'Pretty incredible': CNN anchor floored by Senator's shutdown claim

CNN anchor Erin Burnett was visibly stunned by a Democratic Senator's claim about why the Republicans shut down the government last week.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joined Burnett on her show "OutFront" on Tuesday to discuss the government shutdown. Republicans have claimed the shutdown occurred because Democrats tried to sneak a provision into the funding bill that would provide free health care for illegal immigrants, which is illegal under existing federal law.

Whitehouse offered a new theory about why the shutdown happened, one that left Burnett shaking her head.

"I think there's a strong case to be made that we are stuck in this Republican driven shutdown in large part because the Speaker doesn't want to bring the House back and end the shutdown, because that brings the House back to have the Epstein vote," Whitehouse said.

For the last several weeks, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have been circulating a bill to force the release of the Epstein files, which the White House has gone to considerable lengths to hide. The bill needs 218 votes to pass, and currently has 217 lawmakers signed on to support it.

Congress is also supposed to swear in a new Democratic lawmaker, Rep.-Elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who has said she supports releasing the Epstein files.

"It's a pretty incredible thing to actually say, and hear it so clearly," Burnett said.