| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Answer that question in this final 60 seconds or so. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the party needs to do some soul searching, but we can't spend all our time navel gazing, as I have said. | |
| We got to start thinking about the future. | ||
| The Biden administration is over. | ||
| A lot of people want to be the leader of this party. | ||
| We need to settle on someone to be our national spokesperson, and we need to talk about what we're going to do. | ||
| The divisions between the far left and the moderates, we've got to work that out. | ||
| The divisions between generations, we need to work that out. | ||
| But the strength of the Democratic Party has always been that we're a big tent. | ||
| We welcome people into this party, and when you do that, you're going to have dissent. | ||
| But we just need to get that dissent focused into energy for moving forward with this country and with the party at the same time. | ||
| Congresswoman Dina Titus, Democrat from Nevada. | ||
| We'll let you get to your day on Capitol Hill. | ||
| We appreciate your time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| This is the headline from the lead story on the front page of today's Washington Times: Republicans flee pressure to force open Epstein files. | ||
| The story noting that the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein has returned to haunt President Trump at the Republican Party. | ||
| The Trump administration was forced to reopen the Epstein case. | ||
| The House ground to a halt to avoid voting on Epstein bills, and Republican lawmakers made plans to subpoena Epstein's madam. | ||
| Found dead in his jail cell in 2019, the disgraced financier has nonetheless hijacked Washington's agenda. | ||
| The story from the Washington Times today. | ||
| One of the loudest critics in the Republican Party of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, Thomas Massey, Republican from Kentucky. | ||
| This was Thomas Massey yesterday in the House. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think this issue is going away over August. | |
| I think that was the admonition of our speaker in there: just sort of stick your head in the sand, let the administration maybe dissipate this by dribbling some stuff out. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I mean, I'm heavily paraphrasing, but I think that's his strategy, and I don't think it's going to work. | |
| I mean, people have wanted these files for years, and then the president's staff, administration, his own children, his vice president have promised that these files would come out, and now we're being told it's a hoax. | ||
| It just doesn't wash. | ||
| And whether it's Republican, Democrat, or Independent, across all those categories, it's only like five or six percent who don't want the files out. | ||
| That was Thomas Massey yesterday on what the administration is doing. | ||
| Here's the latest. | ||
| This is from the Wall Street Journal. | ||
| On Tuesday, a senior Justice Department official, that would be Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, said that he would seek to interview Jeffrey Epstein's longtime associate, Ghillain Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted of sex trafficking. | ||
| A lawyer for Maxwell wrote in a post on X: I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghelane will always testify truthfully. | ||
| The Wall Street Journal reporting that President Trump was asked at the White House yesterday about what his administration is doing and about that meeting between his Deputy Attorney General and Ghillain Maxwell. | ||
| This is what he had to say. | ||
|
unidentified
|
From your perspective, who should the DOJ target as part of their investigation? | |
| What specific figures in the Obama administration? | ||
| Well, based on what I read, and I read pretty much what you read, it would be President Obama. | ||
| He started it. | ||
| And Biden was there with him. | ||
| And Comey was there. | ||
| And Clapper, the whole group was there. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Brennan, they were all there in a room right here. | |
| This is the room. | ||
| This is much more beautiful than it was then, but that's okay. | ||
| I have nice pictures up. | ||
| They came out of the vaults. | ||
| They were in there for 100 years. | ||
| This is much more beautiful. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We have the Declaration of Independence now in the room. | |
| And that was President Trump yesterday talking about a separate Department of Justice investigation. | ||
| We'll show you the sat about the latest when it comes to Ghelain Maxwell and the meeting over the Epstein files. | ||
| But we're asking you this morning about the House adjourning early. | ||
| Today's going to be their last day of work before the August recess to avoid holding votes when it comes to the Epstein files. | ||
| Asking you to call in on phone lines, as usual, Democrats, 202-748-8000, Republicans, 202-748-8001. | ||
| Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| We'll play you that clip in just a second as we hear from William in Baltimore, Maryland. | ||
| Democrat, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, Ceaseman. | |
| Mike Johnson adjourning the House early was obviously done to avoid voting on the Epstein files, the release of the Epstein files. | ||
| And Donald Trump is just a miserable failure. | ||
| He's the most corrupt president in the history of this country. | ||
| And I saw a clip yesterday where Mike Epstein took the fist when he was asked, Had Donald Trump ever been in his company with underage children or underage females? | ||
| And he refused to answer that question. | ||
| So it opens the thought that Donald Trump could be a pedophile among everything else that we know about him. | ||
| That's William and Maryland. | ||
| This is Woody in Georgia, Republican. | ||
| Woody, good morning. | ||
| Your thoughts on what's happening right now when it comes to the House of Representatives in this investigation? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, unless I'm in another country or do something. | |
| I think Joe Biden and all them Democrats have been sitting in office the last four years. | ||
| Why in the hell they ain't worried about Epstein then? | ||
