The Tara Palmeri Show

Bondi Won’t “Get in the Gutter” on Epstein Victims

39 min
Feb 12, 20262 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Host Tara Palmieri critiques Attorney General Pam Bondi's Congressional testimony on the Jeffrey Epstein files, arguing she stonewalled survivors, deflected questions, and showed contempt for victims by refusing to meet with them or acknowledge their presence. The episode examines the Trump administration's handling of Epstein-related transparency and accountability.

Insights
  • Government officials are using deflection tactics (stock market performance, attacks on lawmakers) to avoid substantive accountability on high-profile criminal cases involving powerful individuals
  • Survivors of major crimes are being systematically denied basic victim rights including meetings with prosecutors and dignified treatment under the Crime Victims Rights Act
  • Political appointees are prioritizing loyalty to the administration over independent investigation and prosecution of serious crimes
  • Redaction patterns in released files suggest selective protection of powerful individuals while exposing vulnerable victims' identities
  • Bipartisan public concern about transparency exists, but is being weaponized and dismissed as partisan theater by government officials
Trends
Erosion of institutional trust through perceived selective enforcement and victim dismissal in high-profile casesUse of performative congressional testimony as political theater rather than substantive policy engagementSystematic denial of victim participation rights in criminal justice proceedingsSelective redaction practices protecting elite individuals while exposing vulnerable populationsWeaponization of bipartisan issues along partisan lines to avoid accountabilityDisconnect between public statements about transparency and actual document release practicesAppointment of political loyalists to prosecutorial positions prioritizing executive protection over justiceMedia deflection strategies using economic metrics to distract from criminal accountability discussions
Topics
Jeffrey Epstein Files Transparency and ReleaseCrime Victims Rights Act ViolationsAttorney General Accountability and Congressional OversightSelective Redaction of Government DocumentsSurvivor Testimony and Victim Participation RightsTrump Administration Justice Department PracticesCongressional Hearing Performance and Deflection TacticsElite Protection in Criminal Justice SystemBipartisan Transparency DemandsGovernment Document Classification and Redaction PoliciesProsecutorial Independence vs. Political LoyaltyVictim Intimidation and Dismissal TacticsPublic Trust in Federal InstitutionsSex Trafficking Investigation and ProsecutionExecutive Branch Influence on Justice Department
People
Pam Bondi
Attorney General criticized for stonewalling Epstein survivors, refusing to meet with victims, and deflecting Congres...
Jeffrey Epstein
Deceased convicted sex trafficker whose files and client list remain central to ongoing accountability and transparen...
Ghislaine Maxwell
Co-conspirator in Epstein trafficking ring whose case survivors continue to seek justice and accountability for
Thomas Massey
Republican Congressman who questioned Bondi about redacted names of powerful individuals in Epstein files
Ro Khanna
Congressman who reviewed redacted Epstein files and identified selective protection of powerful individuals' names
Donald Trump
President whose administration is handling Epstein file release and whose officials have ties to Epstein documented i...
Merrick Garland
Former Attorney General whose handling of Epstein files is cited by Bondi as deflection from current administration a...
Sultan Ahmed bin Suleyem
Billionaire businessman whose name was redacted in Epstein files despite victims' names being exposed
Tom Barrack
Trump's former close friend and ambassador to Turkey who invited redacted individual to Trump's first inauguration
Steve Bannon
Referenced in context of Trump administration officials with potential Epstein file connections
Marika Chartouni
Epstein survivor and podcast collaborator who criticized Bondi's performance as prioritizing Trump over victims
Danny Benski
Epstein survivor who testified about Bondi's evasiveness and failure to humanize or acknowledge victims
Caroline Levitt
Trump administration official mentioned as part of pattern of dismissing Epstein survivor concerns
Todd Blanche
Deputy Attorney General mentioned as part of administration's pattern of avoiding Epstein accountability
Cash Patel
Trump administration official mentioned as part of pattern of dismissing Epstein survivor concerns
Les Wexner
Individual whose name was initially redacted then restored in Epstein files after Congressional pressure
Steven Lutnick
Trump administration official with documented ties to Epstein that Bondi refused to investigate or discuss
Jerry Nadler
Congressman who questioned Bondi about indictments and investigations of Epstein co-conspirators
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Republican who suggested Trump meet with Epstein survivors; Trump reportedly said they don't deserve an audience
Tim Miller
Political analyst and Bulwark podcast host who discussed Bondi's performance and its political implications
Quotes
"I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics."
