Jamie Raskin takes ACTION on REDACTED Epstein files

I'm joined now by Congressman Jamie. Raskin. Congressman, thanks for joining. me. >> Delighted to be with you, Brian. >> We have seen a brand new trunch of. Epstein files released. There's. obviously concern when it comes to this. DOJ, when it comes to Pam Bondi, that. we're not getting everything that. actually exists within the Epstein. files, considering it very much looks. like the administration's top priority. since day one has been protecting Donald. Trump. And so can you talk about the. action that you're taking uh a top the. judiciary committee to to mandate. compliance?

They have acknowledged the existence of. 6 million potentially relevant records. They've released 3 million of those with. more than 10,000 redactions. So to begin. with, 50% of what we demanded in the. congressional subpoena and then in a. federal law, the Epstein file release. act, um has been withheld from us. And. obviously, we're much less interested in.

seeing what they want us to see than in. seeing what they don't want us to see. The administration has been in a. full-blown cover up mode since they came. into office last January. They got all. of the files and documents from the. prosecutors in New York who were looking. at Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators and. they took it all to DC and then they. declared the investigation over. They. killed the investigation. And when Cash. Patel came before the House Judiciary.

Committee, he said there was nothing to. see there. There were no other. co-conspirators. There were no other. crimes. and they've basically been. sticking by that despite the fact that. they are um staring in the face of just. a huge number of crimes and potential. co-conspirators that have surfaced. >> So what are you able to do from the. judiciary committee to kind of rectify. that situation? >> Well, the first thing that we are doing. is we are demanding the right this week. to go over to read all of the unredacted.

Epstein files that they've got. Uh and. Todd Blanch said that that would be. available to members. So we fully expect. him to comply with our request so we can. go over with the judiciary committee. members and with our staff members to. begin to go through all of those. materials. But it's clear that they want. uh Attorney General Bondi to come in. before we've had the opportunity to look. through everything. So, are you saying.

that that Todd Blanch may be open to. letting you see the 3 million documents. that haven't been released, or are we. talking about the unredacted versions of. the 10,000 files that have been. redacted? >> The unredacted versions of the 3 million. that they've turned over, although we. insist that we have a right to see all. of it. So that question um has not been. quite directly posed yet because we do. believe that we have under both federal. law and our congressional subpoena the.

right to see the unredacted versions of. it all. >> And how can you be confident that even. the 10,000 files that were redacted are. the full Epstein files? Like my my. concern here is that if there's. something damaging enough to either. Donald Trump or one of his pals that. he's trying to protect that that isn't. even going to be included within the. Epstein files that that exists like that. that it will have just been destroyed. And so how can there be any confidence. that what you're gaining access to is is. even everything.

>> Well, we share that concern. Um, when we. say we're going after the 6 million. files, we are assuming that that is. everything that was in all of the. various prosecutorial records from. Florida, DC, New York, all over uh all. of the the pictures, the videotape. evidence and so on. Right now, we have. no. documented reason to believe that they. are actually destroying evidence, but I.

I can't tell you that you're first. person to raise that question. >> right now. In terms of the other 3. million, are they what was Todd Blanch's. rationale for not releasing basically a. full 50% of the files? Because again, he. had come out pre initially and said that. there were these 6 million files and now. we've got 3 million and a message from. Todd Blanch that hey that that's that's. as good as it's going to get. >> No, there's no rationale for it and. there's no stated justification for it. They're just saying this is the delivery.

of the materials you're going to get and. then they're excluding all the rest of. it despite the fact that we've been very. explicit. We don't want um any. exclusions based on potential. embarrassment, potential political. humiliation, potential political damage. All that stuff has got to be completely. irrelevant. But as we've seen since. their arrival last January, their. principal determination has been to.

destroy the investigation into potential. co-conspirators and into potential new. crimes that haven't been charged yet. Do. you presume that if there is something. as embarrassing as what I was discussing. before, something that clearly that they. want to suppress or secrete, that that. would be included in the full 50% of the. files that aren't going to be released? That that wouldn't be included in those. 3 million files that Todd Blanch is just. saying that no one's going to get access. to. >> Yes. Either it's there or it's been. destroyed. But I think um it will be.

difficult to destroy a lot of these. documents because they have um you know. a chain of custody and they've been in. other places. But of course we're. dealing with a huge forest and um so it. might not always be able uh to be. determined you know whether there's a. particular needle in the hay stack. What. can't you do right now in the minority. that you might be able to do in the. majority with subpoena power with, you.

know, a a chairmanship as opposed to. being ranking member as we head toward. midterms? >> Almost everything. I mean, for example, we could have for the first time in the. judiciary committee a real hearing about. the Epstein files and about uh this. massive international billion dollar. child sex trafficking ring. I mean I, you know, they haven't even told the. basic story that's contained in. Virginia's. um extraordinary book, Nobody's Girl, which describes her experience and.

