'Why not?' GOP's Nancy Mace pressed on Melania Trump's testimony in Epstein case

CNN's John Berman pressed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) to explain why Hillary Clinton's testimony about Jeffrey Epstein was necessary but Melania Trump's was not.

The former first lady told lawmakers Thursday that she could not recall ever meeting the late sex offender, but the current first lady appears in many photos with Epstein and his now-imprisoned co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, both of whom were friends at one time with President Donald Trump.

"You did three rounds with Secretary Clinton yesterday,said you asked a number ofquestions about former President Bill Clinton, including whether the former first lady had anyfeelings about young womenmassaging her husband," Berman said. "Why didyou ask that? Why was thatimportant?"

Mace cautioned that she could not speak freely because a transcript from the deposition was not yet publicly available, but she defended her line of questioning as fair.

"Statements have been made, Ibelieve, publicly about President Trumpand why he should becalled in," Mace said, "and I think it's fairto ask questions about thestandard of the types of people,who they are and why they shouldbe called in for the Oversight Committee, and I was making acomparison based on certainstatements made yesterday, andmaking that clear that, youknow, everybody should betreated equally and in the samestandard apply to her husband.That was the line of questioningI was going for."

Berman then asked whether Melania Trump should be held to that same standard and asked her husband's name appearing thousands of times in the Epstein files, but Mace disagreed.

"I don't believe so, and Idon't believe that President Trump should be calledbefore the Oversight Committee," the congresswoman said. "He has answered questions, andthe victims that I've spoken toactually exonerated President Trump, and so the victims I'vespoken to and their familymembers have not exoneratedpeople like former President Bill Clinton, who has deniedbeing on the island, but I willbring out some documents todaythat show that Jeffrey Epsteinwas directing victims and orwitnesses to deny he ever was atthe island, and I think this isgoing to be there are going to bea lot of people that need tocome before the Oversight Committee today this morning."

Mace has called for Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, to testify before the committee about his relationship with Epstein, but she insisted that the president and first lady did not need to be questioned under oath.

"I want to take everything seriously, and I'm not looking at this through a partisan lens, and when you see me come out with a list of people that need to be interviewed by Oversight, you're going to see Republicans and Democrats alike," Mace said. "You're even going to see women who I believe are selling other women to Jeffrey Epstein."

That opened the door for Berman to ask a follow-up question about the first lady.

"Yeah, again, and that's why Ijust go back to the first lineof questioning I had there,because Hillary Clinton saidthat she has never met, doesn'tremember ever meeting Jeffrey Epstein – Melania Trump did," he said. "Imean, we have pictures of Melania Trump with Jeffrey Epstein. If you're going toquestion former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about someone she's never met, atleast if you're throwing a widenet, why not question Melania Trump?"

Mace did not address his question directly but instead deflected blame back to the Clintons.

"Well, are you going to throw apicture up on the screen of Hillary Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein?" she said. "I believe there arephotos out there of her and Jay-Z and Jeffrey Epstein and a photo, there are photos ofpresident, former President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a wedding. There are,I believe, more pictures of the Clintons with Epstein and Maxwell than there are of Trump."

"But again, you know, Epstein,again, Epstein was involved withpeople who are very powerful andvery rich, and how did he havethat kind of access, and I thinkit's not just the sextrafficking, it's the access topower, the access of power," Mace added. "Itis, was he an asset? Was hegetting information, tradinginformation? What country waspaying him? I think there aremultiple countries. He couldhave been in multiple or dualagent, and how did he have allthis access? I think that's important, equally important tothe sex trafficking andprostitution was happening."

Berman agreed, but asked why she wasn't interested in hearing from the first lady.

"You havethrown a wide net on the peopleyou want to talk to," he said. "It's justI'm just curious about why theline stops at first lady Melania Trump. If there are, you know,if there is a clear relationshipthat she had there or knowledgeof something potentially."

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