Pam BondiCongressional hearing
"To me, it seemed that Attorney General Pam Bondi came well prepared before, but with a pair of pom-poms and red MAGA cheerleading outfit."
Marika ChartouniSurvivor testimony
"She won't even turn around and acknowledge us as people. She won't even look at us after we have gone through so much and the DOJ has failed time and time again."
Danny BenskiSurvivor testimony
"The Dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. We're laughing because we're not on CNBC, sweetie."
Pam Bondi / Nicole WallaceCongressional hearing exchange
"This is not her Department of Justice. She is not running things here. She's clearly a puppet. Donald Trump doesn't want to meet with these victims."
Christy GreenbergPanel discussion
Full Transcript
Welcome back to the Tara Palmieri show. Yesterday was a national embarrassment on Capitol Hill. Attorney General Pam Bondi was a disgrace. Instead of acknowledging the victims of child abuse were standing behind her in all white with their hands raised, she said she didn't want to go into the gutter with them. Yes, she used the word gutter to imply that they are trash. that what happened to them is not worthy of her time. As the Attorney General of the United States, who is paid for by taxpayers and is supposed to work for us and crime victims to find out the truth, to prosecute, to protect, doesn't want to go there. Not her place to go. Doesn't want to get her fingers, her nails dirty. She articulated something that I have long suspected from this administration, that the stories of abuse by the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein are just hearsay to them. They're rumor. They are inconvenient. They are toxic sludge that needs to be disposed of every day, whether it's by the president himself, Caroline Levitt, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, Pam Bondi, Cash Patel. Get rid of it. Get it out of the way, but don't ever get down to the source of it. Don't truly clean it up. And all it has done is weakened America's, Americans' faith in the institutions. And for good reason. Somehow these survivors have remained hopeful. They still come to Capitol Hill. They still fly from all over the country to be there. They haven't been called in to testify before Congress yet. They haven't even been invited to meet with Pam Bondi to provide witness testimony. They are grasping at straws, wishing that the administration would give them some sort of closure, some sort of vindication, show that they care for them. As I say, as I know in this show, I know from the survivors themselves that they were hopeful and excited about meeting with Pam Bondi. I asked if I could report on it. They said no, because they worried that if I reported on it, that she might back down. And And she did anyway, even though there was no reporting. They have never been invited then since. It was a gross display today, too, to see when she was asked this question, asked the question of why she hasn't met with these survivors. She pivoted to the Dow, Dow Jones, how the stock market is doing so well, as if we could all be soothed that one of the largest sex trafficking operations of children is happening in this country. We've done nothing about it. One woman is in jail for it because we're all rich, because we can all look on our apps and see that we have money. Money, money, money makes it all better, right? Right. She called Republican Congressman Tom Massey a failed politician. By the way, I would take that as a huge compliment. Who wants to be a politician? Seriously? And that was because he asked why Sultan Ahmed bin Suleyem, sorry if I said his name wrong, the billionaire businessman, somehow he had his name redacted in the files in an email to Jeffrey that states, I love the torture video. His name was redacted. The survivors did not have their names redacted. In fact, an entire list of them did not have it redacted. But his name was redacted. Hmm, wonder why. And the only way, the only reason we know this is because Thomas Massey and Ro Khanna, two congressmen, they went in and looked at the files on Redacted and they saw that. And they said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why is this man's name Redacted? Why? That's a violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. This has nothing to do with national security. Why was his name Redacted? Makes you wonder, who else are they Redacted? Who else's name? What else are they Redacted? What else don't we know? We know that there are 3 million files we're not seeing. We don't know why. By the way, that Sultan, he was invited to Trump's first inauguration by Trump's first close friend and ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack. As we know, he's from the Emirates, where Trump has a lot of business, multiple properties, as I've talked about on this show. Check it out. But again, under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, it generally only allows redactions for victim identifying information, which we know they've