When Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) held a bipartisan Wednesday, September 3 press conference on Capitol Hill that featured Jeffrey Epstein survivors, they were joined by MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) — who called for transparency from the Trump administration and GOP lawmakers about U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) files on Epstein's crimes.
The following day, New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush discussed Greene's possible motivations during an appearance on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House." And he argued that the far-right GOP congresswoman is thinking strategically and fears that the Epstein scandal could damage the MAGA movement.
Thrush told host Nicolle Wallace — a Never Trump conservative who served as White House communications director in the George W. Bush administration — "This is a political crisis that has just expanded and has just broken through every containment that the White House has put up around it. Right? This looked initially, when we were first writing about this, as if it was a pretty big embarrassment but a survivable embarrassment for Trump's law enforcement appointees, because they had pushed all these Epstein conspiracy theories."
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The Times reporter argued that Greene is not only thinking about MAGA in 2025, but also, looking ahead to the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
"Now, what's going on?," Thrush told Wallace. "And it's happening at a point in time where Democrats are being pulled by the momentum of the midterms, as opposed to the gravitational pull of the last election and Republicans. And I think the Marjorie Taylor Greene position on this is extremely noteworthy, because she is clearly looking towards a life after Donald Trump and a position in the party after Donald Trump — maybe the biggest position in the party after Donald Trump. So, they are acting within their own post-Trump interests."
Thrush added, "And they are, from a political perspective, I think, seizing on an opportunity, you know, in addition to their to their heartfelt feelings about this particular issue and their own personal experiences with this sort of trauma. But they are also, I think, seeing what Democrats have seen for years, which is Trump’s enormous vulnerability with female voters and women in general in this country.""
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