MAGA world 'not going to stand for this': James Comer accused of Epstein 'miscalculation'
Plans by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) to use his position as the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee to calm the waters around the Jeffrey Epstein files will fail before he even starts, former prosecutor Dave Aronberg explained on MSNBC on Thursday morning.
During the segment on "Morning Joe," Aronberg claimed there are too many hurdles for the Kentucky Republican to overcome that range from subpoenaed witnesses likely to refuse to give depositions to problems with the courts releasing testimony that could hamper convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal headed to the Supreme Court.
According to the former prosecutor, even if Comer can maneuver the minefield he has entered, it still won't satisfy the hard-right base that wants complete Epstein transparency.
Pointing to Comer's target list of people he wants to testify, the ex-prosecutor stated he doesn't believe anyone gave legal advice to Comer.
"I think this list was developed by political advisor," he told the hosts before joking, "It just looks like Comer threw darts at a list of Trump's enemies from both sides of the aisle."
"Like, why is Hillary Clinton on the list? What does she have to do with this?" he asked. "Bob Mueller, Bob Mueller! Who Trump hates, he was the FBI director at the time, but he had nothing to do with the [Epstein] non-prosecution agreement. You know who did? [Former US Attorney] Alex Acosta, but he's not on the list as you correctly noted. Of course, Trump's not on the list either."
"I don't think this list has any effect at all, because I wouldn't expect Bill Clinton or anyone else to testify anytime soon," he predicted. "They're going to fight it out in court or ignore the subpoenas altogether like [Ohio Rep] Jim Jordan ignored his subpoena from the January 6th committee and got away with it."
"A strategy of delay here, working things through the court would probably work, because the Democrats are expected to take over the House next November, and that would shut this whole thing down."
He later added, "I don't think it's going to work because this base has been promised things that the administration is refusing to deliver and even if the judges grant the motion to release the grand jury transcripts. They're only going to release the redacted version."
"In the government's motion, and I read it, it says that they promised to redact the identifying information of third parties who have not been charged," he observed. "So the MAGA world, who already feels betrayed is not going to stand for this. So either way, they're going to lose and these are people who feasted on conspiracy theories and Epstein has been the main course."
"So if they think that the grand jury records will tide them over, it will be the latest miscalculation in this unending controversy," he concluded.
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