WHOA: Trump pulls INSANE stunt to bury Epstein files

WHOA: Trump pulls INSANE stunt to bury Epstein files

I’m joined now by New Mexico lawmaker and overall badass in the House, Melanie Stanbury. Thanks so much for joining me. It is awesome to be here today. So, right now we’re in the midst of this government shutdown. We’re over a week into this thing. To what extent do you think that your Republican colleagues are starting to feel the pressure now that the the narrative surrounding this shutdown is the reality of the situation? the fact that the only reason that we’re in this mess is because they refuse to extend the ACA subsidies that will ensure that 24 million Americans can continue to receive health care unobstructed. Yeah. Well, I think it’s very clear that the public is not buying their lies. And part of the problem is is because they’re not believable. The Republicans have shut down the House. They’ve locked us out. The speaker of the house has canceled votes now for two weeks in a row and has refused to bring his own members back to Washington DC. And by their own caucus’s admittance, they’re doing that so that their Republican colleagues don’t say anything stupid. That’s literally what they said. And so Mike Johnson can go on TV all he wants and try to claim that somehow Democrats caused the shutdown, but his own members aren’t here and he shut and locked the doors. So, I think the American people are smart. They see what’s happening. They can see that the doors are locked. They can see that Democrats are showing up. And it’s just it’s not a believable lie. And then when you add that on top of the reality that millions of Americans are about to get their health insurance doubled, tripled, people are freaked out. You know, they passed this big ugly bill just a couple of months ago. People knew it was going to impact their health insurance. And now the, you know, roost has come home to roost. So these guys now need to fix the problem that they broke to begin with. And they’re unwilling to do that. And the American people are really mad. Well, you know, they’re saying just reopen the government and then trust us, we’ll totally definitely sit down with you guys and hash something out as it relates to uh extending these Affordable Care Act subsidies. And so, do you believe them when they say, you know, trust us, guys, we’re we’re going to we’re good for our word. Uh, just reopen the government and then let’s talk ACA subsidies. Well, I mean, they’ve shown that they are not a reliable negotiating partner. And if Mike Johnson’s willing to go on national TV and lie all day long, why would we take his word for it? But let me just point out that Marjorie Taylor Green has publicly made statements not just once, but she is now on her social and on podcasts and on TV saying Republicans don’t have a plan. They don’t have a plan to fix healthcare. They don’t have a plan to reopen the government. And she’s even sharing her own family stories of her kids not being able to afford their health insurance. So, how can we have confidence in the Republicans when their own members are pointing out that they don’t have a plan? Well, and and I think it’s worth noting, too. I mean, this is the this is the party that got us into this mess in the first place. The only reason that we are even talking about uh trying to get funding to continue the ACA subsidies is because this Republican party led by Mike Johnson, led by Donald Trump, led by John Thun were the ones who took those subsidies away. And so, excuse us if we don’t believe when you say that you’re totally good for it when you promise to restore these ACA subsidies when the only reason that we’re in a situation without ACA subsidies is because of this Republican party. The same Republican party that’s stripped a trillion dollars away from healthcare in the budget bill. The same Republican party that’s taken Medicaid away from 17 million Americans. And so could anybody, you know, blame us for not just accepting the Republicans promises up and down that they’re going to be good faith negotiating partners when they are the cause of this problem in the first place? Well, and I’ll also add that if you remember three weeks ago when we Democrats requested a meeting with Trump to work out a bipartisan agreement before the shutdown, Donald Trump said yes and then he was convinced by Mike Johnson and Thun to cancel the meeting. And then he literally said that he read the proposal and told Democrats to go themselves. He said that the president of the United States because he knows what we were asking and he does not agree with it because as he argued at that time, this was one of his signature moves in his domestic policy that he put through the big ugly bill. So they knew they were taking away healthcare from millions of Americans and they were proud of it. But now that they’re feeling the heat from the American people, they’re like, “Well, maybe we’ll negotiate.” But when Mike Johnson was asked about it two days ago, they asked, “Well, are you now willing to negotiate putting it back on the table?” He he literally said no and then stumbled to try to like cover it up. Can you just help me understand here? Because look, everybody in elected politics, these are these are political animals that are that are presumably uh focused on self-preservation to some degree. And so it’s not just Democrats who are going to be impacted by uh rescending these ACA subsidies and watching health care costs double or triple or even quadruple or more or lose healthcare altogether. It’s it’s plenty of Republicans, too. In fact, the the states that have seen the biggest increases in ACA enrollment are Republican states. It’s Georgia. It’s Texas. It’s West Virginia. It’s Tennessee. So, so what are the what are your Republican colleagues doing here trying to like die on this hill of allowing everybody’s healthare costs to surge notwithstanding the fact that we’re heading into an election year? Like I’m I’m tr I’m honestly trying to just understand the the political mentality in all of this. Yeah. Well, I think going into the dark mind of the GOP right now is a somewhat futile task. But let me just say this that um you know the Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act since it was passed. And even during the debates last year, you know, Trump’s famous line when they asked him what he was going to do about healthcare is he said he he had concepts of a plan. Well, his concept of a plan was to basically totally screw over the Affordable Care Act and millions of Americans healthcare through the big ugly bill. And now they know that they have a problem. In fact, before the shutdown, it was reported that multiple Republican senators had been talking to their leadership about trying to put together some sort of fix. But because we have disorganized extremists running the Republican party right now, you’ve got Mike Johnson over here who’s closed down the house that is trying to give the president cover on the Epstein list and investigation. You’ve got Thun over here who is a pretty old school kind of normal conservative trying to do something over in the Senate but responding to the chaos. And then you’ve got the president just randomly tweeting things daily saying, “Okay, we should fix healthcare.” And then saying, “Oh, wait, no, we’re