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Sen. Barrasso says Epstein vote a Democratic attempt to make Trump a ‘lame duck’: Full interview

admin - Latest News - November 17, 2025
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In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) discusses the aftermath of the government shutdown and why he believes the bipartisan discharge petition to vote on the Epstein files is “not about truth.”



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Nov. 16, 2025, 11:13 AM EST / Updated Nov. 16, 2025, 1:36 PM ESTBy Alexandra MarquezRep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., one of two congressional lawmakers leading the push for the Trump administration to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, said Sunday that the effort is “not about Donald Trump” and called on the president to meet with survivors of Epstein’s abuse.“What we’re asking for is justice for the survivors,” Khanna told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “So, it’s not about Donald Trump. I don’t even know how involved Trump was. There are a lot of other people who are involved who have to be held accountable.”Khanna said many of the survivors who have spoken publicly about their experiences with Epstein will be in Washington on Tuesday and that they would ask Trump to meet with them.The California congressman successfully partnered with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on a petition calling on the Justice Department to release any documents it has related to Epstein. Last week, the petition reached 218 signatures, which will force a vote on the measure on the House floor.On Sunday, in a separate interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Massie agreed with Khanna, saying, “I’ve never said that these files will implicate Donald Trump, and I really don’t think that they will.” Trump last week called efforts to release the Epstein files a “hoax,” writing in a post on Truth Social, “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”He added in another post on Wednesday, “In other words, the Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!”On Sunday, the White House doubled down on calling the effort to release the Epstein files a “hoax” and a “distraction.” The Epstein files grabbed additional headlines last week after lawmakers on the House Oversight committee released 20,000 pages of emails and documents from Epstein’s estate.The president’s name appeared frequently in the emails, but Epstein did not, in these files, accuse him of any wrongdoing or illegal activity.“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.Khanna added Sunday that releasing files related to Epstein could be a “political win” for the president.“If you gave me a choice, I’d rather the president reverse course. I’d rather he released all these files,” the California congressman said. “Someone was saying that his numbers would go up. I don’t care if he gets the political win.”Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who appeared later on “Meet the Press,” called Khanna’s efforts to release the Epstein files “an attempt by the Democrats to make Trump a lame duck president.”“I think there’s a lot more important things to talk about right now to get the country back on track,” he added.Barrasso also declined to commit to holding a vote in the Senate on releasing the Epstein files, simply saying that he and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will “take a look at it.”Khanna noted that Trump spent time this week trying to convince several GOP House lawmakers who joined all House Democrats in signing the petition to remove their names.“It’s basically Massie and me versus the White House,” he said.Several of the lawmakers whom Trump pushed to remove their names from the petition were vocal this week in their refusal to do so.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. — whose feud with Trump escalated over the weekend — on Saturday wrote in a post on X, “It really makes you wonder what is in those files and who and what country is putting so much pressure on him?”Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., also kept her name on the petition. She wrote in a post on X on Wednesday, “I signed the discharge petition. I was one of four Republicans to do so. I stand with all survivors.”Greene clarified Sunday that, like Khanna and Massie, she didn’t believe Trump would be implicated of wrongdoing if the Epstein files are released.”Well, I think that’s the part that has so many people confused, that the women themselves that I have talked to have over and over again said that Donald Trump did nothing wrong,” Greene said, referring to the survivors of Epstein’s abuse.She added that she’d like to see them meet with Trump, as well.”Quite a few of them even told me they voted for him, and those are the women I would like to see in the Oval Office with support,” Greene added. “I would like to see all of the women there with support.”Massie said Sunday that “I think we could have a deluge of Republicans” to vote on the measure this week, even more than the number who signed onto the petition.”There could be 100 or more. I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote,” he added.He spoke directly to his Republican colleagues, too, saying, “Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement but in 2030 he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles if you don’t vote to release these files.””The record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency,” he added.Khanna again pointed to the popularity nationwide of pushing to release files, saying that Trump is “losing his MAGA base on this.”“The reason he’s losing it is he ran saying, ‘There’s a corrupt governing elite that has shafted you,’ that ‘This is the Epstein class versus forgotten Americans, and I’m going to stand up for forgotten Americans,’” Khanna said. “He’s forgotten those forgotten Americans, and we are saying that we are going to stand up for survivors, for America’s kids and we’re going to hold this class accountable.”Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.Yamiche Alcindor contributed.