already exposed multiple victims who have not been known before. Jane Doe's who chose to remain private for their entire lives. Now the whole world knows. Even their family suddenly had no idea now. No, it was not designed to shield the names of powerful individuals inquiring about torture videos. I'm sorry if I get angry about this. It's just really upsetting and draining. And I know from the survivors that they feel drained. They've told me. They, some of them, when I met them back in 2019, they were Republicans. I mean, now, and they've always believed this is nonpartisan, which is something I've always believed because it's been decades and decades and decades of failure to actually hold this gross injustice to account. And it hasn't happened. It's not happening right now. And every time she brings up Merrick Garland, which Pam Bondi did multiple times, and why didn't you ask Merrick Garland? Good question. Why didn't they ask Merrick Garland? Why didn't they ask George Bush? Why didn't they ask Bill Clinton? Why didn't they ask Barack Obama? Right? But you're the one in charge now, and you're the one in charge of releasing the files. So you need to handle this. Marika Chartouni, who is a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, who I've worked very closely with on the Broken Jeffrey Epstein podcast, said it to me like this. To me, it seemed that Attorney General Pam Bondi came well prepared before, but with a pair of pom-poms and red MAGA cheerleading outfit. So she felt that he, she was only working for President Trump and even just the word Dow alone, which is something that President Trump measures his presidency by the state of the stock market. She was speaking to one person, it was to him, not to the women behind her, who she didn't even flinch, didn't even turn to acknowledge. So the night before Pam Bondi's hearing, the algorithm gods must have known that I was researching and getting ready for it mentally, emotionally, whatever you want to say. And I watched, they, they served me up that SNL, um, episode from the summer where Pam, Amy Poehler is impersonating Pam Bondi in that contentious hearing in the Senate. And, And, you know, now looking back on it, she nailed it. She did the exact same thing again. She just called them all losers, acted like a mean girl. She has the biggest case in the world on her desk. And she had nothing, zilch, nothing to offer in that hearing. No one came away feeling like they learned anything new. In fact, all they saw was a woman who was indignant that she dare had to answer any questions about it. Take a listen to this appearance on MSNBC. Well, now it's MS Now on Nicole Wallace's show. We get into all of that and more. You can watch some clips from the hearing. But first, I want to turn to my sponsor who is helping me stay in business, helping me continue to deliver this reporting for you. Thank you all. And of course, please subscribe, follow, share this with your friends. It's how you keep me going. And go to tarapalmeri.com and sign up for the red letter. Talk soon. So every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people who see a path forward. I'm going to talk to inventors, entrepreneurs, politicians, and OK, probably some wonky types like me, if I'm being totally honest. Congress to me was a very entrepreneurial place. It's like Shark Tank, but a lot less glamorous. When nerds get rich and powerful, they can't help but get involved in politics. I want to talk about how we can get unstuck and live up to the country's many promises. It does seem to me that there is some awakening of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are. If we believe in this country, it's worth fighting for. Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Look, I think we can all agree that Medicare is confusing. Talk to anyone over 65 and they'll tell you the same. Even after hours of research, you don't end up coming up with the right plan that fits your needs, costs thousands of dollars every year. And then there's the whole keeping track of the enrollment periods, understanding all your plan options making sure you on the right plan that matches your time and energy That why I want you to know about my Medicare partner Chapter They the only national Medicare advisor that compares and recommends every plan helping people save on average $1,100 on healthcare costs. People are relieved when they talk to Chapter because they will search through all of these plans in under 20 minutes, and it's easy and it's free. They won't push you to buy a plan. All of these advisors, they're salaried. They don't make any money from it. So their support is completely free. So if you're turning 65 soon or you have questions about your Medicare coverage, call them. Get the most out of Medicare. For free and unbiased Medicare help, dial 305-515-5237 to speak with my trusted partner, Chapter, or go to askchapter.org. We keep hearing our press secretary and our Department of Justice and other government officials saying they're