Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) defended Democrats for jumping on Republican calls for the federal government to release files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even though her party largely remained mum on the issue while former President Biden was in office.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, the Minnesota Democrat rejected President Trump’s efforts to blame Democrats for inaction.
“The president blaming Democrats for this disaster, Jake, is like that CEO that got caught on camera blaming Coldplay,” Klobuchar said, referring to the latest “kiss cam” scandal.
“This is his making. He was president when Epstein got indicted for these charges and went to prison. He was president when Epstein committed suicide. And then there was another case, as you know, that continued during the Biden administration, but he was president back then, so all of us would believe they know what’s in these documents. They know what’s there. They’ve been claiming forever that they should be released,” she continued.
“It is a Trump administration that has made this promise that they’re going to release it,” Klobuchar added, noting Attorney General Pam Bondi released binders described as the “first phase” of the declassification of Epstein-related documents.
Klobuchar emphasized that Democrats have not been as focused on the issue as Republicans have been.
“Blaming Democrats for this, to me, I’m sorry. This is — the people that have been fomenting this are right-wing influencers, members of Congress,” she said.
“People have a reason that they want to know what’s in there. They believe the president when he said there’s stuff in there that people should see. Wall Street Journal. These are not bastions of liberalism or wild progressives that have come out and said the public has a right to know what is in these documents,” she continued.
Trump, in a Truth Social post on Friday, asked why the Democrats did not release the files linked to the disgraced financier when they controlled the Senate and White House.
“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to former Attorney General Merrick Garland and former Justice Department attorney Maurene Comey.
He added, “BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!”
Trump earlier directed Bondi to release relevant grand jury testimony in Epstein’s case. The directive, which has garnered mixed reactions, followed pressure from some of Trump’s supporters and Democrats alike for the White House to disclose more information about its probe of the case.