The Justice Department's attempt to extract new testimony from convicted Jeffrey Epstein conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is a parade of red flags, warned former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen on MSNBC's "The Lead" Thursday — and in fact, it only adds another dimension to why the whole affair is blowing up even among President Donald Trump's base.
"Norm, do you see this as kind of ethically murky for a few reasons?" said anchor Antonia Hylton. "I mean ... [Deputy Attorney General] Todd Blanche, having served in a personal capacity for the president. And then I was reminded today that Blanche actually, at one point, went on David Markus' — that's Maxwell's attorney's — podcast. They know each other in a sort of social or at least casual way. So do you see something ethically murky here?"
"Blanche going to meet with Miss Maxwell today with her defense lawyer, Blanche being Donald Trump's defense lawyer, and then Maxwell, who has been convicted of these heinous crimes, and the same Department of Justice that Todd Blanche purports to represent, criticizing her as a liar?" said Eisen, a frequent critic of the president. "It looks like a cover-up of what Donald Trump may or may not have done. And when you put that together with the fact that Trump is in the Epstein files, they haven't produced that material, you have to wonder, can we rely upon whatever comes out of this unsavory meeting today?"
Previous presidential administrations with even a fraction of this many conflicts of interest, Eisen added, would appoint a special counsel in such a situation. "But in those cases, you didn't have the president's former defense lawyer as the No. 2 at the Department of Justice. So the whole thing reeks to high heaven."
"I think part of the reason that it is so gripping Washington, gripping the American people — Donald Trump's poll numbers are plummeting now, 37 percent in the latest poll today — is because it speaks to a larger sense of corruption," said Eisen. "Donald Trump is in the White House, making tens of millions of dollars for himself off of that office. Donald Trump is breaking the law. Over about 200 courts have said you're breaking the law in your official acts. He's targeting these innocent migrants. These are not criminals. These are honest, working people who've come to our country to do jobs. So there's a larger sense of corruption."
"It's perfectly captured by Donald Trump here having buddied up with the rich and powerful who victimized — Jeffrey Epstein victimized the most vulnerable. That's a slogan for the Trump administration: benefiting the rich and powerful," Eisen continued. "Trump's cronies, victimizing the most vulnerable in our country. That's why it has such traction."
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