Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / GOP Congressional Leadership Signals It Won't Whip Votes Against The Epstein Petition

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GOP Congressional Leadership Signals It Won't Whip Votes Against The Epstein Petition · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. As we move closer to having the discharge
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: petition fully voted on and approved and sent to leadership,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: there are some interesting things going on inside of Congress.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: And one of the most interesting things that's taking place,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: or not taking place I should say, is that the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: GOP isn't trying to whip votes against this petition. And usually,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: if there is a petition or if there is a
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: piece of legislation that that they don't like, they're going
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: to be behind the scenes trying to twist arms and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: get things to move in the right direction. Well, that's
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: not happening this time around, and that's because this whole
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: entire situation is political dynamite. And look, it's interesting to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: watch how the House GOP is handling the Epstein's record bill.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Because what's notable isn't what they're doing, it's what they're
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: not doing. Typically, when a piece of legislation starts drawing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: national attention, party leadership moves quickly to organize support or opposition.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: They whip the votes, meaning they count where members stand,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: push for unity, and make sure that the party speaks
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  Speaker 1: with one voice. But in this case, leadership isn't doing that.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: They've said that they won't whip members one way or
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  Speaker 1: the other on the bill. Majority whip Tom Emmer told
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: reporters that his office doesn't whip what are called privileged motions,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: which is the technical category this legislation falls under. That
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: might sound procedural, but in Congress, procedure often doubles as strategy.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: By not taking an official position, Republican leadership avoids putting
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: members in a politically difficult spot. Supporting the bill could
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: raise questions about ongoing investigations or privacy issues, while opposing
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: it could look like an attempt to shield sensitive information.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: So by choosing not to whip, leadership is essentially stepping back.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: They're letting individual members decide how they want to vote.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: It's a way to lower the temperature around the highly
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: charged issue and to preserve flexibility within the caucus. In
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: a Congress already divided on many fronts, this approach allows
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: each lawmaker to respond to their district's concerns without being
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: bound to a unified party line. It's not necessarily a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: sign of indifference or resistance. It's a calculated decision to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: stay neutral on something that could cut both ways politically.
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  Speaker 1: For leadership, the less coordinated pressure there is, the less
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: fallout there will be if the vote becomes controversial. It's
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a wait-and-see approach. allow the legislative process to play out,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: avoiding forcing members' hands, and keeping the political consequences to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: a minimum. In other words, the GOP isn't standing down
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: so much as it's stepping carefully. On a subject as
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: sensitive and public as the Epstein records, silence has become
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the default position. And before we dive into this article,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about what I mean when
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  Speaker 1: I say whipping votes. In Congress, when someone says they're
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: going to whip a bill, they're talking about the gritty
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: behind-the-scenes effort to lock down votes, the arm-twisting, the phone calls,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the personal favors, and sometimes the quiet threats that make
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: or break legislation. It's one of the most important but
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  Speaker 1: least glamorous parts of how law actually gets passed in D.C.
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  Speaker 1: Every party in both chambers has a whip team, a
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  Speaker 1: network of lawmakers and aides, whose sole purpose is to
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  Speaker 1: keep the rest of the party in line. the House
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  Speaker 1: Majority Whip and the Senate Majority Whip, and their minority
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: counterparts serve directly under the party leaders. They coordinate with
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  Speaker 1: committee chairs, regional representatives, and other influential members to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that the votes are there when a bill hits
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  Speaker 1: the floor. These whips send out vote alerts, hold internal meetings,
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  Speaker 1: and track where every member stands, yes, no, or undecided.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: When leadership wants a bill to pass, the whip operation
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: swings into high gear. Whipping a bill isn't just about
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: counting votes, it's about changing minds. That might mean negotiating amendments,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: promising support for future bills, offering leadership roles, or threatening
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  Speaker 1: political consequences if someone steps out of line. A whip
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  Speaker 1: might remind a lawmaker about party loyalty, campaign funding, or
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  Speaker 1: even committee assignments that could disappear if they don't fall
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  Speaker 1: in line. And like everything else in DC, the process
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  Speaker 1: can get messy. Sometimes lawmakers dig in their heels, forcing
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the whip team to get creative. Other times it turns
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: into a marathon of deal-making late into the night where
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: everyone's trying to extract something before committing. In high-stakes situations
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: like budget bills, war authorizations, or landmark reforms, the pressure
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: campaign becomes almost military in precision. WHIPs will track members'
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: movements in real-time, report updates to leadership every hour, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: dispatch allies to corner holdouts in hallways, elevators, or even
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: at dinner. When leadership whips the bill, it also is
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  Speaker 1: a test of control. A successful whip operation shows that
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  Speaker 1: the speaker or majority leader can manage their caucus. A
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  Speaker 1: failed one, where members rebel or vote down the leadership's agenda,
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  Speaker 1: can signal weakness and can even lead to political fallout
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: within the party. It's why the whip's job demands both
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: charm and ruthlessness. The whole process reflects the reality of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Congress as a political battlefield rather than a political debating club.
