Washington Journal (02/10/2026) dissects Ghilaine Maxwell’s Fifth Amendment testimony, disappointing Chairman James Comer amid planned depositions of Lex Wexner, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn. Callers clash over partisan motives—Democrats demand Trump’s scrutiny despite minimal file mentions, while Republicans like Heather Canton reject "paid silence" claims, accusing Democrats of bias. Bipartisan outrage erupts over Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick’s ties to Epstein, with Schiff accusing him of lying, and Prince William’s royal family facing fallout from unredacted revelations. The episode exposes deep distrust in accountability, framing Epstein’s files as a moral reckoning for U.S. elites amid accusations of systemic cover-ups and political hypocrisy. [Automatically generated summary]
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Washington Journal starts now.
Good morning.
It's Tuesday, February 10th, 2026.
The House and Senate both return at 10 a.m. Eastern today.
Yesterday, Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Jelaine Maxwell, appeared before a congressional committee and chose to plead the fifth rather than testify.
Meanwhile, the release of the Epstein files has shaken Kier Starmer's government in Britain with new calls for the Prime Minister to quit amid the fallout.
This morning, we're getting your view of the Epstein files.
How much are you following this story?
How much does it matter to you?
Phone lines are split as usual by political party.
Republicans, 202-748-8001 is the number.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can also send us a text, that number, 202-748-8003.
If you do, please include your name and where you're from.
Otherwise, catch up with us on social media on X.
It's at C-SPANWJ on Facebook.
It's facebook.com slash C-SPAN.
And a very good Tuesday morning to you.
Go ahead and start calling in now.
Here's some of the headlines from today's papers on the fallout from the Epstein files, including the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal.
This headline, as Epstein files royal the United Kingdom, the Royals are deeply concerned.
This also from the papers today, Kier Starmer faces potential fallout from the Epstein scandal, talking about the British prime minister.
And this, the front page, the Washington Post, Ghelaine Maxwell declines to answer to lawmakers.
That happening on Capitol Hill yesterday.
It was Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer who spoke with reporters after that testimony.
This is what he had to say.
As expected, Ghelaine Maxwell took the fifth and refused to answer any questions.
This obviously is very disappointing.
We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed, as well as questions about potential co-conspirators.
We sincerely want to get to the truth to the American people and justice for the survivors.
That's what this investigation is about.
I want to mention the next steps.
We can confirm we have five more depositions in the book scheduled for the Epstein investigation.
On February 18th, Lex Wexner, who is a financial client of Epstein and I believe the former CEO of Victoria Secret.
February 26th, we have former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
February 27th, former President Bill Clinton.
March 11th, Richard Kahn, Epstein's accountant.
And March 19th, Darren Endike, Epstein's lawyer.
So we will continue to move forward and try to get answers for the American people.
James Comer speaking with reporters yesterday on Capitol Hill.
This is the headline of Kate Andrews' column today in the Washington Post.
The Epstein files release is an earthquake, just not in Washington.
She writes the fallout from the latest release of the files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is being called the biggest political scandal so far this century.
Newspapers and television news are splashing fresh revelations daily.
High-profile careers are crashing.
The police are investigating.
There are even whispers of borrowed time for the country's leader, not in the United States, but in Britain.
The enormous tranche of more than 3 million emails and other documents, photos, and videos released by the Justice Department on January 30th has created a minor headache in the White House and a major crisis in Whitehall.
She writes, Prime Minister Kier Starmer is under immense pressure to explain why he appointed longtime labor insider Peter Mandelson as Britain's ambassador to the United States, despite knowing Mandelson continued to consort with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to charges, including soliciting prostitution of someone under the age of 18.
We'll go through more of her story, taking a look at why she believes this is a much bigger story overseas than it is here in Washington.
But we want to get that sense from you, your sense of how much you're following this story.
How much do the Epstein files matter to you?
Again, the phone nine, phone numbers, 202-748-8001 for Republicans.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
Joe's up first out of Arkansas, Independent.
Joe, good morning.
Yes, I'm concerned about what's going on with the Epstein file because there's some reason why our president is trying his best make sure that the Republicans control Congress in the next election.
Because they know for sure if Democrats take over, that we will find out exactly what's in that Epstein file, every bit of it.
But right now, they're controlling everything.
And the Republican Party seem like they are afraid of our president.
He's my president, too.
But they need to find out what's going on about the Epstein file.
Now, unless you're mistaken.
Joe, why do you think?
Why do you think if Democrats take over, that they're going to find out?
We're talking about files that were in possession of the Biden administration, Justice Department, the Trump administration, Justice Department for a year before they were released.
Why do you think that a changeover in Congress is going to create new revelations or new charges?
Because when the Democrats, when Trump was running, when he ran for president, he knows what's going on.
If he runs for president, they couldn't go after him.
And Republicans are not going to go after him.
So if Biden had gone on and started investigating Trump about this Epstein case, they'd have said he'd have said it political.
And he got people believing.
He got people right now believing that he didn't lose the election in 2020.
I mean, that's ridiculous, but all the courts that said he did lose for him instead of tell this same story.
They were cheating.
And right now, he's trying to cheat every way he can to make sure the Democrats don't control.
I wouldn't.
If I was Joe Biden, I never would have gone at it either.
Because he don't do much.
Turn around and lay on him and say, hey, this is political.
That's Joe in Arkansas this morning.
Fred's up next out of Toledo, Ohio, Independent.
Good morning.
Hey, good morning.
Yeah, the Epstein files is a huge, huge deal for me because the Epsteins and all the rich people they had represent the pinnacle of our society and the peak of conservatism.
If you look at the strand of pedophilia that runs through America, it runs directly up the right side.
It runs through all the churches and it goes directly to the top.