moving on from this. I wish that we could. The people who had the authority to intervene chose silence, secrecy, and self-preservation and called it justice. I'm here to make sure no one in the Justice Department, no matter their title, rewrites history or escapes accountability. This time, it isn't a monster pedophile who is doing the exploiting, but our very own government. Hi again, everyone. It's now five o'clock in New York. If there was one thing that the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse wanted from their attorney general, Pam Bondi, today, was some sort of accountability for the Justice Department's complete mishandling of the files documenting their abuse. But what they got from the woman who said she had Jeffrey Epstein's client list sitting on her desk one year ago in a TV interview was stonewalling deflection and lame personal attacks against lawmakers. Many survivors were in the room for the hearing. And when Pam Bondi was given the opportunity to apologize to them directly for the haphazard way that she and her department have handled the release of the files? Well, we'll show you what happened. If you are willing, please raise your hands if you have still not been able to meet with this Department of Justice. Will you turn to them now and apologize for what your Department of justice has put them through with the absolutely unacceptable release of the Epstein files and their information. Congresswoman, you sat before Merrick Garland sat in this chair twice. Attorney General Bondi, I'm going to finish my answer. No, I'm going to reclaim my time because I asked you a specific question that I would like you to answer, which is, will you turn to the survivors? This is not about anybody that came before you. It is about you taking responsibility for your Department of Justice and the harm that it has done to the survivors who are standing right behind you and are waiting for you to turn to them and apologize for what your Department of Justice is. I'm not going to get in the gutter for her theatrics. Describing the victims as the gutter. That's new. For the record, there was no apology. Attorney General Pam Bondi never turned around and apologized to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse. And it was just Democrats that Pam Bondi acted like that with or sparred with. Here's what happened when Republican Congressman Thomas Massey pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi on what looked to him like an attempt by the Justice Department to protect the powerful people in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit while releasing personal information and the survivor's name. Are you able to track who in your organization made this massive failure and released the victim's names? Are you able to track who it was that obscured Les Wexner's name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability? I believe Wexner's name was listed more than 4,000 times about I had. Yeah, I already told you that. This is where he's listed as my answer. Come on. Let me finish my answer. We corrected that within 40 minutes. He was already. You're acting like everybody's trying to cover up Wexner's name. Reclaiming, reclaiming my time. I'm going to answer this question. Reclaiming my time. He was. Mr. Chairman. This isn't how this works. Within 40 minutes, Wexner's name was added back. Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed. Red-handed. There was one redaction out of over 4700. Where he's listed as a co-conspirator. And we invited you in. This guy has Trump derangement syndrome. There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals. Is that your position as well? My position is any victim who comes forward, of course, we would love to hear from them. 1-800-CALL-FBI. Did you ask Merrick Garland that the last four years? Did you talk about Epstein? I'm reclaiming my time. I'm glad you're asking about Merrick Garland. You don't get a reclaim time. Because this is bigger than Watergate. Yeah, it's about how it went. When it comes to the fact that multiple Trump administration officials are named in the Epstein files, that government official, Pam Bondi, showed zero interest in looking into or understanding better their ties to the dead convicted child sex trafficker. Has the Justice Department specifically asked Secretary Lutnick about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein? He has addressed those ties himself. Has the DOJ asked Secretary Phelan about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein? I don't know whether he has addressed those or not. Has Deputy Secretary Feinberg talked to the Department of Justice about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein? Yes or no? Has the Department of Justice talked to Secretary, Deputy Secretary Feinberg, about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, which are clearly spelled out in the files? It's a very simple question. It's not a trick question. I'm just asking you. Yeah, I'm stunned that you want to