MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell says CNN plumbed “a brand new darkish low” by interviewing President Donald Trump through textual content message on Saturday — and asking not a single query about convicted intercourse trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, an affiliate of the late Jeffrey Epstein.
The “Last Word” host on Monday excoriated the exchange between Trump and CNN’s Jake Tapper, who shared Trump’s responses about Israel-Palestine and the U.S. authorities shutdown, whereas noting that he’s nonetheless ready for solutions to a number of different questions.
“What have been these questions?” O’Donnell asked. “Precisely which questions did Donald Trump refuse to reply? What might be extra related in reporting an alternate that’s alleged to be with the president of the USA than together with the questions he refused to reply?”
He added, “Any questions on Jeffrey Epstein or his sex-trafficking pal Ghislaine Maxwell? Any questions on Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell? We don’t know. We do not know. We do not know what the opposite questions have been.”
Epstein died in 2019 whereas awaiting trial on federal intercourse trafficking fees. His demise and recognized ties to highly effective individuals fueled theories of a “client list,” which Trump officers said in February would be released — earlier than Trump modified course and called the case and documents a “hoax.”
Epstein as soon as called Trump his “closest friend”; their past outings are well-documented. Maxwell is serving 20 years for serving to site visitors Epstein’s victims, in the meantime, and noticed her enchantment rejected Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court — leaving her with one final choice.
“Maxwell has just one hope left of getting out of jail, her outdated pal Donald Trump,” O’Donnell stated. “And immediately, CNN’s White Home correspondent Kaitlan Collins requested the very best query of the day, which revealed that Donald Trump will think about pardoning his outdated pal.”
Trump stated in 2020 when asked about Maxwell’s then-recent arrest, “I want her effectively.”
When asked Monday about potentially pardoning her, Trump advised Collins he hasn’t heard Maxwell’s identify “in so lengthy.” He then answered her query evasively, stating he’d “have to have a look” at her case and that he “wouldn’t think about it or not think about it.”
“That’s the type of gibberish that comes out of his mouth on a regular basis,” O’Donnell stated Monday after enjoying a clip of the Oval Workplace alternate. “That’s unattainable — you need to do one or the opposite. It’s important to think about it or not think about it, you may’t do each.”
“However that’s what he says, and that’s what they suppose are solutions,” he continued in regards to the reporters confronting Trump. “‘I’ll take a look at it,’ he stated. ‘I’ll take a look at it. I’ll take a look at it.’ However she was convicted of kid intercourse trafficking. ‘Yeah, I imply, I’m gonna have to check out it.’”
O’Donnell went on to wager that the president desires to take action as a result of Maxwell is “an outdated pal,” and since Maxwell told Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, deputy lawyer common Todd Blanche, that she by no means witnessed the president doing something unlawful.
Maxwell claimed as a lot in an interview with Blanche in July, earlier than she was curiously transferred from a low-security jail in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas. Maxwell, who groomed and trafficked youngsters, may now be eligible for work release.
O’Donnell, who previously excoriated members of the press for letting Trump keep away from questions on his previous ties to Epstein and Maxwell, stated Monday that CNN allowed him to grow to be “the primary president in historical past to get questions in writing for an interview.”
“Questions that he might take residence, because it have been, since he was at residence,” he added. “Questions from a reporter. After which Donald Trump was allowed to take, we don’t know the way a lot time, to answer to these questions. We do know CNN continues to be ready for a few of them.”