And eventually there's an intersection where classism cuts in and you'll have like liberals, conservatives, and everyone else running to what St. Sebastian Island and other places like that to do unspeakable things.
That's Fred in Toledo, Ohio.
The Epstein files, a big enough story to warrant its own Super Bowl commercial on Sunday.
This was the 30-second commercial, if you missed it.
After years of being kept apart, we're standing together.
Standing.
Standing together.
Because this girl deserves the truth, because she deserves the truth.
we all deserve the truth.
Again, that ad playing during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Pam Bondi's Cover-Up00:11:11
It references the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
RoCanna, Thomas Massey, the two members of Congress who are the authors of that act, they also spoke with reporters yesterday.
This is what they had to say.
What's your message to Pam Bondi after what you saw today?
Need to do a little more work.
And I would like, I mean, we'll see her at the Judiciary Committee here in a couple days.
At the very least, these six men, maybe she can make public.
I mean, we're happy to provide the information to them, and they should do that.
Look, there's some of the effort, because there were a lot of career attorneys on there.
There's some redactions that were appropriate, some to protect the survivors.
And some of the most sensational things out on the internet, there may have been appropriate redactions.
So, you know, for Thomas and me, it's always been about the facts.
And our biggest concern is what was redacted before it even came to the Justice Department.
I mean, the reality is that the most important things, the 302 files and some of the information on the prosecution memos, it's unclear that those redactions happened here.
We saw a lot of files that already were redacted.
And then, of course, they have been protecting some of these men.
Maybe it was not intentionally, but the law is very clear.
They need to comply with the law.
Have you planned to read the six names on House Board?
I think we need to give the DOJ a chance to go back through and correct their mistakes.
How long do they have that?
How long do they have to publish out of these files?
They're already breaking the law.
Look, they're way past the deadline.
And the reason they gave for taking so much time is so they wouldn't release victims' information.
But in fact, they've released all kinds of victims' information.
So the problem here is not the deadline.
The problem is they need to go back.
They need to themselves check their own homework or have somebody else check it.
And as Rose said, they need to go to the U.S. attorneys and the FBI who are compelled by the legislation directly to produce that material to them unredacted.
Thomas Massey and Bro Khanna speaking to reporters yesterday.
We're talking to you this morning, asking you about the latest from the Epstein files and how much you're paying attention to this story.
202748-8001 for Republicans, Colin, 202748-8000 for Democrats.
Independents, 202748-8002.
About another 20 minutes with this question, then we'll open the phones up with a lot going on this week and with the House and Senate returning today at 10 a.m.
There's lots to talk about open forum in just about 20 minutes.
But Todd in Wisconsin, Democrat, you're up.
Go ahead.
How much are you paying attention to the Epstein files?
I'm paying a lot of attention.
You know, you gotta make sure you don't have the calories like Dr. Nell says.
Dr. Nell.
I'm not sure what Todd's talking about.
Eugene in Boston, Independent.
Go ahead.
Yes.
This is a calling about the Epstein file.
Are you there?
Go ahead, Eugene.
You're on the air.
Oh, okay.
Well, I just wanted to reiterate the fact that this is really nothing new.
And I'm hoping that people out there don't believe that what Jeffrey Epstein was doing has stopped.
It's still going on.
Okay, it's just different names in different places.
The Republicans voted in Dennis Hasbert as the head of their party.
And at the time they voted him in, they knew that he was a sexual predator and had issues with children, but they still made him the head of their party.
So they're going to continue to protect pedophiles and people of that nature.
They always have, and they always will.
It's as simple as that.
The only thing you can do is to get those types of people up out of there.
And there doesn't seem to be any type of drive to have them removed.
And that's really sad.
At least over in England, they're at least exposing people and removing them from their positions, if not incarcerating them because they should be at the bottom of the jails.
And that's all I have to say.
Eugene in Boston.
Again, the difference between how this story is playing out in England versus the United States, the subject of Kate Andrews' piece in today's Washington Post.
The Epstein Files release is an earthquake just not in Washington.
More from that piece.
She writes that the contrast between responses to the latest Epstein files release in Britain and the U.S. is stark.
President Donald Trump, who's mentioned thousands of times in the newly revealed documents, was not directly asked about them in his one-hour interview with NBC News on Wednesday night.
Starmer, who was mentioned zero times in the files, is currently fighting for his political life and has been forced to fire his second chief of staff in 18 months to solidify his own position.
What accounts for these radical differences? She asked.
Quote, Brits are not used to something like this happening, said one senior figure in Westminster.
The impact is therefore unknown, but also seismic.
For Americans, she says, who have heard about the Epstein files throughout multiple election cycles, the president's featuring them is not news.
Indeed, the Epstein connection is baked into the Trump presidency.
She says, another twist in the Epstein saga is more easily drowned out due to the endless distractions emanating from the White House, which in just the past week included calls to nationalize elections and sharing racist photos of a former president.
British politics is by no means immune to scandal, but the desensitization that has worked in Trump's favor is not working for Kira.
Starmer, that's Kate Andrews, again, writing in the pages of today's Washington Post.
She says the Epstein files are an earthquake, just not in Washington, asking if you agree in how much this story matters to you.
Jane, Cincinnati, Ohio, Republican, good morning.
Hi, how are you?
Doing well.
The Epstein files should matter to everybody because We have a Congress that there's probably people hiding in Congress right now for their dear lives because they're involved in all this.
The problem is, you've got a lot of politicians that go all the way back to God knows who that are involved in this, and none of them have been prosecuted.
None of them have gone to jail.
The only name I keep hearing is President Trump's name.
And I'm kind of fed up with that.
Okay.
They can say his name if they want, but then they better say Bill Clinton's name over and over again, Barack Obama's name over and over again.
