The Elitist Media’s Sunday shows all ran with a significant chunk of Jeffrey Epstein slop as this week’s top story, a pivot we saw happen in real time in the aftermath of the end of the Democrat-instigated-and-prolonged government shutdown. And in midst of all that coverage was a significant and predictable omission.
Per The Washington Post (archived):
The newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate show that the convicted sex offender appeared to be texting with a member of Congress during a congressional hearing with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, and that those text messages may have influenced the lawmaker’s questions of Cohen.
In the texts, Epstein appeared to be watching the February 2019 hearing in real time and at one point informed the person he was texting — whose name is redacted from the documents — that Cohen had brought up former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff in his testimony. At the time, Cohen was testifying before the House Oversight Committee against his former boss, alleging that Trump was racist, manipulated financial records and directed hush money payments to cover up his extramarital affairs — allegations Trump denied. The president said on social media that Cohen was “lying” before testimony began.
Epstein coaching a Member of Congress as to what questions to ask of a committee witness isn’t notable? Does this not warrant prominence on the Sunday shows? For an Elitist Media intent on mining the “Epstein Files” for revelations, this is a huge omission. But not surprising, because this does not directly implicate President Donald Trump in any crime.
Instead, we get process slop across the dial. Most representative of this is the full package prepared by ABC’s Mary Bruce for This Week. Needless to say, it was quite Mary Brucey.
JON KARL: But we begin with our Mary Bruce and the controversy that engulfed The White House this week over the Jeffrey Epstein files.
MARY BRUCE: This week, the release of thousands of documents from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein sparking renewed questions about the sex offender's relationship with the president.
DONALD TRUMP: Jeffrey Epstein and I had a very bad relationship for many years.
BRUCE: And now Trump is trying to shift the focus to Democrats. In an extraordinarily rare move, a president now publicly ordering his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and the FBI to investigate Jeffrey Epstein, but only his relationship with prominent Democrats. Bondi wasting no time complying, appointing U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, saying “the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity.” This, despite the fact that earlier this year Bondi herself closed the books on the Epstein case, insisting there is no there there, saying “we did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” Some Republicans are pushing back on the president's move.
DON BACON: I don't think it's appropriate for him to do it. I would ask him not to do that because all it does is taint our legal system.
BRUCE: Democrats labeling it a desperate attempt to change the subject.
DAVE MIN: Will Donald Trump be investigated as part of this? Or is there be one set of rules for Donald Trump's friends and supporters- another set for his critics?
BRUCE: Those emails part of some 20,000 documents releasedby the House Oversight Committee this week, many of which mention Trump. In a 2017 email, Epstein writing, “I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body. So, yes, dangerous.” Shortly after Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2015, Epstein told at least one reporter that he had dirt on Trump and was willing to share. In a 2018 text to an unidentified person, Epstein writing: “I am the one who is able to take him down.” Trump has denied any wrongdoing, but he has refused to release the full FBI files on Epstein and now a bipartisan group of lawmakers are trying to force him to. Trump clearly furious, going on a tirade against one of his closest allies, Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of four Republicans who joined Democrats to force the vote on releasing the Epstein files. The president calling her “Marjorie Traitor Greene", labeling her a lightweight who betrayed the entire Republican Party, and announcing he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of her.
TRUMP: Something happened to her over the last period of a month or two where she changed, I think, politically.
BRUCE: Greene firing back, saying she has long supported the president, “but I don't worship or serve Donald Trump.”
For This Week: Mary Bruce, ABC News, Washington.
The Plaskett story early enough for pre-production of This Week, and yet there was no mention whatsoever of what would otherwise be a scandal. There was likewise no mention of Plaskett on NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation, or CNN’s State of the Union.
As is the case with “news” in the Trump Era, the durability of a story is directly proportional to its ability to (a) cast aspersions on Donald Trump, and/or (b) cover up some other, more nefarious scandal. A post-shutdown pivot to Epstein is time not spent on Operation Arctic Frost, the non-domiciled commercial driver’s license scandal, or any one of a long list of issues that merit scrutiny. Instead, Sunday viewers continue to get fed anti-news slop.