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Oct. 2, 2025, 7:27 PM EDTBy Phil Helsel, Chloe Melas and Adam ReissSean “Diddy” Combs apologized and expressed “how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused” in a letter Thursday to the judge set to sentence the disgraced hip-hop mogul on two prostitution-related convictions Friday.”I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness,” Combs wrote in the letter to U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian.The letter was dated Thursday, a day before Combs is to be sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.Combs was acquitted of the most serious counts, one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.He faces up to 20 years in prison, 10 years on each count on which he was convicted.The letter marks the first time that Combs has addressed the judge in any meaningful way. During his eight-week federal trial, Combs did not testify and gave brief answers in response to questions from the judge.Prosecutors want Diddy sentenced to 11 years, while defense asks for 14 months01:06Federal prosecutors had accused Combs of orchestrating a decade-spanning “criminal enterprise” and forcing women to participate in marathon, drug-dazed sexual encounters with male escorts, known as “freak-offs.”Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra Ventura testified that she was controlled and coerced to participate in the sex acts against her will. Hotel video showed Combs beating Ventura and dragging her in 2016.His defense has insisted that the prosecution’s key witnesses — including Ventura and a woman identified by the pseudonym “Jane” — willingly participated in the “freak-offs.”Combs is expected to speak at Friday’s sentencing hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. and last for several hours.Prosecutors are seeking 11 years and three months in prison. Combs’ attorneys are asking for 14 months in prison.In the letter to Subramanian, Combs asked for mercy, saying he has “been humbled and broken to my core.” He recounted the conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held for a little over a year, and wrote that he never wants to appear in a criminal courtroom again.”Over the past year there have been so many times that I wanted to give up. There have been some days I thought I would be better off dead. The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn,” Combs wrote.In his letter, Combs said he takes full responsibility for the abuse of Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, and his other conduct.”The scene and images of me assaulting Cassie play over and over in my head daily. I literally lost my mind. I was dead wrong for putting my hands on the woman that I loved. I’m sorry for that and always will be,” Combs wrote.Ventura has said in a letter to the judge that she is scared for her safety. She wrote in a letter to Subramanian filed Tuesday that her experience was “the most traumatic and horrifying chapter in my life.””His defense attorneys claim he is a changed man, and he wants to mentor abusers. I know firsthand what real mentorship means, and this disgusts me; he is not being truthful,” Ventura wrote in the victim impact statement.”I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” she wrote. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”Subramanian rejected an effort by Combs’ attorneys Tuesday to toss out the two criminal counts on which he was convicted. Phil HelselPhil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.Chloe MelasChloe Melas is an entertainment correspondent for NBC News. Adam ReissAdam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.