And the list just goes on.
And I don't know how many people in Congress should be running for cover.
Probably a lot of them, because most of them are criminals and should be in jail anyway.
Jane, are you going to be going to watch the Clintons testimony later this month, the last week of the month, in front of the Oversight Committee?
Probably, but I can tell you right now what's going to happen.
They're going to plead.
They are.
They're both criminals.
They make me sick.
And you know, here's the thing.
I voted for Bill Clinton the first time.
I didn't the second time.
And I'm ashamed of that vote.
And I campaigned for George W. Bush, and I'm ashamed of that vote.
I campaigned for him two terms, and I'm ashamed because of the lies about the Iraq war.
I mean, none of these politicians are ever honest about a damn thing.
You know, they get up there on their high horse and they tell you everything they're going to do.
And then they get in there and they do something completely different.
That's Jane in Ohio.
Jimmy is next out of North Carolina.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Yeah, I just don't think it's going to make any difference.
I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom of who was involved in this Epstein stuff.
There's too many high politicians and people with influence, money-type influence that could be ratted out, and they are going to pay as much as they have to pay to keep their name from being exposed.
People are talking about Trump.
You know, he's a convicted fella already, but I think his name is probably in there for reasons that we all know about.
He's never going to tell the truth.
The files are never going to be seen.
The names on the files that should be out there are never going to be outed.
There's people in control right now.
Pam Bondi is one of the her name should be in there somewhere for being a conspirator.
She's covering it up and she's going to continue to cover it up.
And I feel sorry for the victims of this Epstein mess.
And that's what it is.
It's a big old mess.
Jimmy, you mentioned Pam Bondi.
She said to testify this week tomorrow before the Judiciary Committee.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, Democrat from Maryland member of the committee, was talking with reporters yesterday about what he plans to ask Pam Bondi.
This is some of what he had to say.
I was interested in certain redactions that seem puzzling to me, and I wanted to go and see were there actually names of victims in there that caused the redactions.
And in the overwhelming number of cases, there were not names of victims there that would explain the redactions.
So there are puzzling, inexplicable redactions.
And so we need some explanation from the Department of Justice about what their process was and why it seems to have created so many erroneous Non-redactions causing tremendous pain to survivors, and then so many seemingly false redactions that made it as well.
What do you have to do to get some more information out of this or get fewer redactions?
Do you have to file another bill, pass another bill saying, you know, this has to come back to us unredacted?
There has to be another date certain.
What's your well, we're going to start by posing questions directly to Attorney General Bondi about the process that produced such flawed results and that has created such mystery.
But also, we want to get a commitment from the Department of Justice to clean it up as quickly as possible and to get them to release the millions of other documents that are still out there.
Democrat Jamie Raskin, talking with Fox News Chad Pergram yesterday, and if you want to see Pam Bondi testify on Capitol Hill, that's taking place tomorrow, 10 a.m. Eastern, and you can watch it on C-SPAN 3.
We'll be covering that gabble-gavel for that hearing.
Also on C-SPAN.org and the free C-SPAN video app.
Back to your phone calls.
Democrats And The Epstein File00:14:56
This is Chase in Oregon, Republican.
Good morning.
You're next.
Yes, this is just another attempt by the Democrats to block anything and everything the president's doing good and to just destroy a man that's done more for this country than any president in current history.
I wonder if they would be as concerned about if it was little boys that were involved in all this.
Democrats don't care about those little girls.
They just care about derailing President Clinton.
Thank you.
That's Chase in Oregon.
This is Calvin in Pennsylvania, Democrat.
Good morning.
I think we're narrowing our focus a little bit too much when we talk about the Epstein issue in terms of sex trafficking.
I think it's about much more than that.
I think it's about political and it's about power and control using compromise.
And I think you can see right in front of our faces that this organization, whatever it is, it's still in operation as evidenced by the fact that even though a law was passed, we still cannot get them to follow the law and release the files.
I mean, there's still that much in control.
And then think about it.
Just common logic.
If I were engaged in a criminal business where I could go to jail if I were found out, and my clients were people that were much more powerful than me, who could have me locked up at a whim, how could I protect me, myself, and my business?
I would have to have compromising information on them.
So I think this organization gets compromised on powerful, influential people as a means of control.
And I think that's what it's really about.
All these compromising things are just means to an end.
And that end is power.
And it's still operating right in front of our face.
Thank you.
Calvin, you may be interested in the story in today's Washington Post noting that attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein had filed requests for records retained by American intelligence agencies that could reflect an affiliation with the CIA or whether the National Security Agency retained information about Epstein according to some of the documents that were released in the Epstein files.
The latest documents released to comply with the law on the files have unveiled a trove of correspondence outlining how Epstein sought to nurture relationships with world leaders, diplomats, scientists, financiers, lawyers, entrepreneurs long after serving time for state prostitution charges and registering as a sex offender.
Documents, which also revealed the extent of Epstein's Russia connections, have added to suspicions that Epstein worked or was targeted by intelligence agencies because of his personal ties to international elites.
If you want to read that story, that's in the Washington Post today.
This is Debbie out of the state of Maine, Independent.
Good morning.
Hey, John.
With President Biden, he had these files for four years.
If there'd have been anything in there, they went through those with a fine-tooth comb because they were looking for Trump to pin something on Trump, but there's no there there.
So it's like, but the thing is, the Dems need that too to run on because they have nothing else.
It's the Epstein, and then it's the illegal criminals of Minnesota, woke, trans.
It's, you know, so it's like, what I don't understand is these victims are out on capital steps.
And if it's a matter of finding out who it was for their just for justice for them, can't they just name the name of the men themselves?
They have to know, you know, who their abusers were.
But as far as this coming to light again, they had it for four years.