really sets forth what was taking place. there. I mean, this was uh a completely. wellorganized, well-run, well financed. um girl and woman sex trafficking ring. that exploited and injured people. constantly. Uh and it was for the. benefit of some of the wealthiest and. most powerful and most influential. people in the world. and all that Trump.

and Bondi and Cash Patel want to do is. sweep it all under the rug as quickly as. possible. >> Well, to that end, um something that. might help in terms of Democrats. retaking the majority to give you the. option to be able to hold hearings like. that is the fact that just yesterday we. watched a state senate uh district 9 in. Texas, which was a Trump plus 17 seat, which means Trump won that Senate Senate. district seat by 17 points. We saw the.

Democrat win by 14 points. So this is. roughly like a 30point overperformance. by the Democrats and there's some folks. who've done the math and if we see. similar swings in Texas throughout the. entirety of the state, they're. gerrymander could actually turn into a. dummy mander wherein Democrats actually. gain three to four seats in that state. instead of losing any uh after the maps. have been redrawn. So can I have your. reaction to to this overperformance in. Texas yesterday? Well, I agree with. everything that you just said, Brian, except I wouldn't call it an.

overperformance because that makes it. sound like it's some kind of outlier. back. I would call it a 30point. transformation because the whole country. is waking up to the systematic lies of. the Trump administration. I mean, the. Minneapolis has been such a pivotal. turning point for us because everybody. could see um that Trump and his team. were lying about what happened. Those. were not domestic terrorists who were. killed. Uh Renee Good and Alex Prey.

They were not attacking the officers. They were trying to help people and get. away from uh the ICE officials. And this. was a cold-blooded murder that took. place. And the whole country could see. the lying. And that exposure of the lies. I think has had a domino effect in terms. of people recognizing the lies about you. know about everything. I mean right. Epstein files about the tariffs about.

inflation. I mean we're just swimming in. a sea of lies. There's a a really. amazing speech that Vaklov Havl gave. back in 1978 where he said that the. crucial thing when you're fighting an. authoritarian dictatorship is to move. from living within the lies to living. within the truth. And the people in. Minneapolis have shown us how to live. within the truth. And that means. solidarity. It means collective. self-help. And it means constantly.

confronting the lies of the regime. And. it's like what what uh Alexi Nani said. in his book about Putin where he said. the one thing people must do every. single day is tell the truth because. that's the one thing that the the liars. and the thieves and the hypocrites in. the regime cannot handle. It will lead. to a complete collapse of a state of. lies. Well, that that's that's so spot. on and I think especially in light of. the fact that we we've all seen the.

video evidence. Like 85% of Americans. have seen the footage, for example, of. Alex Py's shooting. And you know, we all. have eyes. You you can see it. There's. plenty of Republicans who are even. coming out and saying, "Yeah, this this. looks miserable for for for Trump and. for ICE and for Christine Gnome." But. the crazy thing is, even despite the. fact that we've all seen this evidence, there seems to be an insistence, like a. stubborn insistence from Christ and JD. Vance and Greg Bovino and all of these. administration officials to to convince.

us not to believe our lying eyes. And it. would be one thing if it was just like a. he said, she said or or if we had seen. written reporting on this, but but we've. all seen the videos. And the videos come. from virtually every angle. I mean, everybody had their cell phones out and. for for them to continue to tell this. lie uh and to convince us that, for. example, Alex Prey was approaching the. ICE officer instead of the other way. around or that Alex Prey was brandishing. a weapon when he was clearly just. holding a cell phone. Um, that puts on.

full display the extent to which there. is no shame. They will lie with abandon. And it's starting to give um to give a. justification for even Republicans, even. Trump voters to to see this and say, "Oh, these are people who are actually. just not not looking out for me. They're. contemptuous of me because they think. I'm going to be dumb enough, gullible. enough to swallow whole any of the. that they're feeding me.". >> That's right. Well, and this is why the. the blizzard of 2026. um has been so critical to the political.

transformation and awakening of 2026. because hundreds of millions of people. have been stuck in their houses trying. to deal with the freezing cold and just. turned on their TVs to watch this. constant um you know looping reel of. what actually happened with uh Alex. Prey. what actually happened with Renee. Good and we can see the lies for. ourselves and then you've got the Trump. bureaucrats who are living within the.

system of the lie and then the. population which is suddenly liberated. from it. >> In terms of the Alex Prey shooting. itself, there was finally a a begrudging. concession by DHS that the civil rights. division was going to investigate uh. civil rights division at the DOJ was. going to investigate the shooting. But. but we we've also seen a mass exodus. from the civil rights division in terms. of good prosecutors and good attorneys. who who didn't want to basically work. for an administration that had no that.

had, you know, no allegiance to to civil. rights. And so when we when we hear that. there's going to be a civil rights. investigation of of the shooting of of. Alex Prey, who's left in that division. to actually carry out a legitimate. probe? Well, it remains to be seen and. that's why the people's skepticism is. completely warranted here. I mean, under. the old uh Department of Justice um. criminal division of the civil rights. section, that was a very serious office. that went after major hate crimes and.

