On Sunday, during a long rant against Attorney General William Barr, MSNBC anchor Joy-Ann Reid insinuated that the Department of Justice under the Trump administration might cover up the circumstances of the death of Jeffrey Epstein.
On Monday, Barr stated that the case of Epstein was very important to him personally, adding, “Most importantly, this case was important to the victims, who had the courage to come forward and deserved the opportunity to confront the accused in the courtroom. I was appalled, and indeed the whole department was, and frankly, angry, to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner. We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning, and demand a thorough investigation.”
On Sunday, Reid started by playing a clip of special advisor to the president Kellyanne Conway stating that President Trump retweeted a tweet insinuating that former president Bill Clinton was somehow involved in the death of Jeffrey Epstein because Trump wanted the incident to be investigated.
Reid said:
Okay, take that in for a moment. That’s a member of the federal government, a member of the presidential administration who just did that, who just advanced an insane conspiracy theory against the former president, okay. So meanwhile the investigation of Epstein’s death now falls into the hands of William Barr. Donald Trump’s consigliere, an Attorney general who refused to recuse himself on the Epstein case despite his association with a law firm once involved with Epstein, whose father once hired Jeffrey Epstein as a teacher with neither experience nor degree and whose prime directive is to protect Donald Trump no matter what. In other words, we may never get the answer to how Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to die and deprive all those victims of their opportunity for justice.
Speaking to Carol Lenning, investigative reporter for The Washington Post, Reid posited, “Now the one person who we, in theory, must wait for answers from is William Barr. And William Barr’s record, just to be candid, doesn’t seem to denote somebody who is willing to tell truths that hurt Donald Trump or could make Donald Trump uncomfortable or unhappy.”
Later in the show, after playing clips of former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Cory Booker condemning Trump for retweeting the tweet, Reid turned to her panel, which included Above The Law editor Elie Mystal, comedian and attorney Dean Obeidallah, and Karine Jean-Pierre, chief public affairs officer for the leftist group MoveOn.org.
Mystal started the ball rolling by calling Attorney General William Barr the “compromised stooge” of the Trump Administration, adding, “It is not just that I do not trust William Barr to investigate this case fairly; it is also that William Barr has done nothing to make me trust him … This is what happens when you have a government that nobody can trust.”
Obeidallah echoed, “I do not trust Bill Barr. Anybody with eyes and ears does not trust Bill Barr.”
Reid opined that people on the Right “have gone back home to Mama” by discussing a possible conspiracy involving the Clintons.
Jean-Pierre protested that the Obama administration was nothing like the Trump administration, snapping, “You have a president who’s turned the DOJ into his political arm, it’s a 2020 campaign arm for him.” She accused special advisor to the president Kellyanne Conway of “degrading herself” for defending Trump.
Video below: