Ghislaine Maxwell and Donald Trump are shown in this image released by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S., on December 23, 2025 as part of a new trove of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. Justice Department/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
CNN analysts on both sides of the political aisle agreed that President Donald Trump messed up the entire narrative around sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as Americans demand the release of files pertaining to the investigation into his alleged crimes.
Despite a legally mandated deadline, the Justice Department is slowly releasing information, and there are questions about whether Trump's name is being removed or hidden entirely.
Speaking to CNN Wednesday morning, host John Berman noted that one of the strangest stories of 2025 has been the rare bipartisan unity around the release of the files.
Democratic strategist Meghan Hays said that Trump can't run on stopping the "Deep State" and then have the "Deep State" rum cover for him
"'He needs to be prosecuted. We need to see the files,'" Hays said, quoting Trump. "Then when you're in office, say, 'Oh, nothing to see here. The files don't exist. There's nothing in them."
"That just leads the American people to believe that you are also then lying," Hays added.
She noted that it has also been "fascinating that this is the one issue that really has united both Democrats and Republicans, not only in Congress, but in America and across the country, like 8 in 10 Americans or something, believe the Epstein files should be released."
"There are all these different aspects where people really feel passionate that someone should pay consequences for it," Hays said.
It's one of the many reasons that Trump bungled it from the beginning.
"And so I just think that that was a miscalculation on Trump's part. But I think the bigger miscalculation is when Trump kept saying it's a Democratic Hoax," Hays calculated. "And over and over again saying that because when you're so defensive, it makes you look guilty. And also, you're just saying, we don't believe women, and we don't believe victims. And we've been through this movie before, and it doesn't end well for him."
The GOP commentator agreed that the White House failed on the messaging from day one.
"They got the messaging all wrong. You can't deny, deny, deny. And because Donald Trump surrounded himself with people like Dan Bongino, who built a cult following on the Epstein files, well, they're now a part of his administration," said Melik Abdul, a GOP strategist.
"And I think — I do believe that in that sense, it was a miscalculation," Abdul said.
That said, he doesn't think it will factor into the 2026 midterm elections.
He parrotted the language being used by the White House that if Trump were complicit in a crime, he would have been investigated for it by now.
Abdul says the issues Americans will care about are affordability and the economy.