President Trump Tries, Fails to Stem Epstein Files Controversy

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Questions continue to mount about President Trump’s connection to the deceased, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president’s MAGA base — and now some congressional Democrats — are demanding to see more files, including a so-called “client list” belonging to Epstein. We look at how we got here, and the political impacts of the growing controversy. What do you think the Epstein fallout will be, if any? Guests: Luke Broadwater, White House reporter, New York Times Ankush Khardori, senior writer for POLITICO Magazine and a former federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice; his recent articles include “Playbook: Trump’s Epstein evolution” and “3 Scenarios That Explain the Epstein Debacle: All reflect poorly on the Department of Justice” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Hey, forum listeners. It's Alexis. Did you hear that forum is launching a video podcast? It is true.
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0:32.1	Have you ever stopped to ask, what do your kids need to learn and thrive right now?
0:40.8	Hi, I'm Nima Gobeer, co-host of MindShift,
0:47.8	a podcast exploring the ways education can help kids find their voice, balance identity, and just be kids. MindShift provides practical tips and expert insights for how to better show up for young
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1:01.9	podcasts. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
1:24.7	Coming up on forum, the Jeffrey Epstein story is not going away, despite how much
1:29.7	President Trump would like it to and instead is intensifying. The saga of the wealthy,
1:35.4	convicted sex offender found dead in his jail cell in 2019, has disrupted the work of the GOP-led
1:41.4	House, which is avoiding calls for votes on releasing more so-called
1:45.1	Epstein files. And Trump is now in a fight with his own supporters, as well as a legal fight
1:50.4	with the Wall Street Journal for reporting on his ties to Epstein. We look at how we got here,
1:55.7	and the political impacts of these latest events. Join us. Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Speaker Mike Johnson says he'll
2:13.2	shut down the House early for summer recess in an effort to head off Democrats' efforts to force
2:17.7	votes on documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. The Speaker had already been trying to avoid
2:23.0	voting on a non-binding Republican-led resolution demanding the release of more Epstein-related
	...

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