Epstein files: Will Clinton deposition pave the way for Trump testimony? | Morning in America — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Joining me now, I have Republican
2. 0:01strategist Tiffany Smiley and Democratic
3. 0:03strategist Antoine Seight. Um, happy
4. 0:06Friday to both of you. Thank you for
5. 0:07your time. Um, Tiffany, let me just
6. 0:10start with you. This is the first time a
7. 0:11former president has been forced to
8. 0:13testify before a House panel. In your
9. 0:16mind, what's the single most important
10. 0:18question those lawmakers need to ask him
11. 0:21today? Well, I think there's a lot of
12. 0:23questions that they need to ask uh
13. 0:25former President Clinton and I'm happy
14. 0:27to see him talking and answering these
15. 0:29questions. You know, he very easily
16. 0:31could have pleaded the fifth. Um and so
17. 0:34the American people deserve answers and
18. 0:36they deserve the truth. So this is sort
19. 0:38of like a a factf finding mission,
20. 0:40right? We deserve to know answers. The
21. 0:42American people want transparency. They
22. 0:43want accountability and that's what we
23. 0:46have the opportunity now um to find out.
24. 0:49I think they need to know um what
25. 0:51exactly was your association with
26. 0:53Epstein? Um where did you go with him?
27. 0:56Who was present? And what do all these
28. 0:58pictures mean? I think the pictures are
29. 1:00are a real indicator um to ask a lot of
30. 1:03questions of of former President
31. 1:05Clinton.
32. 1:06>> You know, Antoine, I I can't imagine
33. 1:08Clinton would agree to testify and then
34. 1:09offer up any bombshells today. What are
35. 1:12your expectations from him? And what do
36. 1:14you expect lawmakers to press him on?
37. 1:17Well, just as yesterday, I expect more
38. 1:19of a performative theatrical scene uh
39. 1:21simply for Republicans to distract the
40. 1:24American people. If this was truly about
41. 1:26transparency and accountability, as
42. 1:28Secretary Clinton stated yesterday, this
43. 1:30would have been an open door um hearing
44. 1:32so that the public could have heard her
45. 1:34insight and her testimony. [snorts]
46. 1:36We've seen this type of theatrical
47. 1:38performance before. Remember, in 2015,
48. 1:40Republicans had her testify for 11
49. 1:42hours. Yesterday, it was 6 hours. no new
50. 1:45information. But what we do know going
51. 1:47forward that there was precedent set
52. 1:49yesterday. The Republicans will not be
53. 1:51in charge of that committee forever. And
54. 1:53so when Democrats take the majority in
55. 1:55November, and we know that the that the
56. 1:57current president is deeply named in
57. 2:00those files and some of his associates,
58. 2:02let me just let me just say real quick
59. 2:04when you're talking about theater and
60. 2:05performance though, I mean, several
61. 2:07Democrats voted to pursue, you know,
62. 2:09contempt charges alongside Republicans.
63. 2:11Does that not add credibility to to the
64. 2:14investigation?
65. 2:15>> It makes it bipartisan,
66. 2:18but it does not bring true
67. 2:19accountability because if they were
68. 2:21serious about gathering intel, then this
69. 2:23would have been a public hearing. The
70. 2:24other aspect of this is we've seen a
71. 2:26number of Republicans tied to Epstein
72. 2:29that have not been called to testify
73. 2:31before this committee, including the
74. 2:32commerce secretary. So going forward, if
75. 2:35this was true bipartisan accountability
76. 2:37and transparency, I hope to see others
77. 2:39come before this committee in the same
78. 2:42spirit of transparency.
79. 2:43>> Yeah. And Tiffany, a lot of people are
80. 2:45saying, you know, what does this mean
81. 2:46for President Trump moving forward? He's
82. 2:47named thousands of times in the files.
83. 2:50Um, you know, will this open the door to
84. 2:53getting him to sit eventually? And and
85. 2:55why wouldn't you uh if there's nothing
86. 2:57to hide and you're trying to bring
87. 3:00justice for these victims, why doesn't
88. 3:02everybody just sit down and say, "You
89. 3:04know what? I'm innocent, but here's what
90. 3:06I know and everybody deserves to hear it
91. 3:07from me."
92. 3:08>> Well, let's not forget that President
93. 3:10Trump and his DOJ and FBI are the ones
94. 3:12that are releasing all these files and
95. 3:14and exposing this. And the names that
96. 3:16are redacted is in protection of
97. 3:18victims, which is very important. there
98. 3:19are multiple people going through these
99. 3:21files um before they are released to the
100. 3:23public which which is in protection of
101. 3:25victims which is very necessary and in
102. 3:27this country you not you are not guilty
103. 3:29by association um so you know I know
104. 3:32that Democrats try to act like this is
105. 3:33the scandal of the century and that in
106. 3:35some regards implying that President
107. 3:37Trump committed some criminal activity
108. 3:40that's just not true um if there was
109. 3:42really a smoking gun then Merrick
110. 3:44Garland's G do DOJ and Joe Biden would
111. 3:49have released this sooner. So, the fact
112. 3:51that President Trump is being
113. 3:52transparent and accountable to the
114. 3:54American people is huge and exposing
115. 3:56this um and exposing the truth and
116. 3:59really this is a a factf finding
117. 4:00mission. I think Comr laid it out
118. 4:02perfectly. We deserve answers. Um and
119. 4:04this is just the beginning
120. 4:05>> and and Antoine, how do you respond to
121. 4:07that and and why we haven't seen this
122. 4:09kind of focus on it in, you know, the
123. 4:11last five years until now?
124. 4:13>> With all with all due respect, it's
125. 4:14intellectually dishonest to say that
126. 4:16Trump's DOJ has been transparent.
127. 4:18Trump's DOJ has been forced to bring
128. 4:20about this information as a not as a
129. 4:22bipartisan vote in the Congress forced
130. 4:24by Democrats on the committee. They have
131. 4:26slow dripped this information. There are
132. 4:28still members of the committee who are
133. 4:30still asking for parts of this file to
134. 4:32be released. You mentioned the redacted
135. 4:34parts of the file. We also know from a
136. 4:36report that came out uh just a few days
137. 4:38ago that President Trump's names in the
138. 4:40files um somehow another those files
139. 4:42have been not released to this point to
140. 4:45some degree. And so while this has been
141. 4:47forced and while DOJ has slow dripped
142. 4:50this process, it does not mean they've
143. 4:51been transparent.
144. 4:52>> Thank you for watching. Subscribe below
145. 4:54and download our NewsNation app right
146. 4:56now on your phone and you will get
147. 4:58fact-based, unbiased news for all
148. 5:01Americans.