And so, Devin, you don't expect any new indictments to be coming down to be after the release of all these emails, you don't expect a new round of people being put on trial for this.
Oh, no, definitely.
Definitely.
They have to be.
But I'm just saying, if they know who their abusers were, they've never named them.
Do you know what I mean?
I mean, none of the women have named, you know, Trump or, I mean, George Mitchell, as a matter of fact, he was a senator from Maine.
He just came out on the list and they've taken away his scholarships that they, well, they continued the scholarships for the kids, but they took away this.
He had a building in his name.
They've taken his name off there.
And I don't know if it really went to the depth part of really, you know, confirming that he was, you know, he was just on the list.
I don't know how in-depth it goes with him, but I mean, it's going to start falling, which I think, oh, they all have to be brought to justice, definitely.
But the thing is, is this, this, Biden's had these for four years.
And that's your point, Debbie.
That's Debbie in Maine.
A few of your comments via social media.
This is John saying, at first, no, when it comes to the Epstein files mattering, but now with all the delays and the redactions, yes, I do find it concerning.
Tammy saying, yes, the victims matter, but the left needs to stop trying to get Trump and go after the ones that we know participated.
Trump turned the creep in and kicked him out of his club.
Now with Trump, that Trump has been cleared, the question is asked if it matters.
And this from Tammy: justice needs to be met since it seems that many people in authority and wealthy people should be accountable in some manner.
Probably major fines should go to pay off the national debt and balanced budgets should be set, tying it to the budgetary process.
That's Tammy this morning.
This is about the next five or ten minutes here with this question: Do the Epstein files matter to you?
202-748-8003 to send us a text.
If you want to call Republicans, it's 202-748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And Independents, 202748-8002.
This is the headline from the Wall Street Journal we showed you earlier.
Kier Starmer, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, faces potential fall from the Epstein scandal.
It was last week that the Prime Minister answered questions about Peter Mendelson, his appointee for Ambassador of the United States, who is now facing a police investigation over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
What was not known was the depth, the sheer depth and extent of the relationship.
He lied about that to everyone for years.
A new information was published in September showing the relationship was materially different to what we'd been led to believe.
When the new information came to light, I sacked him.
But we did go through a due diligence exercise.
The points that are being put to me were dealt with within that exercise.
In response to the humble address this afternoon, I intend to make sure that all of the material is published.
Mr. Speaker, the only exemptions are national security, prejudice national security.
My first duty is obviously to keep this country safe.
And when we drafted humble addresses, we always put an exemption for national security, but also anything that will prejudice international relations.
Mr. Speaker, you in the House will appreciate that in the course of discussions country to country, there are very sensitive issues of security, intelligence, and trade, which cannot be disclosed without compromising the relationship between the two countries or a third country.
Kier Sturmer, last week during Prime Minister's question hour, it's about 40 minutes of conversation this morning on the Epstein files, asking if they matter to you.
This is Gerald in Ohio, Republican.
Gerald, good morning.
Good morning.
Does the Epstein files matter to me?
No.
As far as I'm concerned, Trump should have burned all the files, as far as I'm concerned.
There's more important things to do with these Democrats.
There's more important things to do than these Epstein files every day that's on the news.
That's all on the news every day.
Gerald, when Donald Trump was running, he did talk a lot about the Epstein files.
And this was one of the main things he talked about on the campaign trail, along with immigration, the economy, and other issues.
But he also focused on this when he was running.
Yes, I know that, but there's more important things for these Democrats to do than these Epstein files.
And why was these Epstein files in with the JFK files in that room and all that?
I forget what it's called, but they shouldn't have been in there either.
That's Gerald in Ohio.
This is John in Brighton, Michigan.
Democrat, good morning.
You are next.
Good morning.
The question is, do the Epstein file reports matter to me?
Yes, they do.
The reason is that there are two kinds of faces in our government, those that you see on TV and those who have entered and exit the back door of the White House.
The situation now is that the cover is being peeled off the Republican representation, and the leaders who actually matter, the ones that are not on TV, are being caught with their pants down.
I want to know how my government works.
Who has the power brokers in Washington?
The Epstein files are revealing how our government really works.
And I believe that any patriot that truly loves our country should never, ever vote for Republican for any public office because they represent evil.
And this Epstein file story is letting Americans know what their government is doing.
I believe that America is a very religious country.
And I see Donald Trump waving a Bible over his head and praying in circles with evangelicals.
And all of this is a fraud.
The people who are actually running the government that report to Donald Trump are participating in a cover-up, a conspiracy of lies to fool the American people to think that they are religious people when in fact they're the opposite.
It's John in Michigan, Glendale, Maryland, Michael Independent.
Good morning.
Good morning.
What's your view on the Epstein files?
Okay, I mean, a lady had called in about, I think, five calls earlier, and she mentioned that Trump was all over the Epstein file.
Obama was all over the Epstein file.
And I noticed that you didn't even make any comment to try and correct a lady.
Obama was never mentioned.
Last month, I was sure.
It's Michael and Glendale, Pat Indicator.
Republican, good morning.
Good morning.
I guess I would start out by saying I think the Epstein files should be released, you know, in far more depth than they have been.
And, you know, have thought that for a long time, that it's, I think there's so many government bureaucratic regulations involved in the DOJ that prevent the release that should happen.
So I absolutely support that.
But I guess you think about the news coverage and you think about all the awful crimes that occur in this country and all of the horrible things that happen to victims all over the place.
And you think about the incredible news media focus on this and the Democratic Party pearl clutching over it.
And I guess I just can't help but wonder why the press doesn't ask every one of them, every Democrat or Republican that gets up and talks about this, you know, why they were totally silent on it for the last, for the entire Biden administration.
I don't know how you cannot be skeptical when you see a Super Bowl ad with the victims with a tape over their mouth.
