CBS News’s Margaret Brennan pressed a Democratic lawmaker a pointed question Sunday about whether his party was using the Epstein files to distract from their failure to secure more affordable health care for Americans.
Senate Democrats ended up capitulating to Republicans’ demands to re-open the government without agreeing to extend Obamacare subsidies to prevent costs from skyrocketing at the end of the year.
Brennan asked Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) on Face The Nation, “Democrats who won elections a few days ago credit their wins to the affordability issue and the message focused on that. Can you explain the focus this past week in the House by Democrats on the Jeffrey Epstein files?”
Brennan then referred the Democrats’ demands to release the pedophile’s files in the name of transparency as nothing more than a distraction.
“Is this a tactic to distract from the failure to extract health care changes, or is there something else going on here? I mean, does the Speaker putting it to a vote end this issue?”
“I think it’s a combination of factors of people shining their lights on the most hot topic at the time,” Suozzi said.
He continued:
You know, Jeffrey Epstein, of course, is an important topic. I’m sure I will vote to release his files, but that’s not my priority. My priority it so focus on the things Americans care about: affordability, immigration, taxes, crime, and health care. That’s what people are fighting about, concerned about, and that’s what we should be focused on in Congress.
Last week, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released a tranche of Epstein-related files after House Democrats released emails mentioning President Donald Trump.
The emails called Trump the “dog that hasn’t barked” and discussed how an alleged victim “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with Trump. One exchange between Epstein and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell declared, “you see, I know how dirty Donald is.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is expected to hold a vote this week to compel the Department of Justice to release the rest of the files in its possession. Trump has stalled on releasing the files, leading many to ask what he has to hide. The issue has caused a major fracture in MAGA world, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) publicly breaking with the president.
Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Epstein case.
Watch the clip above via CBS News.
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