'McCarthy moment coming' for Trump as he 'may not outlast' Epstein files: expert

Donald Trump's "McCarthy moment" could be coming, according to a law expert who says he might not outlast the Jeffrey Epstein files.

20,000 new documents were released by the Republican-led panel, with several emails further tying Trump to Epstein. The ex-US attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Joyce Vance, believes this could be a moment Trump doesn't survive. She wrote, "Is Trump’s McCarthy moment finally coming?"

"A moment like the one where Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose red scare tactics held the country hostage and came close to destroying the First Amendment—an era I discuss in my book—was asked by a fed-up lawyer, 'Have you no decency?' That moment burst McCarthy’s bubble. We could, finally, be close. Trump has survived other moments like this, where he turned his glaring racism and misogyny into bonus points with his base. But he may not outlast the Epstein Files controversy."

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of emails today (November 13), followed by 20,000 documents total from the Republican-led panel.

In those documents is an exchange which sees Epstein claim to have spent Thanksgiving 2017 with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort. Epstein exchanged emails on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 23, 2017, with Manhattan modeling management guru Faith Kates, who asked where he was spending the holiday.

Epstein names Trump, hedge fund founder David Fiszel and someone else he referred to as Hanson. White House records and contemporaneous media reports show Trump spent Thanksgiving 2017 at Mar-a-Lago, but the White House did not disclose a guest list.

The new documents come as MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says Republicans have shot themselves in the foot with the release of this material. He said, "As a political matter, it's just so interesting because the MAGA world has long believed that there's a conspiracy to cover up what happened with Jeffrey Epstein. Well, now the people who have control of the material is the Trump Administration."

"And so — but yet — the MAGA folks have not turned their fire on Donald Trump personally. They've been very mad at Pam Bondi and [FBI Director] Kash Patel, the FBI director, for what they consider, you know, inaction and not releasing these files."

It could turn into a series of tough questions for Trump, with Morning Show co-host Jonathan Lemire adding, "The interesting question is going to be, do these emails or does other information cause anyone in the MAGA movement to start turning their attention to Donald Trump and asking him what he's hiding and whether more information should be released?"