| But anything that can tie Donald Trump's name to it, they get to crying and whining and everything else. | ||
| But before there was ever Donald Trump, I heard it was Bill Clinton's name on it. | ||
| But the Democrats, anything that President Trump tried to do, they should be talking about the great trade deal they made last night. | ||
| But instead, we're talking about some daggum Epstein. | ||
| Epstein dead. | ||
| He got murdered upon the Joe Biden and watches. | ||
| Anybody looking into that? | ||
| I know that man ain't hung himself in no federal prison. | ||
| Come on now. | ||
| Let's get some real facts down there. | ||
| We're going to talk. | ||
| Tell the Democrats to investigate how he got killed in jail. | ||
| That's Woody in Georgia. | ||
| Matthew in Warren, Michigan. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| You are next. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| This country is society as a whole is screwed up. | ||
| Donald Trump should have never been elected president in the first place. | ||
| And how did we wind up with the world that we live in? | ||
| And how did we not only get Donald Trump as president, but also people like Jeffrey Epstein and all the other plonies and pedophiles that have made their way to our government? | ||
| And how did society get to where it is in the first place to elect people like Donald Trump? | ||
| That's Matthew in Michigan. | ||
| This morning, an abbreviated open question as we simply talk about the House schedule right now, as the House is canceling votes for the rest of the week. | ||
| This is going to be the last work day ahead of the August recess. | ||
| Those votes being avoided included trying to force the Trump administration to release the Epstein files. | ||
| Speaker Mike Johnson saying that the Trump administration is always already working to do that, but the fur over this case continuing and now influencing the voting schedule for the House of Representatives. | ||
| The Senate is still set to be in this week and next before the August recess, so there'll still be activity on Capitol Hill. | ||
| It looks like House members will be headed to the exits today after the floor business that begins at 10 a.m. Eastern. | ||
| You can, of course, watch here on C-SPAN. | ||
| Here's the headline from Politico, their news analysis about the Epstein files and what it's meant when it comes to the floor agenda in the House. | ||
| House Democrats find their mojo with the Epstein saga. | ||
| It's a column by Rachel Bade in Politico. | ||
| After months of the base complaining that Democratic leadership couldn't land a blow on Donald Trump, House Democrats have seized on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. | ||
| And again, Democrats trying to force votes on releasing the files, some Republicans joining them in that effort. | ||
| And that's where we are today. | ||
| This is Barbara in Knoxville, Tennessee, Independent. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I was just calling to comment on this. | ||
| I think that Mike Johnson is really not, I mean, he's smart about this, but he's not smart because the public really kind of knows what's going on. | ||
| I mean, if they don't, they can speculate real good. | ||
| I just, I'm kind of sad about the whole thing. | ||
| I really am. | ||
| I think they're just distracting us. | ||
| I really do. | ||
| That's Barbara in Tennessee. | ||
| Lupe is in California, Independent line as well. | ||
| Lupe, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, good morning. | |
| I just have one comment. | ||
| But I'll answer what your questions are here about what I feel about this cancellation about the voting. | ||
| And it's another thing they're just trying to pull or whatever it is. | ||
| And I just feel sad for the people that aren't going to get to hear the truth. | ||
| And something I came across on TV the other day, and I snapped a shot. | ||
| They were showing Epstein and Trump when they were young, younger anyway. | ||
| And somebody came behind them a ways. | ||
| And then he looked to see what they were doing. | ||
| And then all of a sudden, you could see a figure that popped up. | ||
| And I said, oh, my God, that's Judge Gorges when he was younger. | ||
| And he hid immediately and went back around. | ||
| And on the way back, he covered himself. | ||
| And Lupe, where are you saying you saw this and read about this? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I didn't read about it. | |
| saw it on tv and i snapped a picture of it so this is your what i can't understand pardon me but what i can't because i spoke to somebody yesterday and they said when you called in call in 10 minutes and you know let them know And that was yesterday. | ||
| So I called in today because I couldn't get back in yesterday. | ||
| But I saw that, and then I took a picture of the judge when they were showing him on TV. | ||
| The same hair, the pattern, because it had premature gray hair. | ||
| All right, that's Lupe's interpretation. | ||
| Here's that clip we tried to show you earlier: President Trump being asked about his Deputy Attorney General setting this meeting with Ghelaine Maxwell from the White House Oval Office yesterday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. President, do you support the Justice Department seeking a new interview with Delaney Maxwell to George, the Attorney General of the Sea? | |
| I don't know anything about it. | ||
| They're going to what? | ||
| Meet her? | ||
|
unidentified
|
They're going to. | |
| Your Deputy Attorney General has reached out to Delaney Naxwell's attorney asking for a new interview. | ||
| Yeah, I don't know about it, but I think it's something that would be, sounds appropriate to do you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Do you have any concern that your Deputy Attorney General is your former attorney would be conducting the interview given? | |
| No, I have no concern. | ||
| He's a very talented person. | ||
| He's very smart. | ||
| I didn't know that they were going to do it. | ||
| I don't really follow that too much. | ||
| It's sort of a witch hunt, just a continuation of the witch hunt. | ||
| The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We're going to leave this Washington Journal segment and take you live to a briefing with members of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus about GOP redistricting efforts in Texas. |