Reports on Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein cast awkward shadow over media dinner

[0:00] I just want to talk about one of the most awkward moments of this dinner so far, [0:03] but it perfectly exposed exactly who Donald Trump is, as if we needed more evidence. We've all been [0:08] talking about this. It happened when the White House Correspondents Association awarded the [0:12] Catherine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability to the two Wall Street Journal [0:16] reporters who broke the biggest story of 2025. Jeffrey Epstein's friends sent him body letters [0:22] for a 50th birthday album. One was from Donald Trump. That was the headline of that story. Now, [0:27] Excusive Reporting noted that the 2003 birthday book was compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell, now serving [0:33] time in federal prison after being convicted of sex trafficking minors. It reported on the extremely [0:38] weird letter from Trump to Epstein, saying, quote, it contains several lines of typewritten text [0:43] framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. [0:48] A pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly [0:53] Donald below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. Inside the outline of the naked woman was a [0:59] typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein written in the third [1:05] person. A conversation that had Donald Trump saying to Jeffrey Epstein, may every day be another [1:10] wonderful secret. Now, Trump claimed the letter was fake and sued the Wall Street Journal. That [1:14] lawsuit was tossed once already, but Trump is suing the Journal again. And once again, [1:19] the Wall Street Journal has asked for a dismissal. Reporters Khadija Safdar and Joe Palazzalo broke [1:26] that story. They were honored along with six of their colleagues who reported on the fallout inside [1:30] the White House. Wolf Blitzer, giving out the award, noted that Khadija Safdar's family had to be [1:36] relocated due to safety concerns after that story became—because Donald Trump's lawsuit exposed her [1:42] home address, just to give you just a sense of the threats people are facing. And Trump smirked. [1:47] He smirked and he shrugged. I wanted to know—remind you of all the backstory, but watch it for [1:53] yourself. The Catherine Graham award for courage and accountability, named for the legendary [2:01] Washington Post publisher. And it comes with a prize of $10,000. This year's award goes to the Wall Street [2:09] Journal. The journal's courageous reporting on President Trump's past relationship with [2:20] financeer Jeffrey Epstein triggered the release of the so-called Epstein files, [2:26] thousands of documents that might otherwise have remained hidden from the public. And despite the [2:31] president's threat of a lawsuit, the journal published a story about a provocative letter [2:36] to Epstein bearing President Trump's signature. Trump quickly filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the [2:44] journal, revealing reporter Khadija Safdar's home address. Her family had to be relocated. The [2:54] journal was kicked off of Air Force One. But the reporters continue to file revelatory stories. [3:00] Please welcome the winners of the Catherine Graham award from the Wall Street Journal. [3:05] Khadija Safdar, Sadie German, Annie Linsky, Josh Dawsey again, Alex Leary, Rebecca Ballhaus, [3:17] and Ryan Barber. Their colleague, Joe Talazzolo, could not attend tonight. [3:23] Okay, despite Donald Trump, as we just showed you, [4:08] smirking as Wolf Blitzer was reading the detail about Khadija Safdar's home address being released and [4:17] her family having to be relocated. He literally smirked during that moment, which we had not [4:21] seen before. I had not seen before. We'd only seen the shaking of the hands. But despite that, [4:25] she still shook his hand. She can take professional satisfaction in the fact that everything that [4:29] was just said in that commendation about her reporting was true, because she and her colleagues [4:34] who broke that news last July set off a race by Democrats on the Oversight Committee, spearheaded [4:39] by our next guest, Ro Khanna, to obtain the birthday book with that creepy, creepy, creepy card [4:45] Donald Trump claims he did not write from the Epstein estate, which they did in early September. [4:50] And by November, the Epstein Files Transparency Act had become law, with strong bipartisan support, [4:55] including a unanimous vote in the Senate, forcing Donald Trump to sign it and the Epstein Files to be [5:00] released, which in the hands of Donald Trump's DOJ and attorney general nominee Todd Blanche is where [5:06] the momentum has stalled. That is where we are. But the origin of this is definitely rooted [5:10] in that story a lot. Joining us now is California Congressman Ro Khanna, a member of the House [5:16] Oversight Committee. First of all, given how steeped you have been in trying to get justice for these [5:23] survivors and pushing the administration for information, as you watched that moment of [5:28] Donald Trump smirking, what went through your head? These journalists made history. Donald Trump [5:35] can't take that away from them. We would never have had the momentum to subpoena the Epstein [5:41] estate if it wasn't for their reporting. The Epstein Files Act would never have passed if it [5:46] weren't for their reporting. They put the survivors front and center. They gave us the idea of subpoenaing [5:53] the estate. And look, they basically started the unraveling of the Trump presidency. So he can smirk, [6:00] but he's at 32 percent and has lost even his MAGA base on this issue. Yeah, he has. It's interesting [6:07] places where he once had was in much stronger footing. This is one of them. The economy is another [6:12] one. Immigration is another one. It's, you know, all of this. I like to I've been talking about the [6:17] backdrops of this speech today because I think it's important to remind people of. And one of them is [6:21] the the hurdle to Todd Blanche's confirmation for attorney general. There should