WATCH: Sen. Schiff Condemns Trump Administration’s Continued Stonewalling on Epstein Files, Pledges to Push Measure Forcing their Release in Senate

Washington, D.C. - Last night, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC's The Briefing with Jen Psaki to discuss the newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein's estate that repeatedly mention Donald Trump, as well as the White House's continued campaign of denying Trump's connection to the convicted child sex trafficker.

As the discharge petition on forcing the government's release of the Epstein Files is slated for a vote in the House next week, Schiff emphasized the importance of Congress' role of oversight and the need for an investigation given that the administration is "cherry picking what they provide to Congress." Schiff also pointed out the contradictory evidence Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell presented to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in her interview prior to her transfer to a minimum-security prison, as newly released emails show Maxwell and Epstein both acknowledged Trump's connections to their operations.

View the full interview here.

Key Excerpts:

On Ghislaine Maxwell's testimony contradicting newly released emails from Epstein's estate that mention Trump:

[…] This goes to a central question about that whole interview, and that is, why didn't Todd Blanche actually bring someone familiar with the case. One of the prosecutors who had handled the case that would know the facts, that would know when Maxwell was lying, when she was telling the truth. Now, one of those prosecutors was James Comey's daughter, who was fired from the Justice Department. But he brought no one who knew the facts, and no one who could press Maxwell, test whether she's telling the truth. That, of course, was deliberate, because getting the truth from Maxwell was not the object. Getting an exonerating statement, exonerating testimony for Donald Trump was the object.

And of course, it appears that resulted in Maxwell being transferred to this minimum-security concierge service-providing institution that is not suitable for sex offenders. So, on the one hand, it raises profound questions about why Blanche wasn't prepared and didn't know the facts. But more than that, it really underscores what Amanda said, and that is, we need a real investigation here. If they didn't have the emails from the estate, it's because Kash Patel didn't ask for them, didn't subpoena them, didn't want them. I think we see in these emails that are now dribbling out just why Bondi and Patel don't want to release what they already have and don't want to do the thorough investigation that was apparently never done by the government.

On Congress' role in uncovering the truth:

[…] We should be doing oversight in Congress. Republicans should be helping to do that oversight to find out who made the decision to transfer her to this sort of cushy prison? Who made that call? When I asked Kash Patel about it in the judiciary committee, he claimed that it was the Bureau of Prisons, and the Bureau of Prisons made that decision on their own. He knew nothing about it. The Justice Department wasn't involved somehow. That was the import of his testimony. That just doesn't pass the credibility test. So, number one, we need to do oversight in Congress.

But number two, the Justice Department needs to do a real investigation. They need to release publicly what they have. These emails have already shed, I think, some significant light. I was really struck by something Donald Trump said over the summer when he acknowledged having a falling out with Epstein, because Epstein was taking girls from Mar-a-Lago. And I remember asking myself, "What did he think Epstein was doing with those girls?" And now we see one of those emails that just came out makes reference to this, when Epstein, I think, is telling Maxwell or telling someone else in those emails, "Well, of course he knew. That's why there was essentially this dispute over taking girls from Donald Trump or from Mar-a-Lago." So, these emails are already shedding light. The White House is engaged in its usual sort of blitzkrieg of denials. But there needs to be a real investigation here, a serious investigation.

On the importance of forcing a vote to release the Epstein files:

[…] It would mean that the whole universe of information that's in the government's possession would be released, redacting names and other things to protect the privacy of victims. That would be the most fulsome disclosures. What the committees have had to do is go to outside parties like the estate, the Epstein estate, to get records. They might be getting some records from the administration, but clearly the administration is cherry picking what they provide to Congress. So, this would end the cherry picking of information.

Now I would fully expect, just given what we've seen of the Trump administration and their tactics, that if this passes both Houses, of course, they'll veto it, and if somehow, we were able to override a veto, they would challenge it in court, as with some false claim of constitutionality or unconstitutionality. They would try to draw this out beyond the president's term if they can. So, this is a hugely important step in the House because it forces people to go on record whether they're going to continue to be part of this cover up. And hats off to Ro Khanna and Representative Massie for leading this charge, but it's a hard road ahead. Nevertheless, forcing these votes is a form of important accountability.

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