CNN panelists ganged up on a Republican congressman after he attempted to downplay the revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) appeared Wednesday on "CNN This Morning," where he waved away concerns about the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein case and the delayed release of investigative files as required by a law passed last fall by Congress despite initial resistance from Republican leadership.
"Well, let's just be clear about where we're at and why," Haridopolos said. "For four years, no one cared. Ro Khanna, no interest, [Thomas] Massie in our party – I guess he's still in our party – had no interest in this issue. Suddenly, the president comes in. We're here because Donald Trump kept this issue alive and I've actually talked to some of the people who are involved in the acquisition of all this material. It's voluminous we're talking millions and millions."
Host Audie Cornish interrupted to say he was only half right.
"Can I stop you there?" she said. "You are, in fact, here because Donald Trump kept this issue alive, and now people don't believe his administration is following through on its promises of transparency."
Haridopolos excused the administration's delay by arguing that the sheer volume of the material, combined with the requirement to redact identifying information about the victims, presented tremendous challenges, but Cornish pointed out that many of the survivors had their names and images released.
"So make it make sense for a victim who says, 'Well, wait a second, out of all the things that have been released, it's been a couple of our names, a couple of our bodies,' and meanwhile there are redacted names of men who may have been co-conspirators," Cornish said. "Those things are still under wraps."
She pressed the congressman to explain the disparity between the men accused of abusing these women when they were teenagers, and Haridopolos retreated to partisan politics.
"I'm very happy to hear everyone has found religion on this because no one gave a crap for four years," Haridopolos said. "The Democrats said nothing to see here, nothing to see here, and now they took it on. We're here and we're getting the information out. This is a huge amount of information, and there's going to be mistakes when you have this much information out there and it looks like folks are finally being called on the carpet for it, which I think is good."
Cornish asked him specifically about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who contradicted previous claims about his relationship with Epstein by testifying that he'd visited the sex offender's private island in 2012 with his wife and children.
"I hope he's being candid about it, because in Washington, we all know eventually all the facts are going to come out," Haridopolos said. "Might as well tell the truth early and often."
"Congressman, respectfully, it took a force bipartisan vote for the information to be released," interrupted Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, "and now that has there was tremendous pressure in order for DOJ to continue to release the file. So it wasn't like the campaign promises made by [Vice President JD] Vance and others who said, we're going to release the files on my desk. It wasn't like they just will- nilly decided to release them. There's a force effort, but here's my direct question for you: Will the information that is found in the files, will Republicans take an honest oversight approach and hold folks accountable when they find out that there may be people in the Republican circles that are in the files in a disgusting way?"
Haridopolos again blamed Democrats for turning the Epstein case into a problem for the president.
"Well, I think the fact that Lutnick is now out there, he's a big player in the in the Trump administration, it's out there, but again, I can't I got to go back to why didn't we have this conversation on CNN for four years when Joe Biden was president?" he said. "Why not? I don't understand that."
"Republicans campaigned on wanting to do this," Seawright reminded him.
"No, no, no, no," Haridopolos insisted. "For four years, no one cared. I looked it up."
"I think what people are confused about," Cornish interjected, "is the plea deal the plea deal itself the thing that started this whole scandal, it happened before Biden. It happened under Trump. We're back at Trump where people like [FBI Director] Kash Patel typed it up in his book."
Haridopolos defended the administration, saying the DOJ's efforts to release millions of investigative files was unprecedented, but Cornish rejected his point.
"So you say you deserve points, points for participation," she said. "It feels like points for participation."
"I don't want any points on anything," Haridopolos yelped. "Yeah, I wish this thing never happened. This is, what's happened to these boys and girls is horrific and these people who manipulated the system. Epstein manipulated people on their ego, this isn't all an ego play. He's a concierge to the stars. He gets them planes or fancy island trips, and these people are suckers and played it. And I'm glad to see them exposed."
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