MSNBC’s Steve Benen joined "Daily Blast" Host Greg Sargent to discuss White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s flailing attempts to dismiss her boss’ friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Sargent said Democrats’ release of Epstein’s birthday book “absolutely wrecks the spin that [President] Donald Trump and the White House have been offering up about this whole sordid affair.”
“Leavitt struggled to spin away all this damning new information,” said Sargent. “She seemed pretty ticked, angrily snapping at the media on all kinds of other things.”
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“The White House … had a decision to make,” said Benen. … Do they acknowledge the existence of this letter, or do they pretend that Donald Trump didn’t sign a letter that he obviously signed? Unfortunately for everyone involved, including reality, the White House chose the latter course and now we’re dealing with the consequences.”
Days later, the White House is still claiming Trump’s signature, appearing beneath the intimates of what looks like a crudely-drawn underdeveloped woman, is a forgery.
“I’m not unsympathetic. If I’m Karoline Leavitt, I don’t know what to say either. This is an unspinable story. It’s an undeniable reality that she’s confronting. And so, she’s doing her best with what she has — but what she has is ridiculous,” said Benen. “The idea that Donald Trump’s signature was somehow manufactured 20 some years ago, being held onto by the Epstein estate in this obvious document that the president obviously signed and that somehow this was all an elaborate conspiracy that somehow also led to the same signature appearing in all these other documents is preposterous on its face.”
“But let’s not forget the larger context of this, which is they have nothing else,” Benen added. … Donald Trump sent this cryptic message with this creepy drawing to a convicted pedophile who was his longtime friend. And so, rather than acknowledge that reality, they’re stuck spinning this preposterous tale that no one can seriously believe.”
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And now the administration must deal with the additional problem of a photograph of a giant presentation check referencing a “fully depreciated” woman Epstein “sold” to Trump for $22,500.
When asked about the photo, Leavitt answered: Did you see the signature on that check? It is not Donald Trump’s signature. It is absolutely not. The president did not sign that check.”
“Of course, she totally dodges there,” said Sargent. “The issue is not the check signature. It’s the note that was with it. Why is that note there?”
“I’m not surprised that Leavitt struggled with this line of questioning because there is no defense,” answered Benen “There is no argument that’s to be able to just make this go away. There’s no silver bullet of rhetoric that will somehow answer the question because it’s just too overwhelming.”
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The two also discussed Republican lawmakers’ own efforts to bury the scandal, with Oversight Committee Chair James Comer saying, “The president says he did not sign [birthday letter], so I take the president at his word.” Comer added that he also won’t be investigating the signature because Trump claimed it was fake.
“Right. Yeah. As if Donald Trump has such a great track record for telling the truth,” Benen said. “… I realize that James Comer is a difficult person to take seriously. I realize that he is a knee-jerk partisan. He’s going to obviously do whatever Donald Trump says he wants. He’s effectively playing the role of a White House employee. So, none of us … are surprised by this. But at the same time, it’s so shameless. It’s so brazen, so on its face absurd, that … James Comer comes across as a clown.”
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