Transcription
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Okay, Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry to say, but we all know why you've called this hearing. This is one more attempt to cover for the Trump White House, which is itself engaged in a massive, massive cover up to shield the president and his allies from accountability.
No one is fooled as to why suddenly the president of the United States is declaring emergencies in cities across the country and deploying armed troops against American citizens despite the fact that crime rates at least in the District of Colombia are at a 30-year low. This is very obviously a blatant and egregious attempt to redirect attention from a very real and ongoing crime. The crime which is the massive and epic cover up for Jeffrey Epstein's abuse and that of other rich and powerful men who engaged with and supported him over the course of decades. Some of those very men are in the White House right now.
Donald Trump wants so badly for the Epstein story to go away. Trump sued the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion for reporting about this letter. Not surprising, as we are seeing what's happening now with the alarming authoritarian attacks on the free press. This was one of many examples. But he claimed this letter didn't exist. Here it is. This grotesque, disgusting, misogynistic letter which Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein. He probably laughed. He probably thought this was hilarious. Laughing about the abuse of literally thousands of underage girls at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and his powerful rich friends. And then lying about it repeatedly to this day. Why? Why lie about it?
Donald Trump now claims this isn't his handwriting, which is a comical excuse. And House Republicans are covering for him. Why are House Republicans covering for Donald Trump? They're holding this absurd hearing about crime in DC to distract the public from the very real national issues at hand. These are the people that Trump and House Republicans are covering for.
Trump's Department of Justice moved Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's right-hand accomplice in the sexual abuse of underage girls, to a minimum security prison, all to buy her silence. You know, Donald Trump sent his former personal defense attorney, who's now the deputy attorney general of the United States, to sit down with Ghislaine Maxwell and to transcribe her remarks word for word, releasing this liar's version of the truth to the world. Why would the Trump Department of Justice endorse a convicted liar, Ghislaine Maxwell's version of the truth? Many of us here in this room actually sat with the victims, the survivors of Epstein, and they were understandably shaken and livid by the fact that a convicted child sex abuser and trafficker was given such a massive platform to continue to spread her lies. Donald Trump did that. Trump's DOJ did that.
When FBI Director Cash Patel was asked about it in the Senate, he said he had no idea why she was moved to a minimum security prison. Don't House Republicans have any interest in investigating that? No, they don't care. Instead, they want answers to the really important questions. Questions like, "How many trash bags did the National Guard pick up today?" or "How many traffic tickets have been given out in DC this week?" or how many drunk college students needed to have the National Guard call them Ubers so they could get home. These are the tough questions that House Republicans want answers to.
So, let's just be very clear. The biggest criminal in Washington DC, the criminal who was besties with Jeffrey Epstein and was already found liable of sexually abusing Eugene Carroll. The criminal who should be investigated not only for those crimes but now this massive cover up is Donald John Trump.
What I want to know is who instructed the Bureau of Prisons to move Ghislaine Maxwell. What did the Trump administration promise her to remain silent? Why is FBI Director Patel claiming that no other men victimized underage girls and women through the sex trafficking operation organized by Epstein and Maxwell, which is obviously false and we heard as much from the women? Did House Republicans collude with the White House to change their tune on the Epstein files? And what is Donald Trump so afraid of? Why won't he just release the unredacted Epstein files, which he could do literally at any moment? Unfortunately, we will have to continue to wait to get these answers. Also, Republicans can find out how many stray cats need to be dealt with on the streets of Washington, DC.
I yield back. Chair.