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  Speaker 1: On paper, it's about democracy and deliberation. In practice, it's
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  Speaker 1: about numbers and loyalty. And the whip is the enforcer
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  Speaker 1: making sure that those numbers add up when the gavel falls.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Today's article is from the Washington Examiner and the headline,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: House GOP Won't Whip Against Bill to Release the Jeffrey
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Epstein Files. This article was authored by Rachel Schilke. House
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: GOP leadership won't push Republicans to vote against a bill
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to release all the files related to Jeffrey Epstein when
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: it inevitably comes to the floor after the government shutdown.
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  Speaker 1: And of course, it doesn't look good for the GOP
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  Speaker 1: right now. The optics are terrible. Now, of course, there's
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: other concerns, right? The GOP has. But the optics are
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  Speaker 1: what really matters. And when people are paying attention, they're
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: paying attention. So they see that, you know, they're not
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: swearing in the new Congresswoman, they see it as a delay.
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  Speaker 1: They see it as trying to avoid the inevitable. And
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: when the bill finally comes due, they're going to look terrible,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: especially when that information starts being released and people start
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: seeing it for what it is. Leaders don't normally whip
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: against privileged motions. Majority whip Tom Emmer from Minnesota told
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the Washington Examiner and the pending Epstein discharge petition pushed
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: by Representative Thomas Massey and Ro Khanna will not be
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  Speaker 1: an exception. Well, that's good. This is not something you
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  Speaker 1: should be whipping against. Let the caucus decide what they're
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  Speaker 1: going to do. There is zero reason that anyone should
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  Speaker 1: be against this. This is something that everybody should be behind.
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  Speaker 1: Let's figure out what's what. And whoever was involved, let's
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  Speaker 1: steamroll them. Bring them in, put them under oath, and
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  Speaker 1: go from there. If there is criminality that occurred, charge them.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: If there is, you know, financial issues that happened, charge
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: them for that, whatever it might be. Everybody talks about, oh,
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  Speaker 1: this one's not above the law or that one's not
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: above the law. Meanwhile, all of these people that were
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: with Epstein remain above the law. And now's your chance, Congress,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: to make something happen, right? Let's get the petition out there.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Let's get the files public. And let's see what's what.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Because remember, it's not only the federal government that can
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: bring charges. These people can be charged at a state level,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: especially now that we know that the NPA isn't protecting
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: them outside of Florida. So this is a whole different
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  Speaker 1: ballgame now. We don't whip privilege motions. We never have,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Emmer said. We whip legislation that the Speaker has deemed
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: something we're trying to get across the House floor. House
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  Speaker 1: leadership hasn't scheduled a vote on Khanna and Massey's Epstein
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  Speaker 1: File Transparency Act, which calls for the full release of
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the criminal files with redactions to protect the victims. But
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the bipartisan pair are close to forcing a floor action
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  Speaker 1: by collecting signatures from the majority of House members through
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  Speaker 1: a so-called discharge petition to bring the matter up for
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  Speaker 1: a vote. And imagine being mad at people that are
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: trying to get that done. Imagine calling them traitors or
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: saying that they're not loyal to the party. Like, if
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  Speaker 1: you're going to be loyal to keeping Epstein's shit secret,
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  Speaker 1: why would anyone want to be loyal to you? Because
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know about you folks, but my loyalty isn't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: to any of these parties. And I'm certainly not loyal
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to any of these politicians. I'm going to believe and
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: say what I want to believe and say. Sometimes it
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: might line up with what, you know, the Democrats are saying.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes it might line up with what the Republicans are saying.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the vast majority of this country is
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the same way. Now, of course, the most vocal people
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: are always the ones that get heard, right? And there's
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of crazy people on both ends of the spectrum.
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  Speaker 1: So those are the people that get heard. Those are
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the people that are talking the most. But I think
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  Speaker 1: the vast majority of people, regular folks like you and I,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: getting up every day, going to work, you know, just
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: trying to live our lives. We're not going to be
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  Speaker 1: pigeonholed by... You know, loyalty to the party. What is this, 1984?
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes you have good ideas, and sometimes your ideas are shit.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: And when your ideas are shit, you better believe my
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: taxpaying ass is going to tell you. I look at
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: our politicians in an employer-employee kind of way. I'm the employer,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: by the way. They are the employee. And I think
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people have forgotten that. Whatever happens, happens,
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  Speaker 1: Emmer said on Friday. That's not the most important thing
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  Speaker 1: to Americans today, right now, today. The most important thing
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  Speaker 1: to them is, how am I going to feed my kids?
