U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) responds to questions from the media as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
During a Sunday, July 27 appearance on CNN, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) passionately defended President Donald Trump's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Mullin also blamed former President Barack Obama for a "sweetheart plea deal" that Epstein enjoyed during the late 2000s.
But MSNBC's Steve Benen, in an opinion column published on July 28, emphasized that Obama wasn't even in the White House when the plea deal that Mullin referenced came about.
Mullin told CNN host Jake Tapper, "Remember, there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009 — way before I was in office, way before Trump was even considering to be in office, way before (U.S. Attorney General) Pam Bondi was in office, way before Kash Patel was (FBI) director. 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama Administration with Epstein. And that sweetheart (deal) has not been exposed."
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But Tapper corrected Mullin, telling the GOP senator, "No, that's not right."
"Unfortunately for the confused senator," Benen explains, "Tapper was correct. Epstein did get a 'sweetheart' deal, but it was in 2008. Barack Obama wasn't president in 2008; and the 'sweetheart' deal was exposed years ago. The Oklahoman made some specific points, each of which was plainly false. Confronted with reality, Mullin nevertheless again said Obama was president when Epstein got his plea deal, indifferent to the fact that he was obviously and demonstrably wrong."
Although Obama was elected president in November 2008, he wasn't inaugurated until January 20, 2009. When the "sweetheart plea deal" that Mullin referenced went down, Republican George W. Bush was still president — and the U.S. attorney general was Michael B. Mukasey. Democrat Eric Holder, Obama's first U.S. attorney general, didn't hold that position before February 2009.
Tapper reminded Mullin, "The U.S. Attorney at the time was Alex Acosta. He was a Bush appointee. He went on to become President Trump's Secretary of Labor."
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Benen laments, "Alas, the GOP lawmaker has plenty of company. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas once blamed Obama for the economic crash that happened in 2008, despite the fact that the Democratic president wasn’t in the White House at the time. Similarly, there was a poll released several years ago that found that nearly a third of Republicans in Louisiana blamed Obama for the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina — a storm that hit in August 2005, nearly four years before Obama's inauguration."
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Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link; watch the CNN video here.