CNN's John Berman called Rep. Nicole Malliotakis' (R-NY) bluff on releasing files from Jeffrey Epstein's criminal case.
The Department of Justice issued a statement earlier this month showing the disgraced financier had taken his own life in jail and had not kept a "client list," but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Tuesday that he was seeking to meet with Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell as anger continues to simmer within President Donald Trump's hardcore base.
"What do you think of this move by the Department of Justice, and what do you think about calls from some Republican members of congress, including Sen. Josh Hawley, to actually get congressional testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell?" Berman asked.
The congresswoman said both were good ideas and would provide transparency into the case, which the administration has been promising since Trump returned to the White House.
"President Trump ran on being the most transparent president, administration, he's known for releasing transcripts and parts of phone calls that he's had with other world leaders," Malliotakis said. "He has been very transparent, and when you all of a sudden don't want to be transparent anymore, it raises questions and curiosity, and so I think it's a good idea.
"But I also have to ask the question as to why at this moment, has this become such a big issue? Remember, the Biden administration was there for four years. We never heard from the Democrats or Republicans, for that matter, for calls for this information to be released, and I think it is really interesting that this is happening on the six-month anniversary of the president being sworn in, where he has delivered significant wins from securing the border to attracting trillions of dollars in investment to providing the largest tax cut for working Americans, middle-class and senior citizens, lower energy costs."
"I mean, it really begs the question as to what you know, they're just trying to distract," Malliotakis added. "Now, with that said, I support these efforts to be transparent and to release this information to the public, but we do need to make sure that it's done in a responsible and cautious manner so we are protecting witnesses, that we're protecting the victims, as well."
Berman pointed out that Attorney General Pam Bondi had ignited the controversy by releasing the joint statement from the Department of Justice and FBI disputing conspiracy theories about the case that she had helped fan herself.
"I will say, why now?" Berman said. "I mean, the deputy attorney general basically outlines it in this note that he just released. It was because on July 6, they put out this release, I mean, it was only in reaction to the Department of Justice saying, 'We're basically not going to release anything else,' that you had this reaction largely, initially, from supporters of the president. You say you support transparency and the release of documents in a responsible way. Why haven't you signed on to the discharge petition led by [Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to hold a vote in the House of Representatives on calling on the DOJ to release it?"
Malliotakis questioned the need for that vote and then tried to change the subject to former President Joe Biden.
"I generally don't sign on to discharge petitions, by the way, it basically has the votes," Malliotakis said. "I think this will will work its way, work itself out. We will probably see either a vote on a resolution coming forward in the near future, and if not, we will see the DOJ handling it in the manner that they are. Look, I think it's really important to point out here that even if we passed a law in Congress, which we did with the Covid-19 pandemic."
"We're still waiting for Joe Biden to release the Covid-19 classified documents, so, you know, it could still take years, it could still take months. I don't necessarily think it's a vote from Congress that is necessary here," she added. "The administration has to do what is right, and they need to do it as soon as possible to provide this information to the public, while protecting witnesses, protecting the victims."
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