Trump goes full panic with bombshell Epstein update - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

BTC: Howard Lutnick thinks Jeffrey Epstein is gross, but not too gross to bring his entire family to Epstein's Island for lunch. This is just another day.

As the Epstein files continue to roll out for some reason, even though they were legally required months ago, new revelations are still coming to light.

(cut to video from White House lawn in July 2019)
Unidentified News Reporter: This morning, a new document coming to light claims in the mid-2000s, President Trump called police about Jeffrey Epstein. Among the 3 million Epstein files released by the Department of Justice last month is a four-page FBI report on an interview the bureau conducted in 2019 with the man believed to be former Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter. Reiter and his detectives began investigating Epstein for human trafficking in 2004. According to the document, Trump called Reiter around that time and said, "Thank goodness you're stopping him. Everyone has known he's been doing this."

(cut to studio)
BTC: Well, that's interesting. Although kind of flies in the face of this.

(cut to video)
WH Reporter: Did you have any suspicions that he was molesting young women, underage women?

Trump: I had no idea.

Unidentified News Reporter: Trump has long denied having any knowledge of Epstein's crimes, but Reiter says Trump was one of the very first people to call when people found out that they were investigating Epstein.

(cut to studio)
BTC: That actually makes sense. I mean, if you suddenly learn that the man you sent a signed boob and pubic hair based birthday card to with the inscription “may everyday be another wonderful secret,” that he was being investigated for sex crimes, placing a call to the police to say, "Thank God you're putting a stop to this sick man's abhorrent behavior seems like a solid move to me."

Okay, so the president of the United States maybe, possibly, most definitely lied about how much he actually knew about his billionaire pedophile friend, but if that's as far as this coverup goes, well, that is still fucking awful. But at least we can say that we can call it case closed on the Trump administration's suppression of information.

(cut to video)
Willie Geist: The Justice Department, meanwhile, invited members of Congress to view the Epstein files at DOJ headquarters and many lawmakers are pointing out that many of those files still remain redacted.

(cut to video)
Rep. Thomas Massie: What I saw um that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely uh incriminated by their inclusion in these files.

Rep. Ro Khanna: There are six men uh some of them with their photographs that have been redacted and there's no explanation why those people were redacted.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Hold on now. I I I think there's a very simple explanation for why they've been redacted. You know how sometimes you grab a Sharpie and you think it has a very thin tip, but then you pull off the cap and realize it's the size of the Washington Monument. Happens all the time. So, I'm sure they just use that marker and accidentally covered up a few more names than they'd intended. But Massie and Khanna, the buddy cop movie that none of us knew we needed, are on the case and have a little insight as to who's under all that black ink.

(cut to video)
Massie: At least one is a US citizen, at least one is a foreigner, and the other three or four have names. I'm not sure if they're foreign or US.

Reporter: And which field do they work in? Is it is it finance, banking, uh political?

Massie: One is pretty high up in the foreign government.

Khanna: And some are they're one of the others is a pretty prominent uh individual.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Hey, can you hear that? Yeah, that's the sound of every rich guy shitting themselves. I know, sounds tinnier than you thought, but one wealthy Caucasian male has already done his due defection. I speak, of course, of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was recently revealed to be much more extensive than he'd previously stated. And that statement was that he met Epstein in 2005, and I believe his words were…

(cut to video)
Lutnick: …one and absolutely done.

(cut to studio)
BTC: But as the saying goes, in life there are no absolutes, especially when it comes to Howard Lutnick and pedophiles.

(cut to video)
Sen. Van Hollen: Why did the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December 2012?

Lutnick: Thank you for the question. I'm glad to be here to make it clear that I met Jeffrey Epstein when he moved when I moved to a house next door to him in New York.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Just to reiterate how astronomically rich these guys are. No one who lives in New York City calls their apartment a house unless their apartment literally looks like a house. But please continue.

(cut to video)
Lutnick: Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall. Two times. And that is none for six years. So six years later I met him. And then a year and a half after that I met him and never again.

(cut to studio)
BTC: That's right. Never again. But this time it was a real never again. Not like all of those other never agains.

(cut to video)
Lutnick: My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.

(cut to studio)
BTC: To be fair, you know how it is in a relationship. Couples say lots of things. Some people swear they'll never have kids. Other couples swear they'll never hang with someone who molests kids. Same difference. So Howard Lutnick testified before the Senate today just so that he can come clean. But for real this time about the extent of his relationship with Epstein and everyone had the same question for him that they had for Tom Hanks about his time filming Castaway. Were you really on that island?

(cut to video)
Van Hollen: Did you in fact make the visit to Jeffrey Epstein's private island?

(cut to video)
Lutnick: I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with they were there as well with their children and we had lunch on the island. That is true for an hour.

