House prepares to vote on releasing Epstein files

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00:00The release of Jeffrey Epstein's emails and their mention of Donald Trump knowing about the sex

00:04offender and young girls is mounting pressure on the U.S. president as his press secretary

00:09dutifully deflects the implied accusations, calls to release the whole dossier grow.

00:13Emerald Maxwell with this.

00:17Donald Trump has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the sex trafficking activities of his former

00:23friend Jeffrey Epstein. But the disgraced financier's emails released Wednesday appear

00:28to cast doubt on that. One exchange suggests that Epstein may have spent Thanksgiving 2017 with

00:34Trump, his first after being elected president. It was also 13 years after Trump has said their

00:40friendship ended and nine years after a grand jury indicted Epstein for soliciting prostitution from

00:46a minor in Florida, which resulted in his registration as a sex offender. In the more than 20,000 pages of

00:53emails to associates, Epstein also repeatedly insults Trump and hints that he has damaging

00:58information on him. In one email, Epstein alleges an unnamed victim spent hours at his house with Trump.

01:05And in another, Epstein says of course Trump knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.

01:11Trump accused the Democrats of releasing selective emails in order to deflect from their own failings.

01:17Democrats are now a step closer to compelling the full publication of the Epstein case files

01:22after the Speaker of the House said he would bring the bill to a floor vote next week.

01:26As soon as possible, it'll be on the suspension calendar and I think it'll pass overwhelmingly.

01:30The petition to force a vote passed when a new Democratic congresswoman signed immediately

01:35after being sworn in.

01:36The Epstein files discharge petition sat one signature short. With my signing,

01:43we move one step closer to the truth.

01:45Four Republicans also added their names, despite Trump's urging of them not to fall into a Democrat

01:51trap. Top officials even hosted hard-right Republican Lauren Boebert in the White House

01:57Situation Room to push her to keep her name off the petition, but she refused to back down.

02:03Admiral's report sets up. Fraser Jackson, who's waiting for us live in Washington for more.

02:08Fraser, a very good evening to you. Another day, more revelations. Tell us more about the latest.

02:12Yeah, the more revelations coming out of that wider tranche of 23,000 documents that the

02:20Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released in response to those three emails

02:24that the Democrats released. And they contained some tidbits and gave a window into the convicted

02:30sex offender and his thoughts on and relationship with Donald Trump. In some correspondence, Epstein

02:35painted himself as a Trump insider who could leverage potentially damaging information about the

02:41president and his businesses. Epstein emailed a former prime minister of Norway ahead of Trump's

02:452018 bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, offering an insight into Trump. In that email,

02:51he says, I think you might suggest to Putin that Lavrov can get insight on talking to me.

02:56Epstein continuing to suggest that he'd already discussed Trump with Russia's ambassador to the

03:00UN, Vitaly Shurkin, before his death in 2017. In another exchange of emails, Epstein at one point

03:07says that he is, quote, the one able to take him down, talking about Donald Trump. In an email to a

03:13former Treasury Secretary, Larry Summer, Epstein said, quote, I have met some very bad people,

03:19none as bad as Trump, not one decent cell in his body. So yes, dangerous. To another associate,

03:25Epstein said, quote, Donald is close to no one. He talks to many people. He tells each one something

03:30different. And then a couple of years later, in 2015, a former New York Times reporter was talking to

03:35Epstein about juicy gossip on Epstein and Trump and their relationship. And during that exchange,

03:41Epstein asked him, quote, would you like photos of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?

03:46The reporter says that Epstein never sent those photos. And it's not clear whether that was a

03:50sincere question or not from Epstein. But he continued to ask the reporter, ask my houseman about

03:56Donald almost walking through the door, leaving his nose print on the glass as young women were swimming

04:01in the pool. And he was so focused that he walked straight into the door. So whether these emails

04:07are true or not, of course, this is only a one sided email chain from Jeffrey Epstein and his

04:11associates. But it is certainly creating a headache for the White House. And it's a headache that they're

04:16trying to play down. Indeed, it's something legally that could be battered away, perhaps as hearsay.

04:21However, nonetheless, for a certain base that has voted for Donald Trump, this is the kind of thing

04:26that they won't be impressed by. I think it's fair to say, is there any chance, Fraser, that the

04:31entire Epstein dossier will ever see the light of day? What do you think?

04:38Well, the next steps on this now is that this is going to go to a vote in the House next week,

04:42as Mike Johnson said, we're actually expecting it to be the hour after Thanksgiving. So the fact that

04:46it's next week is a lot sooner than we expected. And it's interesting to note that quite a few

04:52Republicans who didn't sign the petition to get that vote onto the floor are now saying that they're

04:56going to vote with that petition, because, you know, they say that they're doing the right thing

05:02and do what needs to be done in the name of transparency. I think for a lot of Democrats,

05:06they want this vote, even if it's going to be a nonstarter when it gets to the Senate,

05:11and especially onto Donald Trump's desk, which would have to happen in order to release it.

05:14The Democrats just want this to have this vote so they can get people's name on the record

05:18as to where they stand on this. And of course, this has been like a nuclear football,

05:23a political football for a lot of people on Capitol Hill and indeed the presidency. So

05:28this vote might get through the House. It's not likely to get through the Senate.

05:32And it is extremely unlikely to get signed by Donald Trump. But I think by that point,

05:36the damage might already have been done.

05:38Fraser Jackson, as always, thank you very much indeed. Fraser Jackson,

05:41our correspondent there in Washington.

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