One former Republican member of Congress believes President Donald Trump's recent about-face on the Department of Justice's unreleased Jeffrey Epstein documents is a sign that he sees his defeat on the horizon — and that he's already strategizing to wriggle out of his jam.
During a Monday interview with journalist Jim Acosta on his Substack show, former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said he felt that Trump's sudden reversal from opposing the release of the Epstein files to encouraging Congress to pass Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-Ky.) discharge petition signaled something "sinister." Acosta opined that Trump "looks like he's completely lost it" and was "spiraling." Walsh agreed.
"This is a man who looks like his goose his cooked," Walsh said.
"Coming from MAGA like I do, he can lie about the 2020 election, they'll buy it. He can lie about Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs, they'll buy it," Walsh continued. "But he and JD Vance and all of my former buddies out in the right wing media world, for years they promised the base all the goods. And this one, he can't escape."
"It's highly likely theres ugly, ugly, ugly s—— about him in there," he added.
The former Illinois Republican (who officially registered as a Democrat earlier this year) acknowledged arguments that Trump was simply attempting to save face given that Republicans seem determined to overwhelmingly sign the Epstein petition. However, he observed that Americans shouldn't put it past the Trump DOJ to lend him an assist by providing cover to keep the files under wraps.
"I can't tell you that Pam Bondi hasn't scrubbed or shredded any evidence of anything," Walsh said, before adding that Trump's ordering of Epstein-related investigations against top Democrats and Democratic donors signaled something potentially more ominous.
"The scarier thing is what Trump did last week: Ordering Pam Bondi — she's not the attorney general, she's Trump's lawyer — ordering Pam Bondi to start another Epstein investigation. I have no doubt that he did that, they did that, to protect himself," Walsh said. "Because if it ever gets to the point where Trump might have to sign the release, Pam Bondi is gonna get in front of the cameras, Jim, and say, I can't release anything. There's an ongoing active investigation.'"
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