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Oct. 21, 2025, 12:50 PM EDTBy Alexander SmithLONDON — Prince Andrew may have given up his titles, but the questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein haven’t given up on him — or Britain’s embattled royal family.Seemingly every day, damaging new reports emerge about Andrew, 65, his friendship with the late pedophile financier, and allegations the prince had sex with trafficked Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17, which he denies.In her posthumous memoir “Nobody’s Girl” released Tuesday, Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at age 41, said Andrew acted as though having sex with her “was his birthright.” Andrew, who in February 2022 reached a legal settlement with Giuffre after she filed a civil case against him in a New York court, has repeatedly denied having met her.’Nobody’s Girl’ by Virginia Giuffre on display at a bookshop in London on Tuesday.Ming Yeung / Getty ImagesBut the rolling scandal refuses to go away, and has the potential to inflict further damage on a monarchy whose popularity continues to dwindle after the death of the widely beloved Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. King Charles III has sought to insulate “the Firm” from the cloud over his younger brother. Andrew said in a statement last week that with Charles’ “agreement,” he would “no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” including Duke of York.But there are still unanswered questions about what the palace knew, and when, with calls from lawmakers and others for the royals to oust Andrew entirely.“The deep and wide support for the queen meant the family was able to better weather all the controversies that could emerge — and this is a bad one,” said Craig Prescott, who teaches law at Royal Holloway, University of London and specializes on the constitutional and political role of the monarchy.“These specific allegations are, of course, extraordinarily damaging in the first place, but they also run counter to some of the causes that members of the royal family take up,” he said.Jeffrey Epstein in 2017.New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP fileFriday’s agreement for Andrew to relinquish his titles came after emails published in documents for a court case not involving the prince showed he had been in contact with Epstein for longer than he previously admitted.That “makes him look, in black and white, a liar,” NBC News’ royal contributor Daisy McAndrew told “TODAY” on Sunday. “And so how can you trust anything else he says?”Then Sunday, London’s Metropolitan Police said it was investigating reports that Andrew had asked one of its officers to dig up dirt on Giuffre. A Buckingham Palace official told NBC News these reports should be “examined in the appropriate way.”Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell at Prince Andrew’s London home, in a photo released with court documents.Monday brought two further revelations: First that Andrew had not paid rent on his Royal Lodge residence for 20 years, revealed in a Freedom of Information request by The Times newspaper to the Crown Estate, which handles royal finances. Neither Andrew nor Buckingham Palace have responded to the report.Then came the publication of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir.She wrote that she had sex with the prince on three occasions, including an “orgy” involving “eight other young girls” who “appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn’t really speak English.”She then suffered three weeks of “irregular bleeding,” before waking up in a “pool of blood” and being taken to hospital by Epstein, she wrote. Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 shortly after he was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges, later told her she had suffered a miscarriage, and she suspected him of conspiring with the doctor to keep it quiet, Giuffre said.On seeing a photo of Andrew and Epstein walking in New York’s Central Park in 2010 — after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution of someone under the age of 18 — Giuffre wrote she was “revolted to see two of my abusers together, out for a stroll.” But “mostly I was amazed that a member of the Royal Family would be stupid enough to appear in public with Epstein.”Andrew has previously denied these allegations, saying that he has “no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.” In his statement announcing the relinquishment of his titles, he said, “I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”Virginia Giuffre, center, leaves federal court in New York on Aug. 27, 2019.Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileThe civil sex abuse lawsuit brought by Giuffre against Andrew was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.Though Buckingham Palace routinely says it does not speak for the prince, Andrew has enjoyed a prominent role at some recent royal events, including the queen’s funeral.Some lawmakers are demanding that Andrew be formally stripped of his titles by an act of Parliament — a rare foray into regal matters by Britain’s supposedly separate government.The last time this happened was in 1917, when Parliament used the Titles Deprivation Act to strip German members of the British royal family of their titles during World War I.That’s not without risks, according to Prescott at Royal Holloway.”If you have legislation removing the dukedom from Prince Andrew, might a cheeky MP want to table an amendment and remove the dukedom of Sussex from Prince Harry?” he said.The government indicated it does not support this. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said Monday that while “our thoughts have to be with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, these “are matters for the royal family.”The nuclear option would involve the king himself using something called “Letters Patent” to strip Andrew of his designation as prince.In doing so, the palace must weigh distancing itself from Andrew with ensuring the blowback from any further censure does not do even more damage to an institution that requires public buy-in.“It’s true that the monarchy isn’t voted in,” Prescott said. “But if the public mood shifted and people no longer wanted to have the monarchy, then you imagine that politics would follow.”Alexander SmithAlexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.Mahalia Dobson, Max Taylor and Jackson Peck contributed.
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