Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded the immediate release of the Epstein files, accusing President Trump of hiding the truth. Schumer said Congress passed a binding law requiring the DOJ to release the documents by Friday, December 19. He warned of nationwide outrage if the files are withheld, vowing that Trump “can’t hide” from accountability.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ah, very good.
00:06Okay, thank you everybody and I'm proud to be joined by my colleagues here.
00:31We have had a task force focusing on this issue and these members and some others are active
00:37and proud members of our task force.
00:40So look, 27 days ago, every single senator sent Donald Trump a clear and simple message,
00:49release the Epstein files.
00:51Congress passed a law, not a suggestion, not a request.
00:56The law requires DOJ to release the files by Friday, December 19th.
01:02In three days, President Trump has a choice, follow the law and release the files or break
01:09the law and continue to hide the truth from the American people.
01:15Let me be blunt.
01:17We fully expect Trump, Bandi and their minions to dodge, delay or partially release these
01:25files.
01:26If they release some documents and hide others, the American people will see right through
01:30it and they'll ask the obvious question.
01:34We are all asking the obvious question that looms.
01:39President Trump, what are you trying to hide?
01:43President Trump, what are you trying to hide?
01:47That's the question the American people are asking.
01:50Now over the past few weeks, Senate Democrats, including my colleagues here with me, have
01:55been preparing for every scenario.
01:58We're working with the victim's attorneys.
02:00We're working with legal experts.
02:02We're working with people very familiar with this case to ensure full compliance of the law.
02:08If the administration withholds some documents unlawfully, we will know.
02:17If they abuse narrow exemptions to hide the truth, we will know.
02:25And there will be serious legal and political consequences.
02:30This law passed with near unanimous support.
02:33The survivors deserve the truth and the American people are demanding it.
02:38This isn't political.
02:41Democrats and Republicans agree.
02:45The American people deserve the truth.
02:47So Donald Trump, release the Epstein files.
02:52Stop hiding.
02:54Stop delaying.
02:56Come clean with the American people.
02:59And if you don't, the question will only get louder and louder and louder.
03:04Trump, what the hell are you trying to hide?
03:07Senator Wyden's done great work on the financial end of this and has been a great member of our
03:12team.
03:13Ron.
03:15Oh, sorry.
03:16No, no, no.
03:17Go ahead.
03:18Amy, you go first.
03:19Now, please.
03:20Amy goes next.
03:21Go, go.
03:22You're closer to the microphone.
03:23Thanks, my colleagues.
03:25And there are two cover-ups that need to be discussed this morning.
03:32The first involves the Department of Justice and that is urgent business that we're focused
03:39on this week.
03:41The second cover-up is being conducted by the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant.
03:49And it deals with the financial aspects of how the sex trafficking came to be.
03:57So let's talk about them one at a time.
03:59First, as Senator Schumer said, there's good reason to be skeptical of whatever spin the
04:04Trump administration puts out on Friday.
04:08Here's why.
04:09This wouldn't be the first time Bondi tried to trick the public with a binder full of
04:14chicken feed.
04:15That's what she did back in the spring, which infuriated MAGA voters who took Trump and
04:20his cronies at their word that they'd release the files.
04:23Second, the cushy treatment by the Trump administration of Ms. Maxwell is totally unacceptable.
04:31She was right at the heart of the most notorious sex trafficking ring in modern American history.
04:37Despite that, Donald Trump himself said a pardon for Maxwell is on the table.
04:43Third, the Trump administration did assign hundreds of FBI agents to look at the Epstein file, but
04:49it wasn't to hunt down any more pedophiles.
04:53It was really to comb through the files for Donald Trump's name.
04:57Why?
04:58To protect him from public scrutiny.
05:01From the beginning, that's what they focused on with respect to Epstein.
05:06So Trump and Bondi do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.
05:12Second, we need to look at what Scott Besant and the Treasury Department is up to here.
05:20They've got another massive set of Epstein files.
05:24It is a critical fight for transparency and to find out how this horrendous sex trafficking
05:32operation was funded.
