Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said President Donald Trump may be withholding government files on Jeffrey Epstein to protect people the president knows personally.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee released files it says it obtained from the Department of Justice. However, the vast majority of the material was already public. In July, the DOJ said it would not release additional information about Epstein, the late child sex trafficker who died in 2019. That prompted anger among some conservatives, who hoped Trump would expose prominent figures.
Massie, however, said that the president may be withholding the material to cover up for powerful people.
On Tuesday’s All In on MSNBC, Massie appeared with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), with whom he introduced a resolution calling on the DOJ to release the files with minimal redactions to protect victims.
Host Chris Hayes noted the recent transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower-security facility. Maxwell, a former friend of Epstein’s, is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for sex trafficking. The transfer came after she answered questions from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal attorney.
“Congressman Massie, you know, one of the things that I find so striking here is that the Bureau of Prisons had to actively sign a waiver to move Ghislaine Maxwell to a facility that is so low security that by the department’s own regulations, she cannot be in,” Hayes said. “And that happens after she met with Todd Blanche. And she said that, you know, Donald Trump was always a perfect gentleman. Like, isn’t there a role for some congressional oversight here about how exactly that came about?”
Massie responded:
Oh, absolutely. This is unprecedented, the kind of treatment that she’s been given. I think the best way to clear President Trump’s name is to release all the files. I actually don’t think he’s done anything criminal. I think he may be covering for some rich and powerful people that are friends of his.
And in fact, some of those billionaires are running ads against me in Kentucky right now. One of them is in Epstein’s black book. So, we’re getting close to the center of power here. And I think, you know, embarrassment is not a reason to conceal all of this stuff. We’ve got to get it out in the open, regardless of whose friends might be incriminated.
Trump was friends with Epstein and allegedly sent well-wishes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, writing, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” The president denies the report.
Watch above via MSNBC.