What's that supposed to signify?
There's nothing stopping them from talking.
If they know the, if they obviously know the perpetrators and those that are guilty, why don't they release the names?
And why did they say nothing during the Biden administration?
How can you not be a little critical or a little bit questioning about why the timing of this happens?
And, you know, again, it's just so obvious that most of his connections, whether it was the very high-up Obama White House lawyer that he took to dinner a bunch of times, whether it was his very, very numerous visits to the Clinton White House, you know, actually visiting the White House 17 times, if I'm remembering correctly.
It's just unbelievable the way the media want to and Democrats want to grab onto this and focus it on Trump when his connections were, you know, very, very minor to him and just ridiculous the focus on it of the news media.
That's what kind of interests me is how they gin this up and everybody follows along with them and nobody asks questions to them about why they said absolutely nothing during the Biden.
On the news media, just to give you an example of what's happening on Capitol Hill in terms of members being asked about this, Pablo Manriquez, one of the congressional reporters up here on Capitol Hill, had this interaction with Congresswoman Anna Paulino.
Essentially, members catching members at all hours of the day as they're getting in and out of their cars, getting questions on this.
This was about a minute from his Instagram feed.
Chairsman, real quick, you said that you do not support at all Ghillaine Maxwell getting any clemency for her testimony.
Why is it important for her to be held accountable?
Well, because according to the files that we all saw, she was engaged in the trafficking and also rape of young women and potentially children.
I don't think that she deserves any special treatment.
Why Trump Needs to Be Distracted00:07:06
She's a monster.
Are you able to see the DOJ unredacted versions?
I'm going to be going tomorrow.
I think every member of Oversight has gone through so far, or is going to be going through so far.
So, yes.
Tomorrow will be your first time.
No, my second.
Okay, is there anything you can share from what you saw today?
I've posted about it publicly, but some of the people that are in the most egregious redactions are claiming to be victims, and I don't think that they're victims if you're engaging in child sex trafficking.
Got it.
Florida Republican Ana Paulina Luna there.
That was yesterday.
This morning, just a couple minutes left on this question, then we'll move to open phones for you.
This is Sarah in Marion, Pennsylvania, Democrat.
Sarah, how much are you following this story?
Thank you.
What interests me about the Epstein files is that these women that were trafficked, many of them voted Republican, and therefore they were okay with Trump and the Access Hollywood files being released publicly with him saying it was okay to molest women,
the Republican policies against women regarding the right to choose and having access to health care, because we forgot to care who's health care to have independence, such as equal pay for equal work, so that they have control over their income and independence from their husbands.
And then another point is that the MAGA religious right that so latched on to this whole Epstein situation during Trump's campaigns, they're very interested in protecting underage girls, but they're also professing to be pure and Christian and want to promote chastity and resonate with Charlie Kirk and marriage,
and yet they have this prurient, salacious interest in sex, and they want to protect these women, and yet they support the MAGA policies that don't protect women.
Lastly, I think that John Osoff was brilliant in linking the Epstein class, as he put it, with the elite class, because the policies of the Trump administration reflect promoting the elite class towards their accruing great wealth,
so that it's more for promoting Christian nationalism, which speaks to the immigration policy and to oligarchy.
That's Sarah in Pennsylvania.
Caleb, Silver Spring, Maryland, Independent.
Go ahead.
Hi, John.
Hi, John.
Good morning.
How are you?
Doing well.
You know, it's just very, very frustrating.
You know, President Trump has drawn widespread attention for threatening to block the opening of the new Gordy-Howey International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, demanding negotiation on trade and perceived imbalance before allowing the $4.7 billion infrastructure project to proceed.
The move has sparked concern from Michigan officials and a lot of Canadian officials because of the impact on trade.
Trump continues to be able to do that.
I assume you want to move on from the Epstein files to talk trade.
Do you have any thoughts on the Epstein files before we?
Yes, yes, I definitely have something to say on the Epstein files.
Again, Trump continues to, with his cabinet and DOJ and other, you know, partners to distract the people from the Epstein files, but it's going to come out.
It needs to come out because I know they're trying to distract us with the Clintons and everything.
The Clintons are not the president right now.
Trump is and what he's doing to the country with all these policies and to distract us from what he did.
And him being the president right now, he's the person on the spotlight.
We can have the conversation on the Clintons and anybody else that did it.
But we need to get to the bottom of what the current sitting United States President, Donald J. Trump, what his involvement in the Epstein files need to come out because he's the person currently in the hot seat.
You know, I know that Republicans continue to try to push.
They've even put Obama.
Let me tell you guys, Obama was never in the Epstein files.
Look, read.
Reading is fundamental.
And I think a lot of people just take things on face value of what other people say, but you got to read the information for yourself.
Got your point.
That's Caleb.
And maybe a good time to open the phones to open forum.
Any public policy issue that you want to talk about, any political issue.
Now's the time to call in.
We can continue to talk about the Epstein files, but there is plenty going on today.
So I want some time to allow you to talk about the topics that you want to talk about.
The House is in at 10 a.m. Eastern.
The Senate is in at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Also today at 10 a.m. on C-SPAN 3, we're going to be showing you Todd Lyons, the acting director of immigration and customs enforcement.
He'll be testifying before Democratic and Republican lawmakers up here on Capitol Hill.
So a lot going on today.
Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow.
So any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, now is the time.
About 20, 25 minutes for this conversation.
And perhaps this might be one of the topics you want to talk about, the intersection between sports and politics.
A headline from the Wall Street Journal today.
Bad Bunny's Ode to Joy and Heritage.
Super Bowl halftime celebration of Puerto Rico and Latino culture draws criticism from Donald Trump and conservatives.