05:35For nearly four years, Finance Committee investigators have been on this, and we have been following
05:42the money.
05:43And to do that, you've got to get access at the Treasury Department to the records that we
05:49have seen.
05:50The staff of major Republicans have seen them.
05:54And in the file is made up of thousands and thousands of bank documents.
05:59And my investigators say that it is a financial roadmap into how Epstein hurt so many families.
06:09It shows who was paying Epstein and where his money was going.
06:13It shows what banks enabled his trafficking, despite evidence of money laundering, and despite
06:18the knowledge that he was a sex offender.
06:21It shows payments that look like the result of blackmail.
06:26It shows big outflows of money to Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Russia.
06:30And it includes the names of women and girls.
06:34My investigators saw a large portion of these records in 2024 under the Biden administration.
06:41But the Trump administration is denying us the file today.
06:46It's important for the American people to find out how all of this was financed.
06:52And that means getting our hands on the file to investigate further.
06:56The Secretary of Treasury, Mr. Besson, has refused now multiple times to hand it over to
07:02our investigators.
07:04Ridiculous excuses again and again.
07:08So we have introduced legislation to compel him to turn this over to Senate investigators.
07:13And I will tell you that Epstein survivors are already filing suit, already against banks, because
07:22they think that this information is so critical to finding out how they were exploited.
07:29So it is time for the stonewalling to end.
07:32And that's why I so appreciate what my colleagues have done to get this information out on Friday.
07:39And the administration is required by law to release the Epstein files at DOJ.
07:45I'm here to say it's got to be done at the Treasury Department as well, because we find in America, you capture corruption by following the money.
07:57And that's what was so critical at this point to the second investigation.
08:02Thank you, Leader Schumer, and I thank my colleagues, Senator Klobuchar.
08:05He's been working very well on this, and we appreciate it.
08:08Thank you very much.
08:09Senator Klobuchar.
08:10Senator Wyden, thanks for following the money, something that's our creed as my former job
08:15as prosecutors whenever you're solving a case from the smallest theft to big rings, and I appreciate that.
08:24So let's remember what this is all about.
08:27This is about exploitation and abuse.
08:30These victims deserve justice, they deserve transparency, and they deserve accountability.
08:36Example, Danielle Bensky, 17, recruited into Epstein Circle.
08:41Her mom had a brain tumor, and Epstein told her he could help her mom, but only if she abided by his demands,
08:49including recruiting other girls.
08:51He told her, I can use it to help you, or I can make it very difficult for your mother.
08:57That horrific crime, one of many, is why the House voted 427 to 1 to release the files, and why the Senate unanimously passed the bill on Senator Schumer's motion.
09:10That bill set a specific deadline, December 19th, and it is a must.
09:15It's not a may, it's a must, and it says that no record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.
09:27With this deadline, they will show whether they are really going to stop covering up, or they are going to protect these powerful abusers.
09:38If they redact these files heavily, it will be clear they are hiding something.
09:43Because, maybe it's because Donald Trump is mentioned 1,500 times.
09:47Maybe it's because they want to shield wealthy donors who are implicated in these files.
09:52Regardless of the reason, if these files are heavily redacted, without justification,
09:57Americans will know that they are once again, this administration, siding with the rich and the powerful.
10:03Remember, if the President was actually serious about truth and transparency, his administration would have released these files months ago.
10:12All the way back in March, the Attorney General said everything is going to come out to the public.
10:18The public has a right to know.
10:20It's been nine months. Nine months.
10:23And if the administration withholds or heavily redacts these records, it will be clear whose side they are on.
10:30We know the money. Follow the money. They haven't released those yet.
10:33And then when it comes to this, they literally have the power of the entire Congress telling them, get them out there now.
10:42That's what these next few days will tell us.
10:44And with that, I turn it over to my colleague who has been working on this for months and been right out front on it, Senator Merkley.
10:52Thank you, James.
10:55We smell a rat. Why?
10:59The President campaigned on releasing the files.
11:04Pam Bondi assured everyone the files would be released.
