Reporters wondered during a CNN panel if President Donald Trump would want the "spectacle" of holding a press conference with survivors of convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein at the White House.
The House passed a bill requiring the release of Epstein's investigation files to the public. The files are expected to expose friends, associates and possible abusers publicly. The Senate intends a vote "as early as tonight," according to an interview CNN's Manu Raju conducted with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. (R-S.D.)
"I mean, this is a hot potato. And, you know, the Senate obviously wants to get it out of their hands pretty quickly," The Bulwark's Will Sommer said during the Tuesday segment. "And so then it goes to Trump. And ultimately, is he going to decide to sign it or not? One imagines, on one hand, maybe he would want to get rid of it pretty quickly. On the other, he's a guy who likes spectacle. And I think, we're seeing the administration say, you know, why don't we pretend that we're in favor of this the whole time and say, maybe we invite the survivors to the White House. Do a whole signing of it."
Sommer predicted there would be many challenges for the administration if the Senate approved the measure.
Trump has pledged to sign the bill. However, Trump also called on the Justice Department to investigate Democrats who might be in the Epstein files. Legal analysts have argued that if the Justice Department announces it plans to investigate, it could block publication of the files due to an open investigation.
"I think they have alwaysgenerally been of the kind ofbroad belief that this is not apolitical issue," said investigative reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick. "This is atransparency issue. This is alaw enforcement issue. This isabout crimes against childrenand young women. However, I dothink that— well, yes,the president does like a spectacle. He also doesn't liketough questions."
She noted that there are already "many, many, many documents in black and white" with Trump's name in them. So, inviting the Epstein survivors to the White House might backfire.
Those documents expose Trump for "seeming to have knowledge about ongoing, if not crimes, like very questionable behavior. And so ifyou get a bunch of survivors inthat room in the Oval Office,these are women — they are notafraid. They have been throughthe worst. They are going to askhim to his face. And I think thekey point is, he does not have agood answer for that, that hehas shared with us thus far."
Fitzpatrick noted that she's been requesting a comment from the White House for weeks because the family of the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre wants to know what Trump knows. While on Air Force One, Fitzpatrick recalled that Trump shared that he knew what was going on with Epstein and that he was trying to recruit girls from Mar-a-Lago. Trump then "blurted out" that Epstein did it a second time, she recalled.
"So, there is a potential victim that has perhaps never been identified, that the president has knowledge of," Fitzpatrick continued. "And we have not yet seen any investigative action towards that, and we have not seen any answers from that."