The Super Bowl halftime show getting a lot of attention, a lot of eyeballs on Sunday.
Also getting a lot of attention is the Olympics right now.
And this is the column from Liam Griffin in today's Washington Times.
Outspoken Olympians are stoking political division as well.
Liam Griffin writing that the Olympics were never apolitical, but there was a time when Americans could almost unanimously agree to support Team USA and the athletes who adored the Wheaties boxes and sports red, white, and blue on the biggest stages in the world.
Those days may have passed, he writes, at this year's winter games, a growing fracture between outspoken athletes and the Trump administration threatens patriotism that has traditionally defined Americans' effort in that competition.
Team USA's women's half-pike snowboarding team defended skier Hunter Hess on Monday, a day after President Trump criticized the athlete for saying that he didn't want to represent everything that's going on in the United States.
The president called Hess a real loser for those comments.
The column in today's Washington Times.
Thank You Call Confusion00:08:18
Some of the topics you may want to talk about, we can also stay on the Epstein files if that's what you're on the line for.
This is Heather Canton, Ohio, Republican.
Good morning.
Go for it.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I just want to say, I am just so confused how the Epstein files have become a partisan issue.
Like, this is not partisan.
This is children being trafficked.
This is children being raped.
I mean, I don't understand.
We have to just be Americans and stand up for the justice.
And we need justice.
These pedophiles need to be put in jail.
I don't care who they are, how high up they are.
It's ridiculous.
And all these records, all of our state representatives, Mace and Nasse and Paulina, you know, they get to see the unrefacted files.
And what are they going to do with those?
I mean, are they going to let the American people know, or is this just a political stunt?
I don't understand.
And then the women who said that they were trafficked and raped, they got paid to keep their mouths shut.
How is that justice?
I mean, they're selling out all of these victims for their love of money.
I don't understand.
I wish Simone could explain this to me.
That's Heather in Ohio.
This is George St. Louis, Missouri Independent.
Good morning.
Yeah, it's been an interesting several minutes I've been listening to.
You know, I listen to this, I listen, watch C-SPAN.
I have a lot of time nowadays.
And it's amazing watching C-SPAN how much I learn about the inner workings, or at least what they show you on these meetings that they all have, Republicans, Democrats.
And I've come to the conclusion that we have a lot of politicians that are getting paid and they're not really doing anything.
They're not serving the people.
They're serving themselves.
Now, with Trump, Trump said he was going to release the files.
Release the damn files and be done with it.
He promised he was going to do it.
And he can overrule Bondi or whoever.
Release the files.
Am I concerned?
Of course, when you do things wrong, all right, that's criminal what they're doing to these young women.
Now, what I don't understand is why don't these women come out and just say what and who did what?
And that would put an end.
Now, Trump did say a lot of innocent people.
Well, people, you know, the whole thing, whether they were innocent or not, their morals have been stretched, okay?
And a lot of these people didn't probably rape these women, underage women, but they engaged in stuff that could be immoral, lewd, et cetera, and their reputations will be ruined.
But so what?
Look at Elliot Spitzer.
You remember Elliot Spitzer, don't you?
And, you know, release the damn records like you said you were going to do.
That's George in Missouri.
This is Wayne, Brooklyn, New York.
Wayne, go ahead.
Yes, good morning.
The Epstein files are very important.
The extent to which our government, the highest levels of government, the Justice Department, Department of Justice, the FBI, our Republican-led Congress, the extent to which they've gone to cover up and hide and persuade people not to vote to release these files.
It means that there's something really, really going on that they don't want us to see.
That makes it important.
I mean, these people are not concerned with the fact that children, 10-year-old, 12-year-old, 15-year-old, 14-year-old, 17-year-old girls were sexually abused, not one, not two, not three, not 20.
It's yes, they're very important.
These people should release these files.
There's something really wrong here, and we'd like to know.
Thank you for your time.
I appreciate it.
One more story on the Epstein files today.
This from Politico, but several other newspapers as well.
Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick is facing bipartisan calls to resign after he appeared in a recent batch of files linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Senator Adam Schiff accused Luttnick in a statement Monday of having lied about the extent of his connections to Epstein.
Luttnick has sought to downplay their relationship, saying in a podcast appearance last year that he vowed in 2005 to never again be in the same room as Epstein.
But files recently released by the Justice Department suggest that he continues his interaction, continued his interactions with Epstein, including planning a visit several years later to Epstein's Caribbean island.
The stories about Luttnick may be re-upped today.
As Chad Pergram points out, the Commerce Secretary is set to appear before the House Appropriations Committee today, and you can expect questions about Jeffrey Epstein, that also happening today on Capitol Hill.
This is Sandy in Arizona, Independent.
Good morning.
First call, and I thank you for taking it.
I just think that this is where America finally faces its moral conscience.
We have always known that there are things going on in this country, actions by this government that have been not of moral character.
But this particular instance, the Epstein files, is huge.
It's international.
I want to thank the European countries for going in and disassociating from the people that are in their government or in their purview that have already been in the Epstein files.
They took action before that had to be litigated.
The fact that we're sitting here chatting about what's going to happen next is ridiculous.
These people need to be taken out of their seats, and I include the president in that, and put before a court.
This is women and little girls who have been devalued for centuries in this country.
And it's time for us, and I'm going to include every woman that's running for office, to take charge.
I've heard enough.
I've seen enough.
And I thank you for your time this morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
On how the British are handling these revelations, this is the story from the Washington Post.
Thousands of miles from Washington, shockwaves from the Justice Department's release of the latest Jeffrey Epstein files continue to rock British society at its highest echelons, engulfing Prime Minister Kier Starmer in a fresh political crisis and casting a lengthening shadow over the royal family in their first public remarks since the latest revelations.