11:09Kash Patel said the files will be given to the public.
11:14And yet here we are.
11:16Not a single bit of these files has been released.
11:21And then what happened?
11:23Well, we had over in the House bipartisan leadership with Ro Khanna and Thomas Massey and a discharge petition.
11:34And as the discharge petition started to reach the critical number required, the House went on eight weeks of vacation in order to avoid releasing these files.
11:47That's never happened in American history.
11:49And then we find, as they were coming back, what happened?
11:55An announcement that some new investigations were being launched.
12:00That was on November 14th.
12:03And on the evening of the 18th, Senator Schumer went to the floor, asked for unanimous consent that the bill from the House be deemed passed when it arrived in the Senate.
12:16And unanimous consent was secured from all to send this message.
12:21And what happened the next day?
12:24Pam Bondi gets up and says, we have this new information to justify new investigations.
12:33The timing of that's awfully suspicious.
12:36So the leaders in the House and the Senate demanded a meeting.
12:41We wrote to Pam Bondi, Ro Khanna, Tom Massey, myself, Ben Ray Lujan.
12:52And we were joined and I welcomed the bipartisanship of Senator Murkowski to say, we want to know what you're up to.
13:02Meet with us and explain these new investigations.
13:05What is this new evidence?
13:07What are you undertaking?
13:09And how are you setting forward a plan to make sure all the documents are released on the 30-day notice?
13:14We got a response.
13:17The response was, we acknowledge receipt of your letter.
13:20That's it.
13:21So one of the things to watch for is the argument that vast sections had to be redacted in some cases to defend the integrity of some newly invented investigations.
13:34One way or another, we anticipate that Trump is going to continue to hide the files that should be released.
13:44We must not let it happen.
13:45We must not let it happen because we are about accountability for the perpetrators and justice for the victims.
13:53And that will not happen unless there is transparency and the documents are released in hold.
14:00Senator Blumenthal.
14:01Senator Blumenthal.
14:02Yes.
14:03Thanks to my colleagues, most especially to Senator Schumer for being so steadfast and unyielding.
14:10I think we need to recognize why we are here.
14:13We are here because of the survivors.
14:18Because of the survivors pursuing relentlessly the hideous cause of their victimization.
14:29The survivors of Epstein, but also the rich and powerful people who were Epstein's benefactors and his enablers.
14:38The survivors created that public pressure that led to the law forcing release of these documents.
14:46Donald Trump must listen to the survivors and we will know what they are concealing because of the survivors.
14:56Your question may be, how do you know that they are hiding stuff?
14:59The survivors will give us the knowledge we need to pursue the truth.
15:04They have been about the truth from the very start and their truth has to prevail.
15:10And so as I mentioned, we have had a task force of 13 members we have divided up in different groups
15:17because we know, we believe, that they will not give full open disclosure where there's great accessibility.
15:27What is Trump hiding?
15:29We're going to find out everything that he hides, that he has hidden.
15:33Not just not releasing the report, but once he releases the report, what else he is hiding.
15:39And that's why we assembled this task force and we've had great success, great help from the survivors and their lawyers,
15:47from others who have prosecuted.
15:49Ron's done a great job on the financial end of it.
15:52We're going to find everything out.
15:54He can run, he can hide.
15:57Questions on this subject?
16:00Yes.
16:01What is your sense in terms of the time frame?
16:03Is it end of day on Friday or is it, like, when do you need to have these documents?
16:08And if you don't, is there a legal recourse that you are already planning?
16:12Okay.
16:13The first question.
16:14We don't know when exactly they'll release it.
16:16They may try to do it at 11.59 p.m.
16:20They have to do it by the 19th.
16:22That's the law.
16:23If they don't release the documents, there's going to be such an outcry from one end of America
16:29to the other, that I think they'll be forced to do it.
16:34Just as they've resisted all along but we're at this point, the public pressure, you know,
16:41as Abe Lincoln said, public sentiment is everything.
16:44You've rarely seen so many different political wings of each party come together and say we need this.
