FULL: Amy Klobuchar Demands Release Of Epstein Files During Interview With CNN's Jake Tapper

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On Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper.

Transcript

00:00So right now, we're in the middle of a procedure.

00:03The president, frustrated with this issue, has asked his attorney general, Pam Bondi,

00:08to release what he calls the pertinent grand jury testimony from cases involving Epstein

00:13and his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, who's in prison.

00:16That information, however, even if it's released, will only be about crimes committed by Epstein

00:20and Maxwell, and experts say it will almost certainly not mention the other wealthy and

00:25powerful individuals who may have gotten away with crimes that they were not charged with.

00:29If you're a former prosecutor, what do you think is responsible to be released?

00:34Well, Jake, this has gotten to the point because of promises made by the president.

00:41By the way, another host of promises not kept, whether he promised he was bringing prices down,

00:46he has not, promised he would keep people on Medicaid, they're getting kicked off, and now

00:51promises that they're going to release these Epstein files made while they were in office,

00:57while the attorney general was in office, promises made by the man who is now the FBI director.

01:03So you get to a point, and this is how I view it as a former prosecutor, you have to protect

01:08the victims if you release documents.

01:10That's fairly easy to do.

01:11You just redact the names of victims, and you've seen documents like that before.

01:17But this has gotten to the point where they have just sown distrust in the justice system.

01:22They've promised that these documents would be out there.

01:26They literally gave people binders that said part one, and now suddenly, with a whistleblower

01:31reporting that 100,000 documents were reviewed by the FBI to look for the president's name,

01:38they've suddenly pulled back and said, no, we're not releasing them.

01:41So, to me, as a former prosecutor, there are times when you release things for the good

01:46of the country.

01:47This is one of those times, and you don't go and say, oh, we just got to see if a judge

01:51will let us do part of the evidence, part of the files that are over here in this grand

01:55jury proceeding after dissing judges forever.

01:58Give me a break.

01:59I want to play something your Senate colleague Ron Wyden of Oregon said on the Senate floor earlier

02:03this week.

02:06Somewhere in the Treasury Department, Mr. President, locked away in a cabinet drawer

02:10is a big Epstein file that's full of actionable information.

02:17Follow the money details about his financing and operations that await investigation.

02:24JOHN YANG, JR.: Julie Brown, the investigative reporter whose Miami Herald story in 2018 really

02:29brought this Epstein case back into the forefront.

02:32She says that file of financial records would be a trove of information in terms of finding

02:37other guilty parties.

02:39Do you think the Treasury Department should release what they have on Epstein, too?

02:42Like I said, things should be released.

02:46We should know what happened here.

02:48And it is a claim that this president has made time and time again, and the American people

02:54have the right to know what happened.

02:56So President Trump posted on Truth Social Friday, quote, if there was a smoking gun on Epstein,

03:01why didn't the Democrats who controlled the files for four years and had Garland and Comey

03:06in charge use it because they had nothing, unquote.

03:09And after the Miami Herald story broke in 2018, you said there was something not right

03:13in the Epstein case.

03:14But it's true that the president says there, Democrats didn't really seem to do anything

03:19about the Epstein files throughout the four years of the Biden administration.

03:22I mean, should you have?

03:24You sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

03:25Senator Marsha Blackburn for years has been trying to get flight records and other information

03:30about Epstein were released, and she seems to have been the only one on that committee

03:34trying to do so.

03:37So the president blaming Democrats for this disaster, Jake, is like that CEO that got

03:43caught on camera blaming Coldplay, OK?

03:45Like, this is his making.

03:49He was president when Epstein got indicted for these charges and went to prison.

03:55He was president when Epstein committed suicide.

03:59And then there was another case, as you know, that continued during the Biden administration.

04:04But he was president back then.

04:05So all of us would believe they know what's in these documents.

04:09They know it's there.

04:10They've been claiming forever that they should be released.

04:12And it is the Trump administration that gave a bunch of binders that said volume one to

04:17reporters just in the last month.

04:20It is the Trump administration that has made this promise that they're going to release it.

04:24So I am blaming Democrats for this to me.

04:27I'm sorry.

04:28This is the people that have been fomenting this, our right-wing influencers, members

04:33of Congress, people who have a reason that they want to know what's in there.

04:36They believe the president when he said there's stuff in there that people should see.

04:41Wall Street Journal, these are not bastions of liberalism or wild progressives that have

04:47come out and said the public have a right to know what is in these documents.

04:53You visited New Hampshire last weekend to campaign for Congressman Chris Pappas in his Senate race.

04:58New Hampshire, of course, an early primary state.

05:01Now that Joe Biden is no longer in office, New Hampshire goes back to the front of the line.

05:06Are you considering at all a presidential run in 2028?

05:09And what do Democrats need to do to get their – to get your dismal approval ratings up?

05:15REP.

05:16I think every Democrat, national Democrat, including myself, is focused on this upcoming

05:21election, which is the midterms, OK?

05:24That's why I was there to help Chris Pappas, who is a tremendous candidate.

05:28And what you have seen is we have got now incredible candidates that are running all over the country.

05:35We are going to be focusing on a forward-looking agenda to counteract all the crap that's been

05:40going on with this administration.

05:43And when you look at the enthusiasm of our voters that are showing up, the people in the

05:47middle, moderate Republicans, independents, that hate the chaos and the corruption and

05:52the costs going up, I am feeling better and better about how Democrats are doing every

05:57single day.

05:58And the polls show that the president, some of them, including one Fox News poll, similar

06:04to some of the things that you've been showing, the president's approval ratings are way under

06:09water when it comes to his handling of the economy.

06:13And that's what people are talking about in New Hampshire and Minnesota, any state across

06:17the country.

06:18They go in the grocery store, and the president can tell them inflation isn't a factor, but

06:22they just see the prices going up, a doubling of the price of coffee.

06:27That's what they're seeing out there right now.

06:29And he can say what he wants, he can do what he wants on Truth Social, and blame Fox News

06:36when they put a post on and say, hey, we don't like them, except maybe some of their inkers

06:41are great, and bully on the media.

06:43But the facts are there for the American people the minute they walk into a grocery store.

06:48So, 2028, you're not ruling it out, fair to say?

06:51No.

06:52I am focused on my job in the Senate, and I'm really focused on our great candidates that

06:57are up all across the country.

06:59And anyone else that's not doing that right now, I think that they better look at what

07:04Donald Trump is doing to our economy and doing to our democracy and our Constitution.

07:09Senator Amy Klobuchar, the great state of Minnesota, thanks so much.

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