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  Speaker 1: How am I going to pay my mortgage? How am
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I going to pay the car loan? How am I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: going to pay my utility bill? That's front and center.
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  Speaker 1: As far as I'm concerned, it's a non-issue. Whatever will be,
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  Speaker 1: will be, he added. A non-issue, huh? All the shit
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: you just talked about? The reason we can't pay our
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: bills is because the people who created and funded Jeffrey F.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: are also the people that are in charge of your finances.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Everybody has you out here looking for boogeymen. Everybody has
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: you out here trying to hate this one or that one.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you right now, if you're looking for a boogeyman,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: if you're looking for the real problem, look no further
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  Speaker 1: than the financial sector. the same people that ran Epstein,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: the same people that are charging you through the nose
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: for finance rates, the same people that are turning you
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: down to buy a house, the same people that are
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: charging you $ 1, 800 rent for a one-bedroom apartment in some
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: shithole neighborhood. Those are the people you should be mad at.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Polls as recently as October suggest that there is bipartisan
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  Speaker 1: support for releasing the criminal files on Epstein, who died
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: charges of sex trafficking of minors. About three quarters of
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Americans support release of all the Epstein files per a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: PBS NPR Marist poll. Well, that goes directly in the
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  Speaker 1: face of what Mr. Emmer just told us, no? Nobody
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: cares about this. This is no big deal. Meanwhile, all
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: those same people who he's crying about saying that that's
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  Speaker 1: what we're worried about are the same people involved here.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Here's the real problem for people like Mr. Emmer. They
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  Speaker 1: don't know what they're talking about when it comes to Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: They've never taken the time to dive in. They've never
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: even had their staffers dive in. All of a sudden,
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  Speaker 1: it's a big conspiracy theory. It's the same thing that
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: we saw but flipped with the Democrats previously. According to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the Democrats, this was a big conspiracy theory. Oh, what
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: are you wearing your tinfoil hat again? That never happened.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: There's no international cabal. Well, breaking news, you were wrong.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: There is. And if you were being lied to about that,
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  Speaker 1: what the fuck else are they lying to you about?
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: That's what you should be asking yourself. And then ask
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: yourself who has shot you straight, who has told you
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the truth, or at least the closest thing to the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: truth that's available. President Donald Trump and his allies campaigned
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: on releasing the files related to Epstein, who traveled in
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: powerful circles and once counted Trump and former President Bill
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Clinton as friends. However, this summer, the Justice Department backed
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: away from a public release and denied the existence of
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: a client list despite Attorney General Pam Bondi saying that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: it was on her desk in February. That was a
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: big mistake, huh? Maybe they should have just listened to
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: people that know what they're talking about. Because there is
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: no list. There never was. Do you really think that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: groups like this are going to have a spreadsheet where
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: they list everybody involved? What do you think this is,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the FBI? We're talking about people that actually know what
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: they're doing here, folks. The poll found that 67% of
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Republicans want all the files released. A majority of Americans, 61%,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: disapprove of how the Trump administration has handled the Epstein files,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: including 88% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans, And here's the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: most important one. 69% of independents. This is what I've
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: been telling you folks. When you're out here with all
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: of your nonsense carrying on about politics, you're trying to
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: win over the independent vote. People like me. And I
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: have to tell you, neither side is doing a great job.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: At this point, I wouldn't trust Congress or the administration
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  Speaker 1: to pair my socks in the morning. Never mind manage
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: my life. And as far as the Democrats go, forget it.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: What are they offering us? Who's the next leader? Who's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: stepping up to the plate? Gavin Newsom? My guy's on
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the internet all day talking shit. What exactly are you
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: doing to help your state, buddy? The story of the
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Epstein files gets lost in 15 other stories that are
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: going on right now. Lee Marignoff, director of the Marist
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: University Institute for Public Opinion, said to PBS News, but
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: he said Republican voters seem to be drawing a red
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: line with Trump and Republicans on the issue. And they
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: should be. I mean, come on, this would destroy any
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: other politician, this kind of bait and switch, but not
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Teflon Don. Donald Trump's able to avoid that and to
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: avoid destruction. And that's because the media has spent all
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: these years crying wolf about things that weren't as serious
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: as they tried to make them out. And now when
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: we get to a situation with a real cover up,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a real problem, nobody wants to believe what the legacy
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: media has to say. And that's because they're not trustworthy.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: So why should anyone trust them? Though the administration has
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: released batches of files to House Oversight Committee, Democrats point
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: out that the most of the information provided to that
