer questions about their own lies or misrepresentations about their relationship with that. It passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. And I want to point out that podcast that you saw Howard Lutnick in, he was not getting grilled on Epstein. He chose to tell that story that after 2005, he was disgusted. He was repulsed. He wanted nothing to do with him. Until 2012, when he wanted to go to Epstein Island and have a meal with his kids and hang out.
All right, Luke, the president has denied, denied, denied. He's even saying the DOJ is too busy. They should say they've got other things to do. But what are you hearing from the White House behind the scenes, because I know it's a different picture?
Yeah, I mean, this is the story that won't go away from Donald Trump. And if you look at Donald Trump's polling, it's actually the issue he's performing the worst on. People that have been conversed with the American people, almost nobody likes how his administration has handled the Epstein files. They still have not, they have not released, I think about half the documents, right? They've released 3 million documents. They've withheld 3 million, citing parts of the law that allowed them to withhold documents, but they haven't necessarily gone through line by line and told Congress exactly which documents they have and why they were withheld. So that still needs to come. We still need to hear from them on that. Why are, why are half the files not released yet? And the more you hear about from the Epstein files, the worse it looks for everyone involved. You know, you just did an excellent job with the lead-in, tying all these rich and powerful people and how they minimize their role and minimize their connection to Epstein. Only to find out later, they actually were much tighter with Epstein. They had a much closer business, personal, and friendship ties with him. And, you know, Donald Trump's name does come up again and again and again and again. And they were friends for something like 15 years. There are so many documented parties they were at together, photographs of them together, exchanging messages. They did have a falling out. That's been reported. It wasn't like they weren't, but it wasn't like they weren't.