not.” And then saying, “Go yourself.” Like these people cannot govern. They don’t have a plan. I think Marjorie Taylor Green hit the nail on the head yesterday when she said it. they don’t have a plan and she’s pointing it out. So, I want to switch gears a little bit to something that you just mentioned which is the Epstein list. To what extent are you confident that Mike Johnson refuses to swear in Representative Grahala because she would be the 218th vote uh allowing this discharge petition to take effect? Well, I think if if I was to dive into the strategy of Mike Johnson right now, I think it’s twofold. I think that he is taking the hardline position that if he keeps the House out then there is no way to negotiate that they’re going to continue to force the Senate to take votes and the Senate Democrats have said no we are not folding till you fix healthcare. They are holding the line because the American people are telling them to. So I think in one like strategically I think that they are holding the house out to try to force a vote in the Senate. But it has this other effect which is that it is shielding the Republicans from the monthsl long criticism that they have not complied with our subpoena to release the Epstein files. And even the president reportedly was bragging that no one was talking about Epstein right now. So, uh, part of why I do think he’s keeping people out of DC is because, frankly, as long as the House is not in session, you’re not going to have, you know, Epstein at the forefront. But it is very clear that Aralita Grihalva who was just elected in Arizona, the speaker indefensibly is saying that he can’t seat her even though they’ve had proform sessions now on multiple days and he’s done it with three other members of Congress is not swearing her in because she would be the 218 signature. And whether or not ultimately, for example, he tried to table that motion on that um discharge petition, it still forces every member of the House to take a vote on Epstein. And he does not want his members being in the news voting basically to silence the Epstein victims because that’s exactly what’s going to happen as soon as she’s sworn in. You know, this is a very short strate short short-sighted strategy because at some point Mike Johnson’s going to have to swear her in and at some point we’re going to get the 218th vote to force this discharge petition and at some point all of this process is going to move forward if the four Republicans who’ve signed on continue to be uh uh signitories onto this discharge petition. Um and it eventually works its way through, you know, the the the House and the Senate. um you know there is no world in which Donald Trump signs this into law and so I’m just thinking thinking you know 10 steps ahead here if there is a veto proof majority that’s needed do you think that beyond just those four Republicans who’ve signed on that more Republicans will sign on to this thing like once that dam has broken well I think it’s important to not um think that the discharge petition is the end all be all of this investigation it’s just one tool right it is one way to get every member of Congress on the record on the release of the files. But and it is very likely that Mike Johnson is going to try to table the resolution. And uh even if you have Republicans who’ve signed on to it, they will try to use a procedural motion, I am positive, to try to sideline the motion. And their argument is, well, we’re already doing an oversight investigation, which is really just a smoke screen to show that they’re doing something without actually trying very hard. But the 10 steps ahead is actually what happens when the real files are released, not just by Department of Justice, but the continuing disclosure by the estate, which is happening weekly. We just had new files released last week that showed that Steve Bannon, Peter, Theel, Elon Musk, and other allies of the president are in the files that the estate has. We have subpoenas out to multiple witnesses. We are subpoenaing the financial documents, which we are certain contain uh financial crimes. So, this is just the beginning of a massive investigation that I believe will be as significant as, you know, some of the historical investigations that we’re familiar with like the Watergate scandal because the president is not only implicated in these files. We know that for a fact because Pom Pam Bondi told him that. Yeah. but also because uh at the end of the day he is engaged in a systemic cover up and threatening members of Congress and that is as big a scandal as the actual crimes that he may have committed as well. So um yeah, this is not going to stop with the discharge petition. I I I don’t know how much interaction you have with Republican members uh of Congress, but in in so far as you do have any communication with them, is there uneasiness about the position that they’ve landed themselves in, which is basically just to protect like to to to facilitate Trump’s cover up of of a sex trafficking ring and and be be part of this whole thing that they all predicated their brands on on purportedly opposing. Yeah. I mean, I think it’s important like when you hear the actual stories of the victims, uh, you know, many of them are my age. They’re in their late 40s and they were teenagers when they were raped or otherwise groomed and abused by Epstein and his associates. Um, it’s impossible to not um be disgusted um understand the gravity of what Jeffrey Epstein did. And I think that anybody who has heard their testimony and their stories understands what we’re dealing with here. This is possibly the largest sex trafficking and predatory scheme in American history. and Donald Trump and Mike Johnson are engaging in a cover up to shield people that were involved in raping children. Like that is actually what we’re talking about. So I don’t know how you can be a person of conscience, a person of faith, or a person just with eyes and ears and not be hearing these stories and think that this is wrong. And I know, you know, there’s several members including Marjorie Taylor Green and Thomas Massie who have been very public about it. And when you listen to them and you see them talk about this, you can tell that it’s sincere. Like this is this is very real. And I know there are other members who care about it, but they are actually being threatened by the president. The president and his uh chief staff are literally calling members and saying, “If you sign on to this discharge petition, it’s considered a hostile act. You’ll never get anything again. We’re going to cut you off.” So th this is this is this is gangster activity. The president is trying to shield pedophiles by calling and threatening members of Congress. And we need more members of Congress, whether it’s the Epstein files, whether it’s the shutdown, whether it’s healthcare, whether it’s democracy, whether it’s the rule of law, to just do their jobs. Yep. I I could not have said that better. And uh that seems like the perfect place to leave off. So Congresswoman, I appreciate your time. Thanks for bringing the fight that you have been bringing. Thank you. [Music]

INTERVIEW: Rep. Melanie Stansbury reveals Trump has been threatening Republicans over Epstein files

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