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: committee had already been public knowledge. Additional information was heavily redacted.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Emmer said he wholeheartedly supports all of the files being
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: released with redactions to protect victims. Massey and Khanna's bill
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: does this, but House GOP leadership has said Republicans should
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: allow Oversight to conduct its investigation to provide for a
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: maximum transparency. while also being methodical about protecting the privacy
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: of those who are alleged to have been sex trafficked
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: by Epstein. That's not what they're doing, though. They're trying
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to protect the alleged enablers. Oh, we don't want this
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: one to be embarrassed or that one to be embarrassed
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: or nobody cares. I mean, is it a big shock
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to anybody that Donald Trump's in the Epstein files? He
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: was already notated as John Doe 136 or whatever previously.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Same goes for Doug Band, John Doe number eight or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: None of this is new. It's only new to people
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: now because nobody was telling you this previously. But the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: information itself, it was all out there. Everything's been out
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: there for years. The bill has 217 signatures. Once Arizona
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Democratic Representative-elect Adelita Gravala is sworn into Congress, she is
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: pledged to be the 218th and final signature that will
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: ripen the petition and force leadership to bring it to
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the floor. When we come back, we'll deal with it.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: We'll move on, Emmer said. We have to do the
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: business of the American people. And by the way, we
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: want to see these things released, but we want to
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: make sure that when they're released, they're not unnecessarily harming victims.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: What he means is not unnecessarily harming his donors. That's
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: what he means. I'm sorry, but I don't believe him.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: As a lawyer, I want to make sure that people
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: are protected at the same time, he added. I think
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: all of it should be exposed to the extent that
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: it doesn't harm victims or innocents. And there it is.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: What exactly is an innocent, sir? Considering you and your
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: boys killed the investigation, how do we know what's innocent
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and what's not? Gralava's swearing-in has become a point of
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: contention on Capitol Hill as the shutdown continues. Speaker Mike
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Johnson said, has delayed swearing her in, but has denied
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: that it's because of the Epstein discharge petition. Instead, he's
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: following House procedure and will swear her in once Democrat
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: vote to reopen the government. What an absolute joke. He
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: swore in some Republicans, but that's because their family was
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in town, right? The Speaker sparred with Senator Ruben Gallego
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: and Mark Kelly over the swearing in delay. which the
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Senators claimed was an excuse to avoid a vote on
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the discharge petition. That is totally absurd. You guys are
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: experts at red herrings and distractions. This has nothing to
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: do with Epstein, Johnson said in response to the Senators' accusations. Republicans,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: mostly leadership, have typically viewed the discharge petition as tools
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: of the minority. But GOP rank-and-file members like Massey and
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Representative Anna Paulina Luna have used them to force votes
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: on legislation or resolutions to change House rules that leadership
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to bring to the floor. Leadership avoided a
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: vote on Luna's petition for remote voting for new parents
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: by striking a deal to formalize vote pairing. The discharge
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: petition under Massey, however, is a different story. Often a
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: thorn in the side of leadership, Massey is unlikely to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: strike any deal with leadership to avoid a vote on
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: releasing the Epstein files. This would put several Republicans on
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: record voting against releasing the files, which could be a
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: politically damaging vote given the MAGA's base push to have
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that information public. Johnson and Massey have been at odds
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: for months as the Kentucky lawmaker's relationship with Trump has soured,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: with the Speaker stating that he doesn't understand Massey's motivation
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: on the discharge petition. And I don't know how his
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: mind works. He noted back in the summer that Massey
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: never agrees these days. Well, he's not there to agree.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: He's there to do what's best for Kentucky. And in
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: his opinion, and I'm sure in the voters' opinion of Kentucky,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: releasing the Epstein files is very important. Emmer acknowledged that
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the disagreement, but didn't dwell on them. We may not
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: agree on certain things, but no, I've never had a
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: problem with Thomas telling me where he's at, or what
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: he needs help with, and what he doesn't want. He's
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: always very clear on that stuff, the whip said, adding
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: that he's unsure what suggestion could be made to get
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Massey to back off the petition. Well, how about transparency?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: That might help. Emmer said that as whip, there is
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: nothing difficult about communication and honesty, despite the GOP's conference
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: different ideological and legislative priorities. I think that's been the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: most fun thing I've had is, I can be rather blunt,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and members seem to appreciate it. Because they don't want
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: all the drama, Emmer said. They don't want to be
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: guessing where they're at or what they need to do. Well,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: don't guess then. Do the world a favor. Do the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: survivors a favor. Do the American people a favor. Do
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: yourselves a favor. And release all the files. Until then,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: you can expect a full court press. All of the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the description box.