Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘You Don’t Have The Guts’: Scott Jennings Challenges Dem To Say What She Actually Thinks About Trump-Epstein

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Republican strategist Scott Jennings clashed Monday with a former Biden campaign aide over President Donald Trump’s handling of the Justice Department’s files on financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein is said to have committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial after his 2019 arrest on new charges of sex trafficking. Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod claimed Trump was hiding the files to “protect” himself, prompting Jennings to respond during a panel on “The Arena with Kasie Hunt.”

“Protect him from what?” Jennings asked, with Elrod responding, “Because Donald Trump doesn’t want the information released. He doesn’t want — he doesn’t want —”

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“You said ‘protect him’. Protect him from what?” Jennings asked, with Elrod saying, “He — Donald Trump wants this to go away. But the MAGA base does not.”

Some of Trump’s supporters have criticized him and Attorney General Pam Bondi over the handling of the Justice Department’s files on Epstein, with the president being “ratioed” on Truth Social over the matter, Newsweek reported. Jennings and Elrod went back and forth over the documents, with Elrod claiming Trump was seeking “protection,” as Jennings asked what Trump wanted to be protected from.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Scott,” Elrod claimed, with Jennings responding, “No, I want you to go ahead, make the allegation in front of the American people here.”

“Okay. The bottom line is — the bottom line is, Donald Trump would like for this not to be —” Elrod said before Jennings interrupted with, “But the thing is, you won’t do it. You want to allude to it, but you don’t have the guts to do it.”

Elrod insisted the Epstein matter was causing a “fracture within the MAGA base,” prompting a retort from Jennings.

“There’s no fracture in the Republican Party over this. And I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Jennings responded. “I will say this. If I were the president and I were the administration, I would trust and want to work with Jamie Comer on this, apart from having this spill out into a larger issue that continues to chew up floor time.”

“So, my advice, work with Comer and get all the information out you can to the House Oversight Committee. I think that’s the best thing they could do,” Jennings continued.