GOP lawmakers 'walked into a trap' that could spell Trump official's downfall: MS NOW host
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stand as President Donald Trump signs executive orders and proclamations in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

MS NOW's Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist mocked Republican lawmakers for allowing themselves to get walked into a trap that could bring about the downfall of one of President Donald Trump's cabinet officials.

The House Oversight Committee released videos this week of Hillary Clinton's testimony about Jeffrey Epstein, whom she said she could not recall meeting, and the "Morning Joe" co-hosts said the former secretary of state was impressive in her handling of the questions from GOP lawmakers.

"She was incredible, and what was amazing is the number of conservative voices that – I say conservative, they're not conservative – the number of MAGA voices that actually came out and would literally say, 'Okay, I hate Hillary Clinton, by the way, what were you saying, that I hate Hillary Clinton, but she's right here,'" Scarborough said, "and man, when she's right, she's right. There were all of these MAGA voices, actually, that even came out saying, what an incredible job she did again with the clown show that she had to deal with."

Geist agreed and said the GOP-led committee's hearing may end up backfiring for the president.

"They know it was a clown show, and you can see there why Secretary Clinton wanted these hearings to be in public so everyone could see right moments like that, but also the moments where she exposed and said why isn't Donald Trump sitting here?" Geist said. "We got these released clips. People can watch the full deposition, but what a wasted trip to Chappaqua for those Republicans to go up there and just walk into a trap, which is Hillary Clinton running circles around them and giving her, again, the opportunity to say, '[It's] time to have Donald Trump sit. If you're going to have me sit, if you're going to have my husband, Bill Clinton, sit, time to get Donald Trump here.'"

That's not likely to happen, but Geist said Republicans are open to calling the president's commerce secretary to testify about apparent inconsistencies in his accounts of his relationship with Epstein and his visits to his private island.

"Now we're hearing from members of the Oversight Committee that they will, in fact, call [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick," Geist said. "So some of this pressure and this story staying in the headlines and sticking around and all these people around the administration being in the Epstein files is now coming home to roost, and you may actually get some of these people, like Howard Lutnick sitting before the committee."


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