White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt torched legacy media outlets perpetuating the Jeffrey Epstein “hoax,” slamming them for propagating a years-old issue that many Americans may care little about.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Leavitt was asked by a reporter about the president’s previous comments on the Epstein files, which he called a “hoax” in the vein of “Russia Russia Russia” and the debunked Steele Dossier.
What part of the Epstein case was a hoax?
Leavitt responded, “The president is referring to the fact that Democrats have now seized on this as if they ever wanted transparency on this…Democrats had control of this building, the White House, for four years, and they didn’t do a dang thing when it came to transparency in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and his heinous crimes.”
Leavitt pointed out that Trump directed the Department of Justice and the Attorney General to complete an “exhaustive” review of the Epstein files, which has now been concluded. She applauded “great patriots” like AG Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino as “some of the most trusted voices in the Republican Party movement, it’s part of the reason the president appointed them to these high law enforcement positions.”
She said Trump had indeed followed through on his promises to the American people to be transparent on this issue.
She added, “[Trump] doesn’t like to see Democrats and the mainstream media covering this like it’s the biggest story that the American people care about.”
Leavitt highlighted some of Trump’s biggest wins so far this week: netting a $90 billion investment package for energy and innovation in Pennsylvania, whipping votes to get the GENIUS Act passed in Congress, securing investments from Bahrain, and signing the HALT Fentanyl Act on Tuesday alongside families who have lost loved ones to the deadly scourge.
“Those are the issues that the president cares about,” Leavitt said. “What could be more important than helping families that have lost their children? Those are the issues this president is going to remain focused on.”
Importantly, Leavitt also addressed a question regarding what was “stopping” the administration from simply redacting Epstein’s sealed files to the American public. The press secretary noted that this was a question for the Department of Justice and subsequent judges who have those files under seal.
“That’s not in the president’s control,” she said, but she did not say that the president remains firm in his stance that if the attorney general and the DOJ “come across any other credible evidence,” it should be provided to the American people.