continue talking about Epstein. Oh, my gosh. Okay. We have evidence that three senior officials within the Trump administration have ties to Jeffrey Epstein. What does ties mean? The American people have a right to know the answers to this. These are senior officials in the Trump administration. This is not a game, secretary. I'm attorney general. My apologies. I couldn't tell. It's about how the whole day went. Pam, Bondi, making clear that she was there to perform for an audience of one. It's not clear if even he liked that. As for the audience, it should have mattered. forget about the American people, but the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's abuse. Here's what survivor Danny Benski said to my colleague Ali Vitale. It's exhausting to hear her not answer questions. I mean, basically, she's just evading every question. At one point, she talked about what is Jekyll and Hyde, like anything that she can do to eat up the time and anything she can do to not even humanize survivors. And I think that that's the biggest takeaway for a lot of us. She won't even turn around and acknowledge us as people. She won't even look at us after we have gone through so much and the DOJ has failed time and time again. It is just such a grave miscarriage of justice. That's where we start the hour. Tara Palmieri's back with us. She writes the red letter on Substack. She has hosted two acclaimed podcast series on the Epstein case called Broken, Jeffrey Epstein and Power. The Maxwell's also joining us, political analyst and host of the Bulwark podcast, Tim Miller's here. And joining me at the table, legal analyst, Christy Greenberg. She's a former criminal division deputy chief at SDNY. She is the host of the YouTube show Courtside. Tim Miller, let me show you what Joe Rogan has to say about the Trump administration's handling of all of this. Oh, FBI concluded Jeffrey Epstein wasn't running a sex trafficking ring for powerful men file show. That the gaslightiest gaslighting I ever heard in my life Again not to sort of obscure the fact that they lost the plot that the survivors have never expressed a partisan utterance since they sort of mustered the courage to be part of the conversation and calls for accountability that the issue was kept alive by the right to its credit over the last nine years, and that these performances aren't the FUs to the left that I think Pam Bondi thinks they are. They're an FU to the core of the Trump MAGA base that sent him back there. I think that's right, Nicole. It felt like a very not-of-the-moment performance by Pam Bondi. You know, you called a performance for an audience of one. I guess that's right. It also kind of felt like the type of typical performance, I don't know, from one of the hearings passed about Benghazi or Hillary's emails or something. You really were just trying to get clips for Fox News primetime. I don't know that this issue calls for that. I think that there are a lot of people, particularly in the MAGA base throughout the country, that want to know who was implicated here. And some of the testimony today obviously had some political valence to it. Like the one example, in addition to the clips you played that struck me, Jerry Nadler was asking her. And he said, you know, how many of Epstein's co-conspirators have you indicted? How many perpetrators are you even investigating? And her answer to that was to yell at him and say, this is theatrics. This is your issue called him washed up. And I just don't know who that plays for. It's like that question was not a political question. I wasn't even necessarily about Trump or the cabinet questions about who, who else did this? Like, obviously there were other men that were perpetrators here that were committing sexual crimes against girls and people want to know who it is. And people want to know if you're investigating it and just like dumping all these files and then calling us names is not sufficient to that task. And so to me, I think that was like the big miss for her, for her to do this kind of, you know, yelling and screaming, like theatrical performance on a matter that is so sensitive and that and that people across party lines in the country care about. Yeah, you've got 81 percent of all Americans who believe Donald Trump is hiding something in the Epstein files. You've got as much or more interest in seeing the files released on the right than on the left. You've got no partisan divide in questions about transparency and suspicions about the cover up. But here was Pam Bondi's answer to what we should be talking about instead of transparency, accountability and justice. Her thoughts. Well, I'll show you. Show you for you. Speaks for itself. She thinks we should be covering. They are talking about Epstein today. This has been around since the Obama administration. This administration released over three million pages of documents, over three million. And Donald Trump signed that law to release all of those documents. He is the most transparent president in the nation's