Trump sprints toward a very insidious plan using Galane Maxwell to absolve himself of any

culpability in the Epstein files. And I've got four interviews this week. I interview Gavin Newsom,

Jasmine Crockett, Summer Lee, and Beto O'Rourke, all to discuss the Epstein files, the DOJ's meeting

with Maxwell, and Trump's effort to gerrymander, Texas. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen, and you're listening

to No Lie.

What is almost as striking as how slow Trump has been to release the still-not-released

Epstein files is how fast the DOJ move to meet with Galane Maxwell.

And the reason for the speed here is obvious.

Congress passed a motion compelling both the release of the Epstein

files and compelling a deposition from Maxwell. And that deposition happens in person on August 11th,

which means that the Trump administration had to get to her before August 11th in case,

oh, I don't know, they needed to make sure that her story didn't involve any accusations

against a certain president of the United States. And they knew that they had some leverage,

right? She's serving out a 20-year prison sentence, and Trump just so happens to wield the power

of the pardon. So there are certainly the ingredients for a quid pro quo from a president who is

a pro at quid pro quo ing. And so Trump's former

personal criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche sprinted on down to the prison in Florida and had

a two-day-long meeting with Maxwell, whose attorney then wasted no time in telling everybody that,

yes, she is indeed in the market for a pardon. Surprise, surprise. All of which is to say,

if Trump wanted to fix this situation, he very clearly could. Which raises the big question here,

how does Trump get out of this without it looking like just a massive PR disaster? Well,

everybody wants a list. So Trump gets Maxwell to throw some Democrats' names out there.

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