Prince William and Princess Catherine of Wales said they were deeply concerned.
Andrew Montbotten Windsor, the younger brother, King Charles III, of course, stripped of his titles after revelations of his appearance in the files.
Last week, a Buckingham Palace official confirmed that Mountbotten Windsor had relocated out of the Royal Lodge, his 30-room longtime residence in Windsor, about three months after the palace announced that he would be leaving the property, the fallout continuing over across the pond.
This is Sophia in Manhattan, Independent.
Good morning.
Good morning, John.
I missed you Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
I call.
I wish they could make it by seniority who call the new callers.
And this thing I've been calling for 10 years.
I never missed one month.
Anyway, really, John, when Mr. Trump, a seven-year-old boy, he said to me, Nana, he's my neighbor's son, Mr. Trump, they don't call him president or Mr. put his finger at you and you keep on saying you call you vote for him 2016.
It hurts.
I cried, John.
Why We Donate For Trump00:03:14
But anyways, I think.
Sophia, are you saying you campaigned for Donald Trump in 2016?
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, no, I vote for him.
And I used to donate $100 a month for the Republican Party.
I changed to Independent because of him.
But anyway, you know, I wish.
You wish what, Sophia?
I did not campaign.
I donate for the Republican Party.
Okay, that's Sophia.
This is Johnny in Higgerstown, Maryland.
Line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
I just wanted to say a couple of things.
They say they want to get rid of the worst of the worst.
Why don't they start in the White House and then the government?
Well, they got all those perfiles.
Donald Trump, he should get a normal prize as a bigger party file in the history of the United States on the whole world.
That's what I wanted to say.
That's Johnny.
This is Bruce, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Independent.
Good morning.
Open forum.
What's on your mind?
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Thanks for taking my call today.
Yeah, I just have a statement that I want to make.
I know it's not very popular, and I know a lot of people will not follow after what I'm saying, but we all know that, you know, the Epstein files is very important, and everybody should pay attention.
The main reason is because the Epstein files is just evidence that there's a dark side.
And, you know, the government here in the United States, talking about the powerful people, people that's in politics, people that's rich, connecting with people all around the world with the same status.
Epstein files is very, it's like small fish.
And I think if we really cared, we would be trying to use the small fish to catch bigger fish.
We all know that the Epstein files and everybody else involved, these are things that's happening all the time, all the time.
And it's been happening for centuries.
So us paying attention to the Epstein files is really just the tip of the iceberg, and it really will not make any change in the world.
So I just feel like a lot of time it's about politics and agendas, the reason why we even talk about these things.
So I believe that people just need to want to be better people in the end of the day.
And we can never fix what's happening, but if we really do want to fix things, we really need to care about the, we need to care about what's really happening in this world, not just these stories about, because Epstein files have to be tip of the iceberg.
That's Bruce in Florida.
About 15 minutes left in this first segment of the Washington Journal.
Open forum.
Any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about?
Science-Based Food Recommendations00:02:40
Now's the time to call in.
202-748-8001 for Republicans.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
Reminder, the House and Senate are both in today at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Can watch on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, respectively.
Also, yesterday here in Washington, D.C., over at the Heritage Foundation, it was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., marking one year since his confirmation at an event, touting what he's accomplished in the past year.
This is what the HHS Secretary had to say.
You can summarize it in three words: eat real food.
And we took the politics out of it and we made science-based, gold standard science-based recommendations.
And these are recommendations that are going to keep us healthy.
And we ended the 50-year war on saturated fats, which was all contrived by Procter Gamble and, you know, and the American Heart Association, which was funded by Pepsi and Procter Gamble.
And we developed guidelines that are actually health-based.
And people should be eating protein.
We took whole milk out of our schools.
Whole milk is the micronutrients of whole milk are designed to contribute to brain development, to physical development, to the functioning of your immune system, to metabolic energy.
And we took that away from kids for two generations of children to grow up, grow up with essentially a kind of malnourishment of being nutrient-starved, of not having their brains fed.
And we're going to end that.
We've ended it, and we're bringing back whole milk, and we're bringing back, you know, meat and chicken and eggs and salmon and all the things that we're supposed to.
He said to me the other day, you know, there's a section of the grocery store that says, you know, healthy food or organic food.
And I said to him, do you know what they used to call that?
Food.
And we're bringing back real food.
Regrets and Dollars00:09:50
RFK Jr. at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, if you want to watch that event in its entirety, you can do so on our website at ceaseman.org.
Back to your phone calls for open forum.
Another 10 minutes left here.
This is Bill in Arizona Independent.
Bill, what's on your mind?
Hello.
Thanks for taking my call.
This reminds me of history buffs of Richard Nixon.
You know, the crime is bad, but it's the cover-up that's worse.
And it goes spreads all through his cabinet and all through the financial industry and the movie industry as well.
So time to get your history books out and look at that.
You know, the thing that saved Nixon for a while was Republicans wouldn't hold him accountable.
That's what they're doing now.
They will not hold Republicans in the House will not hold Trump responsible.
And that's a sad state that the party that's supposed to be so Christian and holy are turning their backs and letting this happen.
So please release the files as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Bill in Arizona to Ketchum, Oklahoma.
This is Christopher.
Republican line.
Go ahead.
Good looking tie, by the way.
Appreciate it.
Epstein files are super important to me because I have a daughter.
And I know on the level of where I live, if somebody's convicted of breaking a child, I mean, you know, they have a process of, and they get convicted and they go to prison.
And these are the people, the Democrats, the Republicans.
They're the higher-ups that make these laws.
And I mean, what are they doing with their time?
I think we just need to round them up, hold them all accountable.
And if we have to start fresh, we have to start fresh.
But there has to be accountability.
What does that mean?
Start fresh, Christopher.