(cut to studio)
BTC: So, not only did Howard Lutnick lie his face off about how gross he found Jeffrey Epstein, he now expects us to believe that his lunch on Epstein Island, which according to Lutnick's own wife, consisted of a crowd, two families, each with four kids ranging in ages from 7 to 16, only lasted 1 hour? I don't even have kids, and I know that's bullshit. I've been at tables next to kids at restaurants, and it takes them an hour just to try and focus on the menu.

Look, do I believe that Howard Lutnick was involved in some criminal activities as Epstein and many of the other men in these files were? Not necessarily. But the fact that he lied over and over again doesn't really make me believe him either when he says stuff like this.

(cut to video)
Lutnick: To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012. I don't I don't recall why we did it, but…

(cut to studio)
BTC: Oh, I could take a guess. It might be because you're a billionaire and when you have that kind of immense wealth, it's easy to lose perspective on the suffering of others. I mean, why should a few young girls getting trafficked and raped stand in the way of you and your family dining al fresco on the aisle of Epstein, or Kid Rock, as I like to call it? But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I don't want to paint Mr. Lutnick as simply some patsy out-of-touch aristocrat.

(cut to video)
Lutnick: Look, I I've looked through the uh millions of documents for my name just like everybody else.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Okay, scratch what I said. Everybody else, you think everybody around the country is doing that? Preschool teachers, Uber drivers, social workers, everybody was just taking a swing that maybe without them knowing it, their bank account may have added a few zeros and their name might be in the Epstein files. Not likely.

By the way, before today's hearing, Howard Lutnick made his way through the halls of Congress and uh let's just say there have been more pleasant strolls.

(cut to video from ABC News in hallway with reporters prior to testimony)
Reporter: …people about your interactions with Epstein.
Reporter: Did you have any financial involvement with Jeffrey Epstein? Why did you keep contact with Jeffrey Epstein after he plead guilty to sex crimes? What do you say to the Democrats calling on for you to resign?
Security: Give us some space, Mr. Epstein. (muffled noises)
Reporter: People of your level in the British government have been forced to resign.
Security: Give us some space.
Reporter: Why did you keep contact with Jeffrey Epstein after he plead guilty?
Lutnick: I look forward to testifying today.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Look, I clearly don't have a say in what Howard Lutnick 's punishment gets to be for lying about his relationship with Epstein. But at the very least, he should have to spend the rest of his life walking at a snail's pace with cameras in his grill as he gets peppered with questions like that. I mean, unless this White House has a stronger consequence for the guy.

(cut to video in WH Press Room)
Reporter: So, does the White House stand behind uh Secretary Lutnick right now or given what he has said today, has there been any shift in how the White House is viewing um Secretary Lutnick‘s performance?

Karoline Leavitt: No. Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump's team and the president fully supports the secretary.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Oh. Uh one quick follow-up. Why? Howard Lutnick gleefully lied his face off to the American people about his level of involvement with one of the most notorious and disgusting individuals our nation has ever known and this administration doesn't think any level of admonishment is in order. This from a White House who promised to take down anyone and everyone involved with Jeffrey Epstein, who brought on truth crusaders like Dan Bongino, who literally made a fortune saying like this.

(cut to video)
Dan Bongino: That Jeffrey Epstein story is a big deal. Please do not let that story go. Keep your eye on this. We need to keep the heat on this case, folks. There are a lot of people who are knee-deep in the Washington swamp who are not telling you the truth about serious allegations out there.

(cut to studio)
BTC: So, is Dan Bongino raising hell from the rooftops over his former co-workers deception? No. And the reason is they don't care. This is the most morally bankrupt White House our nation has ever witnessed. Where trust and accountability takes a backseat every single day.

Honestly, let's reexamine where the bar is for someone to actually get fired in this administration. You don't get fired for lying about your relationship with a rapist. You don't get fired for lying about the Epstein files being on your desk. You don't get fired for lying about texting classified military plans to the family group chat. You don't get fired for lying about the fact that a murder everybody saw on camera took place. You don't get fired for lying about firing tear gas at protesters. You don't get fired for lying about the billions of dollars you never actually saved the government. You don't get fired for lying to Congress about your antivax-based jaunts. Not even that staffer who posted a racist video of the Obamas got fired.

We are the most powerful country on the planet. And practically every individual in a position of leadership in this administration gets to somehow screw up in the most damning of ways before ever being shown the door with the lies and crimes they've committed. They should not get third, fourth, or fifth chances. It should be uh oh uh what was it?

(cut to video)
Lutnick: A one and absolutely done.

(cut to studio)
BTC: Exactly.

[PJMcK]

1. A million thanks for the transcript!

I can't play videos right now and this piece was insightful.

Have a great day, TT!

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're welcome.

My headphones suffered from accidental damage and while I can still listen, it's time to pull out the duck tape for a quick repair so we're in the same boat regarding making adjustments.