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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is releasing new materials from the 2019 investigation into convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to the House Oversight Committee in response to a congressional subpoena. But one longtime Republican strategist is urging Americans to take it all with a grain of salt.

On Friday, Mark McKinnon — who was an advisor to former President George W. Bush and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — joined MSNBC host Katy Tur's show to weigh in on the newly released audio of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell testifying to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month. McKinnon attempted to get cooler heads to prevail, opining that the DOJ was releasing these specific audio files in an attempt to influence public opinion.

The audio and transcript of a two-day meeting between President Donald Trump's Justice Department and Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, didn't pass the smell test for a former FBI official.

Andrew McCabe, who served as the deputy director of the FBI from 2016 to 2018, joined "OutFront" with anchor Erin Burnett on Friday evening for a discussion on Maxwell's interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Five people were killed in a tour bus crash on Friday in upstate New York, officials said at a news conference.

A bus carrying 52 passengers, mostly of Indian, Chinese, and Filipino descent, crashed on Interstate 90 near Pembroke in upstate New York. The bus was traveling back to New York City from Niagara Falls when it lost control, rolled over, and crashed into a ditch.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man whom the Trump administration wrongfully deported in violation of a judge's order earlier this year, was released from custody in Tennessee on Friday.

"Today, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free," his attorney, Sean Hecker, said. "He is presently en route to his family in Maryland, after being unlawfully arrested and deported, and then imprisoned, all because of the government's vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the administration's continuing assault on the rule of law. He is grateful that his access to American courts has provided meaningful due process."

During a press conference in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump dismissed the new release of documents relating to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein as a "hoax" concocted by Democrats. His claims didn't pass muster after two CNN hosts conducted a prompt fact-check.

On Friday, CNN hosts Boris Sanchez and Brianna Keilar interrupted Trump's comments from the White House to make it clear to viewers that not everything the president was saying was factual. When a reporter asked Trump for his thoughts on the House Oversight Committee receiving a new tranche of Epstein files from the Department of Justice in response to a subpoena, the president said he was in favor of transparency but that some names in the files may not "deserve" to be there given the size of Epstein's rolodex.

A Florida Republican got testy with a CNN anchor who corrected the record on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) joined CNN's Boris Sanchez on Friday to discuss the breaking news that the Justice Department handed over a trove of Jeffrey Epstein files to the House Oversight Committee, and separately, that the DOJ has released a transcript and audio of an interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and former Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

When Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed convicted Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, the transcript reveals how delicately he chose his words to avoid pushing her to implicate President Donald Trump in any way, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explained.

"For those of you who are following along at home, this is in pages 104-109. This is Ghislaine Maxwell talking about Donald Trump," said anchor Alicia Menendez. "She says, 'As far as I'm concerned, President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me. And I just want to say that I find I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now, and I like him, and I've always liked him. So that is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him' ... what do you make of that mention?"

MSNBC host Katy Tur was among those going through the transcript of the interview that President Donald Trump's former defense lawyer did with Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. After what she read, she couldn't figure out the point of the interview.

"My larger point here, and this is what I was going to ask before: what is the point of this interview? What's the point of this interview?" she exclaimed.

Convicted Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking associate Ghislaine Maxwell cannot be trusted in the testimony just released by the Justice Department, warned two of CNN's top legal experts, former Palm Beach County prosecutor Dave Aronberg and never-Trump conservative attorney George Conway.

"Your reaction to this news that they've released this transcript, the conversation between [Deputy Attorney General Todd] Blanche and Maxwell?" anchor Boris Sanchez asked Aronberg.

President Donald Trump has received support in his effort to take military control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., with Republican governors sending hundreds of their own troops to patrol the streets of the nation's capital, all in the name of addressing crime. However, the actual number of arrests related to this initiative remains questionable.

A bigger issue, CNN analyst Marshall Cohen told anchor Boris Sanchez, is that most of the governors who are sending in troops have higher crime rates in their own cities.

A former deputy press secretary in Donald Trump's first administration questioned why her former boss cares so much about classified information.

Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, Sarah Matthews noted that the raid on the home of former national security advisor John Bolton is purportedly related to national security issues.

Following the early Friday raid of the home of John Bolton, former White House security advisor, a neighbor of his stormed outside amid the media frenzy to put President Donald Trump “on blast” for targeting his political enemies.

“All of this retribution, vengeance, and using the DOJ, the FBI and the power of government to go after anybody that disagrees with him is frightening,” said the man identified as Bolton’s neighbor, wearing a shirt bearing the phrase “Trump is a national disgrace,” reported Florida’s Voice News Director Eric Daugherty on Friday.