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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today marks the first day of the House embarking on their ``Epstein recess,'' and already the story Republicans hoped would quietly fade is growing louder by the hour. Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice informed President Trump back in May that his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files.

Let me remind my colleagues, only last week Donald Trump told a reporter that Attorney General Bondi never told him his name was in those files. Now we know that this was a lie, plain and simple, a red- faced lie.

And this revelation raises not just serious questions about President Trump but about Attorney General Bondi herself. Bondi has proven to do all of Trump's bidding. No matter what way you slice it, Attorney General Bondi lied to the American people. She told us we would see the report. She told us it is on her desk. Then we are told there is no report.

So you can understand the deep skepticism Americans have when they hear that today, Bondi's personal prosecutors--yes, the very ones under her direction--are preparing to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accomplice, behind closed doors in Florida.

Let me repeat: Under no circumstances should anyone from Donald Trump's Department of Justice be allowed to privately interview Ghislaine Maxwell. The conflict of interest just stares you in the face, and it is unacceptable.

If you have been following this saga, and given how the White House and Speaker Johnson have so mishandled it--and who hasn't been following it--you know exactly why this moment is so dangerous. There is every reason to fear that Donald Trump could offer Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon in exchange for silence or, even worse, phony exoneration.

Let me be clear, Trump is sending his personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to try to execute a corrupt coverup, potentially offering leniency to a woman who also abused the victims.

Enough. Enough. Enough with the hiding; enough with the excuses; and enough with the coverup. The American people deserve transparency. They deserve answers.

And there are massive questions here, not just for the President but for the Vice President, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and Republican leaders in Congress. What is in the files? When did they learn about it? And how long have they been misleading the American people?

So, today, on the heels of Speaker Johnson fleeing town to avoid accountability and following this damning report from the Wall Street Journal, I am calling on the administration to provide a closed-door briefing to all Senators on the Epstein files. The Senate deserves to hear directly from senior administration officials about Donald Trump's name appearing in these files and the complete lack of transparency shown to date.

Let me say it again. Donald Trump can't play ignorant anymore. He was caught red-handed in a lie, as were his lackeys. He reportedly knew for months that his name was in the Epstein files. He lied about it to the press, and now the truth is coming out.

Over the past few weeks, Trump has tried to change the subject-- throwing out wild accusations, attacking his critics, and calling the files a hoax run by Democrats. He has blamed ``foolish'' and ``stupid'' Republicans for taking it seriously. He even scolded the American people for caring too much.

Well, we now all know why he was so desperate to make it all disappear--because whenever Donald Trump points a finger, it is because he knows he is guilty of what he is accusing everyone else of. That is his MO. When he does something, when he knows he has done something wrong, instead of admitting it, instead of trying to make amends, he points the finger at someone else and accuses them of the very thing he has done. That is how he has lived his whole life. That is how he has conducted his Presidency. As I said, it is his MO.

Let us not forget, Donald Trump campaigned, just several months back, on releasing the Epstein files. Donald Trump is the only President or politician to ever campaign on releasing the Epstein files. And now, very simply, Americans are demanding he honor it.

A good number of people voted for Trump because he promised to be their voice against the so-called deep state. But now they have seen he is very much a part of that deep state. He is right in the middle of it.

People believed he would drain the swamp; now he is right in the middle of the swamp. And that is why Americans across the political spectrum--right, center, left, Democrats, Republican, Independents-- Americans across the political spectrum are angry with Donald Trump because they now are seeing his promise to drain the swamp was total fiction. He is in the middle of it. He is adding to it.

Trump promised transparency. He told his supporters he would expose the truth. He has done the opposite. He has smothered it more than ever before.

And meanwhile, House Republicans had the chance to show courage, to do the right thing and act, but, instead, Speaker Johnson ran for the exits, sending everyone home early and triggering what we now call the ``Epstein recess.''

But I would say to Speaker Johnson, I would say to Donald Trump and his minions, I would say to all of my Republican colleagues in the Senate: This issue isn't going away. It is only getting bigger and more dangerous the longer Republicans ignore it.

Instead of focusing on appropriations or national priorities like transparency for Americans or funding the government, Speaker Johnson and House Republicans will be left cleaning up this mess, a mess of their own making.

Republicans cannot escape the issue--not next week, not next month, not until the American people get answers and the transparency they were promised.

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