16:51So we believe they'll be required to do it.
16:54Obviously, we would pursue every legal, legislative, and administrative way to get this done as well.
17:03But public pressure will be everything.
17:05Yes?
17:06How are you planning on addressing this if they do release it and it's so heavily redacted that there's nothing?
17:12Well, the people who wrote the legislation drafted it very carefully.
17:18We've been consulting our lawyers on just that issue.
17:21And we will be able to first make the point that some of the redacted stuff doesn't have,
17:27much of the redacted stuff doesn't have to be redacted and we'll have chapter and verse on that.
17:32And second, we will be prepared to argue that in court.
17:36But again, our number one ally in this is the American people.
17:40And they are going to demand that it be released.
17:44And when we say this and this and this shouldn't have been redacted, what are they hiding there?
17:48It's going to increase a lot of heat on them.
17:50And clearly, as Senator Schumer knows, having met with them, the victims are not also going to allow this to happen.
17:56Right.
17:57They're going to be leading the way.
17:58They know what's in these documents.
18:00Yep.
18:01The victims are already filing lawsuits using the information we've gotten.
18:05They are not going to let this just go by the board.
18:08Yes.
18:09What is your plan for making progress on Senator Wyden's bill with regard to the trigger?
18:14Well, why don't I call on Senator Wyden?
18:17We're going to keep pushing to find out what is behind Scott Besson's stonewalling.
18:25The fact of the matter is, on Valentine's Day before the administration, the Biden administration left, we went to look at the SARS, these suspicious activity reports.
18:37And we had the staff of senior Republicans.
18:40And we're going to keep pushing on a bipartisan basis to, A, get all the facts out because Senator Schumer has said this is not a blue and red fight.
18:50And B, to make the reforms that are necessary so this never happens again.
18:56Too many banks looked the other way.
18:59Too many auditors decided this wasn't important.
19:01This was again and again a textbook case of disinterest in suffering and families and young girls, and we're not going to let it happen again.
19:11We're also not going to bifurcate this.
19:13It's part of one large investigation, one large disclosure.
19:18And just as we will do everything we can to alert the public what has happened on the non-financial parts of the documents with all the horrible things that they did to these women,
19:33uh, we're going to continue to keep pressure on the financial parts too.
19:37Yes.
19:38So let's say there's positive, is there just going to be a public releasing going?
19:42Are we just going to let the American people go through, go through them and make, come to their own conclusions?
19:47Or will Senate Democrats, will there be a coordinated campaign?
19:50Will there be anything that we can expect next year?
19:52Well, the first step is to see, is to get them all released.
19:56That will be our first job.
19:57And then, once we have the releases, obviously, um, it's going to be clear as could be to the American people what has gone on here.
20:06But, you know, Democrats will be actively involved letting people know how disgraceful this has been.
20:13The American people should see everything we see.
20:16Yeah.
20:17They'll see it.
20:18Yes.
20:19Well, the timing, if you need to go to court after the release because of, you know, there are too many rejections or just everything's not there, is that something that can happen quickly?
20:28We're going to, you know, we have great lawyers who are ready to go and we will leave it to them as to the best sense of timing.
20:34But certainly we want to let public pressure build and build and build.
20:38And are you working with the Republicans on the court action because the law was bipartisan?
20:44We expect that we will have lots of bipartisan support.
20:47Thank you, everybody.
20:49Oh, last one.
20:50What steps are you guys taking when it comes to learning more about why Galeen Maxwell has moved?
20:55I don't know if you saw that Susie Weil, the President's chief of Stafford.
20:57We saw that.
20:58She had no idea.
20:59The President had no idea.
21:00I'm curious.
21:01I don't know whether those will be involved.
21:02She should have, should not have been moved.
21:04And I think when the files are made public, the pressure on, to disclose how that happened, why that happened, and to undo it, will be very, very real and strong.
21:16Is that a focus of one of these tasks?
21:17That is one of the, one of the focuses is on what happened and what they have tried, and what they have tried to do to cover up everything, including what happened with Gisling.
21:29Okay.
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