I don't know if they need to just develop a party, mix a party.
They need to get the bad ones out.
I feel like a lot of times Democrats and Republicans are running around spending money doing these illegal activities and keeping us distracted.
I think that accountability needs to be held up.
That's Christopher in Oklahoma back to the Buckeye State Dale in Columbus.
Thanks for waiting.
Go ahead.
Good morning.
Thank you.
I just want to say the first time when those girls came out and they were at the Capitol or what have you on the steps and they were complaining about them.
They were raped and abused and everything, which was true.
And they were crying.
It was very emotional to see these girls.
And I'm so glad that the Epstein file is coming out.
Now, when they showed this on TV, Donald Trump, everyone's saying, he came out and called it a Democratic hoax.
Now, how in the world can a person be so innocent and see these women cry?
If he's not, if he was innocent, he'd be trying to find out what happened with the Epstein files and everything.
But his name's all over the stuff.
I'm so amazed that these are Republicans.
They were so concerned about the 100 Biton laptop, 100 Biton's laptop.
And how in the world can Donald Trump say this is a Democratic hoax?
Then the next thing that really surprised me, when that guy shot that woman in the ICE day, when he killed that woman and said he hit her with the car, the first thing, every time when a person has a car accident, the first thing they do, they stop and exchange names and insurance or what have you.
But this guy supposedly shot her three times, killed her, walked away passively, didn't stop, didn't say anything else, and they showed the picture, him walking down the street, and he got in his car and drove off.
Now, what is the wrong?
Donald Trump's pardoned 1,500 people, you know, and you've seen them doing millions of dollars worth of destruction to the Capitol.
I mean, it's just amazing what these Republicans do.
They need to get rid of him, especially trying to protect these millionaire and billionaire friends, all of them saying the same thing.
Oh, when I found out about Epstein doing so-and-so, then I got away from him.
But they need to go after Trump for sure.
It's just amazing.
So that's all I want to say.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Dalen, Ohio, Bend, Oregon, Ken.
Republican line, go ahead.
Yeah, my message is to my fellow Republicans, and especially to our political leaders.
Why are you just having the president have to carry this whole load of messaging?
Get out there every day and get the positive messages out there.
You know, I mean, it's and President Trump, you don't have to be part of every news cycle.
You know, every time something's going well, you say something or somebody in the White House does something that totally sends, you know, sends us backwards.
Come on, Republicans, step up.
The economy's great.
There's so many positives out there that has happened in the last year.
Let's get going here.
Thank you, guys.
That's Ken in Oregon on the news cycle.
Gerard Baker in the pages of today's Wall Street Journal focusing on the news media, saying the biggest threat to journalism right now is journalists themselves.
He writes that President Trump's attacks on the media are indefensible and troubling, but it never seems to occur to his targets that the primary reason he gets away with them is that faith in the honesty of these institutions has already been devastated by their own tendentious work.
The list of recent media distortions from Russia collusion hoax to COVID and Black Lives Matter is long, Gerard Baker writes.
But the most important form of bias, more insidious because it is necessarily hard to measure, isn't what the news reports.
It's what it chooses not to report.
Investigative reporting is vital for accountability, but for most journalists, the people and institutions that need to be held accountable are only those that fit into their selective demonology.
Corporations and their leaders, the rich, right-wing politicians, labor unions, bureaucrats, academic institutions, not so much.
Gerard Baker writing in the wake of those major cuts at the Washington Times saying, don't blame rapacious owners for the loss of public trust.
Blame biased, incompetent reporting for it.
If you want to read his column, he writes weekly for the Wall Street Journal.
This is Ethel Shreveport, Louisiana.
Democrat, good morning.
Couple minutes left here in open form.
Good morning.
I want to bring some attention to the Project SALT in regards to the immigration and how they are taking these immigrants and placing them in these prison camps throughout the U.S.
And there is an organization called Project SALT.
I saw it on MS Now with Rachel Maddox.
I would like for you all to perhaps get with the person that's responsible for tracking these camps that's being placed throughout the U.S. on taxpayer dollars.
And also in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and the people that the GLP are calling for hearings, they're calling for Hillary Clinton.
Why not call Melania Trump?
I'm sure she has some information in regards to the things that Jeffrey Epstein did.
And I'm surprised that no one has mentioned her name as a part of the deposition.
And also the expenses that we as taxpayers are paying in regards to the immigration and all the other miscellaneous spending that our government have taken advantage of us and cut the budget for our social welfare.
And that's pretty much what's been on my mind.
Was Melania not being deposed for an apposition in regards to Jeffrey Epstein?
Got your point, Ethel.
This is Ben in Lexington, Kentucky.
Republican, good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you.
It's so many things I would want to say, but you cut me off for saying them.
You all are so dishonest.
You will not allow people to say the truth of what's out there about these things, about who should be held accountable for all these things that's been going on.
And if you're afraid of offending, then you can't be honest.
So what are we going to do?
You've got, let me give you another, just a story here to go along with this.
Several years ago, you had homosexuals that were in the Boy Scouts of America.
They got sued for a billion dollars because they molested all these Boy Scouts.
Same dang thing is happening now with the Scouting America thing.
They're allowing homosexuals right back in there again.
I can't believe it.
But which is worse, having a girl molested or a boy molested?
You never hear about these other things about the boys being molested or any of this stuff.
It's always about the women.
All right, that's Ben in Kentucky, last caller in this segment of the Washington Journal.
Stick around, plenty more to talk about today.
Later this morning, we'll be joined by Move On's Political Actions Joel Payne to discuss the organization's priorities and strategy for the 2026 midterms.
But after the break, we will talk with Justin Reamer, President and CEO of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections about efforts to enact new voter ID requirements when it comes to voting.