See below for video and highlights from Sen. Tim Kaine’s appearance this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
- “I wish I could say yes [that I believe DoJ is complying with the law] but I don’t…let’s just review. Jeffrey Epstein was a monster who trafficked underaged women. Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein knew one another pretty well. The circumstances of that friendship and how it broke up are disputed, but they knew each other. When Donald Trump was president, he put into his Cabinet the prosecutor who cut the sweetheart deal with Jeffrey Epstein back during the Bush Administration. He put Alex Acosta in his Cabinet; Acosta later had to resign in disgrace. As a candidate, Donald Trump said he would release the Epstein files. As president, now in February of 2025, he said we’re going to release the files, and he had this much touted event with Pam Bondi at the White House talking about releasing the files. But then in…July the FBI and DoJ said there’s nothing to see here, we’re not going to release any more files. The statute that we’re now talking about was not something that the White House wanted. It was something that a bipartisan Congress did to force Donald Trump’s hand, to force him to meet his promises. And so in September, we passed this Transparency Act forcing the DoJ kicking and screaming, they didn’t want to do it, to release files. So when they actually do release files and it’s a fraction of what’s available and it’s heavily redacted and a day later they pull material back, the facts that I just laid out for you show why so many people are really suspicious. All these files need to come out.”
- “I think that’s [impeachment/contempt for DoJ officials] premature. Here’s a recent example. The Pentagon was dragging their feet on not releasing files about the Venezuelan boat strikes, and so we put into the defense bill a requirement that they’re either going to release or the travel budget for the Secretary of Defense is going to be reduced. We have tools in appropriations bills and other tools to force compliance if someone is dragging their feet. And I’d rather focus on those tools than get into discussions about contempt and impeachment.”
- “I actually haven’t tracked what President Clinton has said, and if there are unanswered questions, he should address them, and I suspect he will. But let’s just make sure that we meet the promise that President Trump made as a candidate that all these files will be released. Let’s put all of the facts and all of the material out on the table and then folks can reach their own judgments about anybody connected with this horrible, horrible case. I led the effort to try to deny Secretary of Labor Acosta confirmation in the first Trump administration because of his involvement in this sweetheart deal, which even knowing a fraction of the facts back then in 2017, it looked horrible. And he eventually had resign in disgrace because of it. And since then, the public has had legitimate questions – and everything since, including Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide – legitimate questions, let’s get it all out on the table.”
- “No [to whether we should we be pursuing regime change in Venezuela]. We should be using sanctions and other tools at our disposal to punish this dictator [Venezuelan dictator Maduro], who is violating the human rights of his civilians and has run the Venezuelan economy into the ground. But I’ll tell you, we should not be waging war against Venezuela. We definitely should not be waging war without a vote of Congress. As you know, i’ve long maintained we shouldn’t be at war without a vote of Congress. And what I’m searching for right now…is what is President Trump’s motivation? These boat strikes were initially justified on the ground that we’re fighting against narcotrafficking. But then the president pardoned some of the biggest narcotraffickers ever convicted in United States courts. What’s going on? Then Susie Wiles, the Chief of Staff, says it’s about regime change, that’s what this is about. And then President Trump tells you and others, it’s about oil – they took our oil and we want our oil back. What is it? This is so confusing. And meanwhile, the American public is watching the news of this week – Venezuela, the Kennedy Center renaming, the Epstein situation. And they’re saying, Mr. President, please focus on bringing food costs down, health care costs down, energy costs down. Christmas is too expensive. We don’t know why you’re doing this in Venezuela and we want you to focus on making life better here at home for Americans.”
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