A Republican congressman who repeatedly called for the Trump administration to release all government files on Jeffrey Epstein has now watered down his demands, warning on Sunday that any flight logs related to the late sex offender’s “dadgum plane” should not identify innocents, including, according to the lawmaker, wealthy people like President Donald Trump.
Rep. Tim Burchett has been loudly presenting himself as critical of the White House’s opacity surrounding the case, co-sponsoring the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act that would force the House to vote on whether to release all government files on the disgraced financier.
The Tennessee Republican told both ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union” that he applauds Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s decision on Friday to ask a federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony in the Epstein case. But Burchett paired the praise with a warning about which files get released.
“Just because somebody flew on a plane doesn’t mean they’re a dadgum pedophile, you know. I have a lot of wealthy friends. I aspire to be wealthy, but I’ve taken a vow of poverty because my daughter rides horses,” the congressman told ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
“But I have a lot of wealthy friends, and they fly on people’s planes. And their plane will be down, and they’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re going somewhere and we’ve got an extra seat, do you wanna go?’ And they don’t even know the person on the plane,” he continued. “So that’s one of the things I worry about, too, because you know, President Trump admitted that he flew on [Epstein’s] dadgum plane. And so I worry about some innocent people. … There’s over a thousand people that this dirtbag apparently offended ― and currently, I believe the devil’s dealing with him.”
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A spokesperson for Burchett’s office did not respond to HuffPost’s question about whether the congressman was trying to say that he already knows who on the flight logs are innocent beyond Epstein’s underage victims.
The Trump administration is facing bipartisan backlash for the handling of their Epstein investigation, which recently concluded that the disgraced financier died by suicide while in custody in 2019, and that he was not in possession of what mostly right-wing conspiracy theorists believe was a client list of powerful figures who sought services from Epstein’s underage sex ring.
“I think it was [Bondi’s] limited knowledge and taking advice from the wrong people, which you do a lot of in Washington. There’s plenty of people to give you advice, but when it turns out not good, you turn around and they’re nowhere to be found. And I think that’s what she did in the beginning,” Burchett said. “I think if she turns the corner – I have a saying, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. If she finishes strong on this then I’m all for it. I’m sure the learning curve is steep and I think she blundered in the beginning.”
The lack of transparency around the Epstein case ― as well as Trump’s repeated urging for the public to move on from the issue ― has led to anger and disappointment from many in his base. The president has called his own followers “stupid,” “foolish” and “weaklings” for pushing on the matter, even going so far as to say he no longer wants their support.
Burchett doubled down on excusing Trump’s name-calling, saying that the president’s outrage is part of “his strategy.”
“Was I a little ticked off he said that stuff? Sure I was. But I’m a big boy, ma’am,” he told Raddatz. “We’re playing in the big leagues right now. And I get criticized every day, I get death threats on a pretty regular basis so my skin’s about that thick right now. I think I can take a little criticism.”
It is no secret that Trump was close friends with Epstein years ago, with photos and video showing the two joking and posing together at parties. The president’s name has appeared throughout the Epstein documents that have so far been made public, and is recorded as flying on the financier’s private jet at least eight times.
“Terrific guy,” Trump said in a 2002 Epstein profile in New York Magazine. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday about a racy birthday letter Trump had sent to Epstein in 2003, in which the president allegedly drew a nude woman and wrote that “we have certain things in common.” Trump has denied the letter’s existence and threatened to sue the paper over the story.