Former Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger had a lot to say Wednesday about how the fallout of the Jeffrey Epstein files has impacted President Donald Trump's administration.
The Epstein files have become one of Trump's biggest political liabilities over the last week. His MAGA base erupted with anger after Trump's Department of Justice issued a memo contradicting essential parts of the Epstein narrative. The memo said Epstein died by suicide in jail and that he did not keep a list of clients. Both of these points are at odds with the narrative that Trump and his surrogates have been telling the MAGA faithful for years.
Kinzinger said there are two things that Americans should keep in mind regarding the Epstein files story. First, Epstein was arrested in 2019 under the first Trump administration. Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is also in jail. The combination of these two points suggests that there is a client list despite Trump's repeated assertions that it is a hoax.
Second, Trump "built a political movement" on the back of the Epstein case, Kinzinger said. He used the case to create a story about Democratic elites operating a child sex trafficking ring, and then positioned himself as someone fighting back against that cabal.
"Either they lied about this conspiracy over and over to win an election, or they're covering something up," Kinzinger said on CNN's "The Arena with Kasie Hunt."
Kinzinger then responded to a social media post from Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., calling for the Epstein client list to be released.
"This is not going to go away for Donald Trump," Kinzinger said. "They are going to have to release these files, and every Republican is going to come under pressure to vote for this and release it."