House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early for a month-long break from Washington after the week's legislative agenda was upended by Republican members who are clamoring for a vote.
00:00The president himself has said that he wants maximum, maximum transparency and all credible evidence to be turned over to the American public so that everyone can make their own decisions. We're owed that. And we want any individual who's been involved in any way in the Epstein evils to be brought to justice as quickly as possible. And that and the law should be brought down upon their head. We're unequivocal about that. What we refuse to do is participate in another one of the Democrats political games. This is a serious matter. We are not going
00:29to let them use this as a political battering ram. The Rules Committee became the ground for them to do that. We're not going to allow them to engage in that charade anymore. Why do I call it a charade? Because the Democrats are trying to play gotcha politics right now. The House Rules Resolution sets a good standard and requires all credible evidence to be released. And that's exactly where the White House is. There's no, as I've said many times over the last. I've said many times there's no daylight between the White House and the House. You have to
00:59allow the legislation to ripen and you also have to allow the administration the space to do what it is doing. There's no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they're already doing. And so this is for political games. I'm very resolute on this. We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims. And if you run roughshod or you do it too quickly, that's not what happens. But I'm convinced that the DOJ is going to do their job. The administration is going to do their
01:29job and we'll do our job. But we're done being lectured on transparency by the same party that orchestrated one of the most shameless, dangerous political cover-ups in the history of this country or any government on the face of planet Earth. If the Democrats want to talk transparency, I'm happy to rewind the tape.
01:44366 days ago, President Joe Biden was unceremoniously forced off the Democrat ticket. Everybody knows why. And remember that the same Democrats who lied to us for years are now trying to convince you they stand for transparency.
01:57They participated in one of the greatest political scandals in all of history. We have a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein and everybody was involved in that. Absolutely.
02:06And we're resolved to do it. But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent. And that is a fine needle to thread. And we could all give ourselves easy political cover and come out and do something in a haphazard fashion.
02:19But I would not be able to sleep at night because I know, I know our legal responsibility. I understand what the legal standard is. But more than that, the moral standard, okay?
02:28So we're going to do this. And we're going to do it expeditiously. We're going to do it the right way. I don't understand Thomas Massey's motivation. I really don't. I don't know how his mind works. I don't know what he's thinking.
02:37Thomas Massey could have brought his discharge petition any time over the last four and a half years. Over the last four years of Biden administration, he could have done that at any time.
02:45And now he's clamoring as if there's some sort of timeline on it. It's interesting to me that he chose the election of President Trump to bring this, to team up with the Democrats and bring this discharge petition.
02:56So do I have some concern about that? I do. But you know, in me and my way, I try to follow, I try to follow Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment.
03:02Never speak evil of another Republican. My gosh, it's hard to do sometimes around here. I also try to follow the scripture. You know, it says, bless those who persecute you.
03:10So let me just say about Thomas Massey, could you just accept my Southern bless his heart?