history. And none of them, none of them asked Merrick Garland over the last four years one word about Jeffrey Epstein. How ironic is that? You know why? Because Donald Trump, the Dow, the Dow right now is over. The Dow is over $50,000. I don't know why you're laughing. We're laughing because we're not on CNBC, sweetie. I mean, what is that? I don't I mean, Tara, I I think the Dow is really important. But you're in a room with survivors. Some of them were children at the time of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's child sex trafficking ring. Criminals, hardened criminals. And, you know, she's the person who said, quote, I've got the list on my desk. So the whole like befuddlement that she likes to to play there, Tara, about why people are asking her about it. She made binders. She made really big binders. I don't even know that you can get them at the office supply store. They seem special orders, so thick. She made binders and handed them out to right wing, you know, I don't know, pundits, people in the right wing world after she said on a Fox News interview that she had, you know, quote, the list on her desk. And then she brought the right wing pundits into the White House and she met with them in the Roosevelt Room and she handed out these massive binders. So she's the one that pumped this story up until she face planted. I mean, what is she what is she trying to do if you if you can figure that one out? I have no idea, Nicole. I mean, it's really heartbreaking to see what happened today, because I remember around the time that the files were going to be released the first time in December when we were supposed to get the first. We were supposed to get all the Epstein files. That was the actual deadline. I remember one of the survivors telling me we have a meeting with Pam Bondi and they were really excited about it. I mean, they have been grasping at straws, wanting some sort of vindication, some sort of support, hoping, praying, believing that maybe this administration will do the right thing, despite being shown along the way that that is not what they are interested in. And, you know, I was told and I said, I asked, well, can I report on this, that you want to meet with Pam Bonney? And they said, no, no, no, no, no. We want to keep it low key because we want her to follow through. We really want to meet with her. We want to make our case. they truly believe that if they could look her in the eye, they could like reach in there and grab something human. They really did. And they really believe that to this day. And that's why they still go on Capitol Hill every single time. And they stand there. And honestly, that was a humiliation for her, really. But that was a horrible experience for them to have to stand there and look at her back. Well, she snarled and sounded like Amy Poehler from that SNL skit, like you losers. She's like some mean girl when we're talking about child predation. It's like, it's so off script. It's so weird. Like Tim said, this is a very odd thing to witness. It's a disgusting thing to witness. And you have people there who really believed in her at one time. And of course she stood them up. She stood them up and she continues to. And that was exactly why they were asked. Have any of you met with Pam Bondi? Why have they not met with the attorney general? This is the biggest case in this country, in the world right now. Why are they not sitting in the FBI's headquarters right now, sitting down for more 302s? Yeah. Thomas Massey, another Republican, chalks it up to incompetence. Let me show you that, Christy. The recourse, and I keep reminding the folks at DOJ this, is that the next attorney general can bring charges against them for breaking the law. I think that's what's compelled them to produce three million documents. And now they're claiming that it's incompetence. Their defense today is incompetence for why they haven't given us all the documents. I mean, this is this is sort of where the rubber meets the road. This is a Republican congressman who says that the next attorney general, after the Trump chapter is over, quote, can bring charges against him for breaking the law. The law requires them to turn over all the files. Yeah, I don't think we should be waiting that long. I don't think that's the answer. This Congress now can take action. There are committees that can file a lawsuit and just say, you are not complying with the law. We want you to release the files. And here are all the ways you're not in compliance. And go to a judge and try and get some relief now, not years from now, now. That's what they should be doing. All right, no one's going anywhere. We have much more with everyone on our panel about what happened today, about how Attorney General Pam Bonney dodged question after question when it came to the Epstein files. Also ahead for us, how Donald Trump continues to corrupt U.S. intelligence as his hand-picked director of national intelligence runs point at his direction on a criminal investigation into widely