Trump Ramblings on Epstein Take Revealing Turn as MAGA Fury Boils Over

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After British police arrested the former Prince Andrew in connection with revelations involving Jeffrey Epstein, a reporter asked Donald Trump directly if anyone will face accountability in the United States. Trump rambled and rambled, insisting he had been “totally exonerated.” That’s not true, but regardless, Trump could not explain why accountability is happening in other countries, but not in ours. He also had nothing whatsoever to say about whether his Justice Department will ever seek accountability for any elites implicated in the scandal. Meanwhile, MAGA figures are raging over the latest Epstein-file revelations and demanding exactly the accountability that is not forthcoming from DOJ. We talked to Nicole Hemmer, author of good books about the conservative movement and about the right wing media. She explains why Trump has not been exonerated, how the latest in this scandal is causing MAGA to crack up, what all this reveals about supposed Trump-MAGA hatred of “elites,” and what the prospects are for genuine accountability. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:16.4	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
0:33.2	Donald Trump thinks he's put the Jeffrey Epstein scandal behind him, or he's pretending to think that anyway.
0:38.5	As to comment on the news that British police arrested Prince Andrew or former Prince Andrew,
0:43.4	in connection with the Epstein files, Trump declared himself totally exonerated.
0:48.6	But he had little to nothing to say about whether his Justice Department will seek accountability for elites implicated here more broadly. No matter how hard Trump tries to put this to bed, it just won't go away.
0:56.8	Lawmakers are still asking hard questions about what still hasn't been released, and some
1:01.5	MAGA figures are boiling with anger, unwilling to let this go.
1:05.7	To understand MAGA at times like this, we always turn to historian Nicole Hemmer, who's been following the
1:11.6	Epstein mess closely and is the author of good books about the history of the American
1:15.9	right and about right-wing media. Nicole, always good to have you on. Great to be back, Greg.
1:21.5	So the former Prince Andrew has been arrested by British police. We don't know much about that,
1:27.0	but it's obviously Epstein-related.
1:29.4	The DOJ just released a huge amount of new materials, and Trump's name appears throughout, but there's
1:34.9	still lots redacted, and Representative Thomas Massey, a Republican, is calling for the release of other
1:40.9	materials like internal DOJ memos describing decisions whether or not to
1:46.0	charge Epstein. There's tons still out there apparently. Nicole, can you bring us up to date on
1:51.7	what we've learned in the latest round of revelations? So the latest rounds of revelations,
1:56.2	you've rightly described as a lot of, a lot of Trump's name, name all over these files,
2:01.9	and still a lot of redactions. You know, the release of these files was mandated by law,
2:07.8	by a law that Congress passed. And representatives like Tom Massey are saying, no, wait a second,
2:12.4	we required you not to redact the names of the people who were implicated in the crimes and the deeds
	...

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