Kuk's clan violence. I mean, this went. back to the very beginning of the. existence of the Department of Justice. in the 1870s and ' 80s. Um, and uh, but. you know, the place has been so hollowed. out and savaged by the uh, the firings, the mass discharges, and then the. resignations to follow. So, you know, it. it remains to be seen exactly who will.

be put on it. Obviously, if somebody. like Todd Blanch is doing the. investigation himself, you know what. it's worth. This guy has never stopped. being Donald Trump's uh criminal defense. lawyer, his personal criminal defense. lawyer. And he's the number two person. at the Department of Justice. And don't. forget, they've also been packing DOJ. with um various January 6th pardon. defendants. >> Yeah. And like Ed Martin who was there. on January 6th um who tweeted out this.

is Marty Gro in Washington. Well that. guy is now the new US pardon attorney. and head of their aptly named. weaponization task force. So, do you. have any degree of confidence that when. DHS promises to police itself and. investigate itself as it relates to the. Alex Prey shooting that there is going. to be a modicum of actual justice when. it comes to holding the person. responsible to account? >> I mean, call me dubious, but I'm in the. same situation as everybody else in the. country. As you were saying, we all saw.

what happened together. Now, undoubtedly, there will be more angles. that come in and there will be more. information. Uh it's hard to imagine. that it undercuts what is so clearly. visible in the tapes we've seen. Um but. you know, we'll wait and see. It's just. too bad that the Department of Justice. has been so dismantled and gutted that. nobody can trust anything they say. I. mean, look at the number of cases around. the country where you have judges. actually admonishing Yeah. and reproving.

the Department of Justice for lying to. them. Look at all of the Trump US. attorneys who've been forced out of. office and disgraced because of uh their. pathetic, incompetent. um and lying performance in the job. >> Last question here. What responsibility. do you think that the states have or or. in this instance Minnesota state. investigators have to pick up the slack. from where federal prosecutors are.

clearly leaving off? Well, yeah, but I. mean even if in the best of times the. Department of Justice's um jurisdiction. is interstitial, it's marginal because. federal criminal jurisdiction is. interstitial and marginal. There's got. to be a particular federal interest. Somebody's crossed state lines and. Congress has legislated to deal with it. or it's an attack on a federal officer, for example, the kind of things that we. saw on January 6. But more than 99% of. the crimes in the country are prosecuted.

at the local level by district attorneys. or by state attorney generals. That's. where murder should be prosecuted. That's where violent assault should be. prosecuted. And there's nothing that. exempts the uh the ICE agents or other. federal officers from criminal. accountability and responsibility. If. they're not acting within the proper. bounds of their legal authority, they. step outside of it and they kill. somebody, they're subject to murder. charges just like anybody else who.

commits a lawless killing. >> Do you think that it should be a. democratic priority if there are lawless. killings or extrajudicial killings that. if Democrats can re retake control of. government that holding these people to. account should be a priority as well in. the future. Obviously, it's not going to. h happen under Pam Bondi, but let's say. there's a Democratic administration in. the future kind of uh you know, we had. seen what Merrick Garland's DOJ looked. like in terms of the aggressiveness that. they were um taking that he was taking. on someone like Donald Trump. Do you.

think in the future when we have this. type of lawlessness that these people. should still be considered when it comes. time to to hold these folks to account? >> There's no statute of limitations on. murder and for a reason. Think of it. from the standpoint of the victim's. family. People want and deserve justice. And so, we must get to the bottom of all. these crimes. Who actually did the. shooting? Why did they confiscate uh. Alex Freddy's gun and then proceed to.

shoot him 10 times and kill him? um you. don't lose your second amendment right. to possess a gun in um conformity with. state and local law because you engage. in the first amendment activity of. protesting government action and. demanding a redress of grievances. So. this is an important moment for the. first amendment. It's an important. moment for the second amendment. It's an. important moment for all of the bill of. rights. And yes, that's got to be a. priority for the Department of Justice, just like I know it is for the attorney. general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, and.

the Henipin County uh states attorney. I. know that all of them are absolutely. committed to justice and accountability. >> We'll leave it there. Congressman Jamie. Raskin, as always, a pleasure speaking. with you. >> Thanks for having me, Brian.