debunked claims of election fraud in an election Donald Trump clearly and convincingly lost in the year 2020. We are lucky enough to be joined by former principal deputy DNI Sue Gordon on how Donald Trump's actions are making us less safe right now. Sue will be our guest later in the hour. Deadline White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere. Would the survivors and victims who are here please stand up one more time? Just by show of hands, how many of you or your loved ones actually have met with the Department of Justice and provided testimony and estimate and evidence? None. And of those of you who have not met, which is everyone, how many of you have reached out either individually or through a lawyer or representative to offer to provide testimony and evidence All of them And of those of you all of you who have reached out how many of you were denied or ignored by the Department of Justice? All of them. And despite the shameful and despicable efforts by Ms. Bondi and her department to intimidate you, how many of you are still willing to speak to the Department of Justice? All of them. Well, Ms. Bondi, it looks like you have some more witnesses to talk to. Chrissy, why wouldn't they just sit and talk to them? So any normal person in that situation, any normal prosecutor would have turned around and looked at them, first of all, shown them that basic decency and respect and said, make sure to leave all your information, your lawyer's information, contact information with me before you leave. I will make sure someone from the Department of Justice reaches out to you this week. Right. Like, how hard is that? Again, that's not a partisan issue. If you are a victim, if you are a crime victim who wants to speak to a prosecutor, wants to speak to an FBI agent, you should have the ability to do that. And this isn't just any case. This is a case that Pam Bondi has signed filings saying that there is extensive public interest in with the most infamous pedophile in American history. So right after that clip, she was going around like showing a picture of an illegal alien that had committed a crime. Why aren't we talking about this? What issue do you have? Why do you keep trying to deflect from talking about the Epstein files and this crime that you have told the court you consider important? So it makes no sense. Not only does it not make sense, I would argue it's a violation of the Crime Victims Rights Act, which says that crime victims have a right to confer with the government. It also says they have a right to fairness, dignity and respect. And what she just did there, I mean, how smug she was keeping her back to them, not acknowledging that complaint, which is a very valid complaint. And just saying, well, just call a hotline. No, no, deal with it. But she doesn't want to step up. And I suspect the reason she doesn't is coming back to something Marjorie Taylor Greene said when she talked to Donald Trump and said, why don't why don't you just give the victims an audience in the Oval Office? Why don't you meet with them? And he said they don't deserve an audience. And so she's taking her cues from him. She it's very clear from you see the binder of zingers. She's got she's a puppet. She doesn't have any independent train of thought here. She had for each member of Congress, she had what she was going to say to kind of come back to whatever that they were saying. And it's all scripted. She doesn't have independent. This is not her Department of Justice. She is not running things here. She's clearly a puppet. Donald Trump doesn't want to meet with these victims. He has made it clear from the top. He has no respect for them and isn't interested. And therefore, she's taking her cues from him. And it's a disgrace. Tara, I guess I'm mad at myself that I can still be shocked and horrified by Donald Trump and the people that work for him. But I'm shocked and horrified that they have made enemies out of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. I don't know how you can do that. I mean, these women were our victims when they were children of one of the most vile crimes. And, you know, I would agree with Christie. They said case closed without conferring with the victims. And that does violate their Crime Victims Rights Act. I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that you have to talk to the victims of the crime before you decide the verdict, case closed, we're ending this. And, you know, all along the Justice Department hasn't cared about them at all. Pam Bondi seemed completely heartless. She seemed completely soulless, frankly, out there. She seemed like she was working for Trump. She was Trump's defense attorney, and she had no interest in these women. A thousand victims, by the way, all with the same stories. And yes, she didn't seem to care at all. And I don't see how that's going to help the Republicans going into the midterms. This is not the face they want. And it was a train wreck. It was a disaster. I don't I don't know how else to