be a lot of hurdles. [6:26] There are a lot of hurdles. I mean, there's two senators who are the hurdles currently. [6:31] But this should be one of the hurdles. I mean, given how the Department of Justice under his [6:36] leadership has really failed to comply here. Give us a sense. We talk about this a lot. But again, [6:42] this is an opportunity and a moment to remind people of how difficult they've been in implementing [6:47] and working with really on this. Jim, when we started this, it was nothing to do with Donald Trump. [6:52] We were working with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace. It was all about the survivors. [6:58] And they thought certainly Donald Trump, who had campaigned on releasing the Epstein files, [7:03] would release the Epstein files. But while there have been prosecutions around the world, [7:09] former princes, former prime ministers, former ambassadors, there has not been a single [7:14] investigation or prosecution here in the United States, even though in those files are the names of [7:20] people whose survivors will tell you raped them, abused them, trafficked them. This is not [7:25] exaggeration. These survivors are saying that not a single investigation. And they still have [7:30] three million files that they haven't released, even though a federal judge, because of Katie Fang's [7:35] effort, has found that that's in violation of the Epstein Transparency Act. And the person most [7:40] responsible, other than Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, is Todd Blanch. And he's coming and he's asking [7:46] the American people to put him as attorney general. That would be a slap in the face of the survivors, [7:51] and it would be the slap in the face of the democratic process. [7:56] Let me ask you, Connie, we've been talking about this a little bit, like why Donald Trump is at [7:59] this dinner, what is going on inside his head right now. I mean, I think the man is in the low 30s [8:08] in polling, if you look across the country. He's at 28 percent in a recent poll on the economy. [8:13] He's underwater on all sorts of issues. He wants people to like him. What do you think this is [8:20] all about tonight? I think it's self-indulgent. I mean, I was in the green room hearing him go on [8:27] and on and on about this wrestling match and fighting, ultimate fighting match in the White [8:34] House. And it's just someone rambling. You know, it's someone who is, understands he's unpopular, [8:40] who understands he's kind of towards the end of his career. And he's almost like fighting to be [8:46] relevant, fighting to still have the stage, seeing it slip away from him. You know, even I say even [8:51] the apprentice only ran 13 years, 13 years. You know, Trump is approaching a time where he's become [8:58] a bore more than a fascist or something. You can't be a bore in America. And his act is no longer [9:06] connecting. And I think he gets that. I think he understands that he's desperate to be the center [9:11] of attention. I mean, you know this. He will trash the press, but he'll court the press. He's [9:16] desperate to be written about. And he'll call bookers. I mean, he'll call bookers to get on TV [9:21] himself. And so it he sees himself slipping from center stage. We're just over, as I think everybody [9:29] watching knows, three months from an election. If Democrats win back the House, which certainly [9:33] they seem very well positioned to do, maybe even the Senate. What does that look like in terms of [9:37] what can happen on further pressing to implement this law that the Department of Justice is refusing [9:43] to do? First of all, the Democrats are more unified, more energized than I've ever seen us. And [9:49] you see that energy every week in the Hakeem's leadership meetings. But we will require and demand [9:56] the full release of the files. We will have criminal referrals under Robert Garcia's leadership on [10:02] oversight of people who should face prosecution. We will actually have the survivors come and [10:08] testify. Can you imagine they have not had the survivors testify to the American public? So we [10:14] will get transparency here. But we're also going to have a day one agenda. Hakeem talks about first [10:19] hundred days, first hundred hours, where we're going to actually start tackling child care costs, [10:23] health care costs, cost of living. It's going to be an ambitious agenda to turn things around, [10:28] improve people's lives. And people are seeing it. That's why they start, [10:31] have started to trust Democrats more on the economy. [10:34] One of the topics that you talk about a lot, but doesn't get nearly enough attention is, [10:38] of course, Ghislaine Maxwell's status. And Todd Blanche has been, obviously, you're in the House, [10:44] not the Senate. But in these hearings, I mean, he's been completely disingenuous in answering questions [10:50] on that topic, as he has been in general. Where does that all stand? What should people [10:56] understand about the big questions? It's obviously her prison transfer is a big question. Why, [11:01] Todd Blanche was the one interviewing her. What else is on your mind at this point in time? [11:05] Our oversight committee, in a bipartisan way, went down to see where she was in prison. And they [11:10] described it as being on a college campus. I mean, she's getting the most lenient treatment, [11:15] where she gets hours to exercise and basically the easiest and best accommodation. So why does this [11:22] matter? When you talk to the survivors, they're as angry at Ghislaine Maxwell as they are on Epstein. [11:27] They view her as someone who abused them, who facilitated that abuse. And to see someone like [11:34] that not have repercussions, it drives people crazy. It's this elite impunity, this sense that [11:40] there's a different set of laws for people if you know the president, if you know the president's [11:45] lawyers. And it gets at this sense of unfairness in the system. Trump ran against all of this. He said, [11:52] I'm going to actually blow up a system that's not working for you. And he's become part of that system.