describe it. But today was was an embarrassment for them and the entire party. Yeah. I mean, and I don't know that Lutnik could look any worse than he already does. Tim Miller, but he he sort of did. Like if you've got someone, she's the one that was going on and on in defending Tulsi Gabbard being at the Georgia election office raid by saying, quote, we're inseparable, end quote. like we're besties, but she hasn't talked to Lutnik. I mean, her explanation was that, you know, basically like out of the hangover, you know, three best friends, but she doesn't want to claim Lutnik who happened to go to the island. And she's never talked to Lutnik after he just said yesterday before Congress that he and his wife and his kids and his nannies all went to the island and he and his wife and his kids and all the nannies left the island. She just wasn't interested in talking to him about what he might have seen. I mean, the whole sort of farce that she had any interest in getting any information about any of the crimes that were committed and had nothing other than disdain for the victim. She didn't seem interested in trying to disabuse anyone of that notion today. No, she didn't. On the Letnick, I guess the good news for him is that Kevin Hassett, the economic advisor, said that Letnick was his bestie yesterday. Someone claimed Letnick? so yes we got different lunch tables i guess in the white house where they're you know i'll talk about who their besties are as they as they run cover for each other but i just look if i if you're somebody that actually did care about this like there are people that genuinely cared about this like either on the right or like within the kind of newer part of the trump coalition was shorthand again with the rogan verse right like trump has had to make a lot of people you know kind of eat a lot of crap over the last nine years who support him that's just a part of the deal of going along with Donald Trump, but people don't like to be made to be fools, you know, and made out to be idiots. And that's what they're trying to do. They're just trying to basically say, hey, this thing that you cared about, that you told your audience you cared about, or if you're in the audience that you, you know, posted about and read about and learned about, you know, where you were concerned that, you know, there were, there was this elite cabal of, of people that were sexually trafficking young girls of men that were sexually trafficking young girls and now i'm here to tell you that like don't believe your lying eyes like that there's not really anything more to look into and in fact what you should care about is that your 401k is going up it's just like how stupid do you think people are i just in this situation like this playbook just does not work and they're playing their own supporters for fools. And, you know, there'll be some of them that are going to be happy to play along. I'm sure Hannity will give her a good review tonight over on Fox. But a lot of these other folks, you know, they're not signing up for this. Yeah. And it's an interesting migration. Hi, I'm Tamsyn Fidel, journalist and author of How to Menopause and host of The Tamsyn Show, a weekly podcast with your roadmap to midlife and beyond. We cover it all from dating to divorce, aging to ADHD, sleep to sex, brain health to body fat, and even how perimenopause can affect your relationships. And trust me, it can. Each week, I sit down with doctors, experts, and leaders in longevity for unfiltered conversations packed with advice on everything from hormones to happiness. and of course, how to stay sane during what can be, well, let's face it, a pretty chaotic chapter of life. Think of us as your midlife survival guide. New episodes released every Wednesday. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If Hannity does align himself with her, I mean, it is, it has been in the past, something that Republicans have talked about, you know, an elite child sex trafficking ring is a bad thing that used to not have a partisan take on it. But I guess Pamboddy makes clear that now it does. Tara Palmieri, Tim Miller, Christy Greenberg, thank you so much for starting us off and watching all that with me. That was another episode of the Tara Palmieri show. Thank you again for tuning in and for caring about this issue. I know so many of you do. I want to ask you to follow, subscribe, rate, share this show with your friends, how we keep making sure that it gets pushed into the algorithm and people see it and it continues to live on and survive. Of course, you can go to terrapalmeri.com. You can get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox by signing up for the red letter, becoming a paid subscriber. You'll get great reporting and you'll support independent journalism. I want to thank my producer, Eric Abinate. I want to thank Abby Baker, who does my social media booking research. She does it all. I want to thank Adam Stewart on the graphics. And I want to thank Dan Rosen, my manager. See you again soon.