'It's Obvious': Steve Cohen Accuses DOJ Of Covering Up Trump-Epstein Ties, Calls For Investigation

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1:02Steve Cohen: Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now is Congressman Steve Cohen. Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. Good to be with you. I appreciate you coming on because you serve on the House Judiciary Committee and Democrats on your committee released this report earlier this week entitled this. We have certain things in common, Jeffrey. The case against Donald Trump emerging in the Epstein files and DOJ's desperate efforts to cover it up. It makes some pretty shocking claims, including that President Trump was a, quote, active participant in Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of young women during the mid to late 1990s.

1:41As we know, that is a claim that President Trump has long denied. The report also alleges that the DOJ and the FBI have been engaged in a cover-up to hide all of this from the American people. This report is over 50 pages long, so to start off the conversation, how did it all come together? Well, the minority just felt like the majority, the Republicans who chair the committee, Jim Jordan, Jim Jordan, were covering it up. And they cover up everything for Trump. Trump lies incessantly. And Roy Cohn told him, who was his guru, one of the nastiest, most evil people, whoever was faced, walked the earth, never admit you're wrong deny everything always denied denied denied that's what he's doing here he's done all his life now Maureen Dowd said he didn't learn all this from Roy Cohn she said he learned it from his father and his father has some of those same characteristics and Donald watched his father up close but if he had two mentors that denied denied deny he denies he denies the rapes sure denies the rapes to admit him is to go to prison he's not going to admit it he'd had admitted anything he didn't admit that he assaulted the woman at burgdorff goodman he thought that she looked she thought he was uh she was his previous wife he hardly looks similar well that's why he probably was attracted to her but no the report to me makes a lot of sense it's the mo of donald Trump rape is an aggressive, hostile attack on somebody.

3:23And it's a way of showing your dominance and your power. Donald Trump's doing the same thing in Iran. It's dominance and power. This war should have been over ages ago. These papers should have been released months and months and months ago. But Donald Trump doesn't ever say he's wrong. He won't let the people see he's wrong. He's got his personal attorney as the head of the Department of Justice. And over half the papers have not been disclosed. The law said disclose of all. And the FBI did reports for one lady. They did four different reports with her, which have not been released to the public, where she, I think she's anonymous or Jane Doe, said she was raped by Donald Trump when she was underage.

4:07and there are other women that said they were raped by him when they were underage and or with Jeffrey Epstein. There is so much in those files that will implicate many, many, many people, but mostly Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is why those, my opinion and the committee's opinion, minority report, why they're being kept secret from the American public. I know that within this report, House Democrats are claiming there's more than enough evidence in there to launch a criminal investigation. But I want to talk a little bit about what's new in here because a lot of the allegations that were made in this report, they were already known to the public.

4:41So I'm curious what's new. Let's start with President Trump because in this report, House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, they say that the actual evidence we have seen, quote, indicates that Trump abused, assaulted, and even raped numerous women alongside and in coordination with the most infamous sex trafficker in history. That's a very heavy claim about the sitting president of the United States. It's a claim that President Trump has long denied. So what's new in here? Well, I think new is that there are members of Congress that think it should be and publicly calling for it to be released and that there should be a criminal investigation.

5:17The majority has kept this undercover. And it's new that somebody in Congress is showing some responsibility and or some ability to read and to understand what's being done and what's being pulled over with the American public's eyes. And the Judiciary Committee of all committees should be for justice and for transparency. And that's what's being called for. And that's new. There might be some different names. I think most of the names have already been out there and they've alleged that they were raped or they were somehow engaged in sex with Trump. But they mostly, I think, was raped in conjunction with Epstein.

5:47You know, he says, you know, they make a big deal that he kicked him out of the Mar-a-Lago Club. Well, who knows why? But before he was kicked out, he was let in the Mar-a-Lago Club. And he wasn't any better person when he was let in the Mar-a-Lago club than he was when he was kicked out. But he was okay for a while, and somehow or another, Trump decided to get rid of him. And it was about the time that one of those girls was working at Mar-a-Lago, and Epstein procured her to work with him in his massage business or massage activities. It might have been the lady that committed suicide. And there's no longer with us, but I think that's who it was.

6:25But, you know, they were pals. And the cartoon he drew for his birthday, many more fun afternoons or secret afternoons or whatever. That was definitely Trump's work. He denied it. He denies everything. But so did Al Capone until they said guilty. The holidays are busy enough. Getting your home ready shouldn't be. From the perfect tree and twinkling lights to festive decor for inside and out, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home holiday ready. Find furniture, hosting essentials, best of serve wear, and more all in one place. So you can spend less time getting ready and more time enjoying the season with the people who make it special.

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7:47I want to talk about the allegations of a cover-up here because Democrats have been saying, alleging that the DOJ has been trying to cover this up. Now, since the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law last year, they released, the DOJ released over 3.5 million materials related to Jeffrey Epstein. So they would say, we're not covering up anything here. In the report, you say that the committee, the minority members of the committee say the DOJ has actively obstructed the Epstein investigation into any co-conspirators, attempted to prevent the release of the Epstein files and then released an incomplete and heavily redacted set to the public, all while withholding key information about Trump in the process.

8:32What is some of that information? How do you think how do you see that the DOJ and the FBI is covering this up? Because that is an allegation that law enforcement denies. I think more than half of what was in the existing files has not been released. And they went through it with a fine tooth comb and redacted a lot and decided what not to release. And why did they decide not to release it?

8:57I think it's pretty obvious. You don't have to be Dick Tracy to figure this one out. Just so we're clear, you're saying because of President Trump, is that what you're saying? I'm saying the public can read it, see it. It's obvious. I don't have to read obvious to people. It's clear as it can be to people. When you put the facts together, you see what they did, what hasn't been released, the allegations have been made. The American public knows what's going on. They're not fools. Not all of them. Some of them are fools. They voted for Trump, but a lot of them have seen the light and they're not going to vote for the Republicans this year because of Trump's failed economic policies and failed war and failed tariffs.

9:40I know that there has been some criticism over the timing of the release of this report dropped a little over a week before the midterm elections. Critics would question if that was a political move, right? And a White House spokesperson, she released a statement of reporters that said this, none of these allegations are true. This report is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump's historic achievements. The president kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep and he has been fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.

10:15What do you make of that and criticisms perhaps about the timing of the release of this report? There's a candidate for Congress in District 9, which I gave up after gerrymandering by the Republican governor and Trump's activity asking that it be gerrymandered to get rid of the Democrat Tennessee congressperson, which is me. The Republican nominee was just admitted to after being exposed, so to speak, by the Nashville Scene alternative paper in Nashville, Tennessee this week of having sex texted a woman against her will five years ago. The candidate, Brent Taylor, said that was a youthful indiscretion.

10:562021 was just five years ago. He was 53 years old. That's not a youthful indiscretion. He said it was just political. They were doing that politically to get at it and to make an issue in the campaign. Doesn't make it false. That's just a typical response to somebody who's guilty is to claim it's a political activity here in the election. That should not change the black and white of it. And the black and white of it is guilty. The candidate here, Nye Taylor, admitted, yes, he sex texted some woman without her permission and without her seeking it or wanting to see it. Who would? But it's analogous to the response that the Trump administration gave to this release.

11:38Whenever it happened, it happened. The fact it's close to the election makes no difference in the veracity or the need for transparency and disclosure. I know that this these Democrats here, including yourself, you're calling for a special counsel investigation, not only to President Trump, but any of Epstein's potential accomplices or co-conspirators, co-conspirators. And in this report, you call Epstein the most infamous sex trafficker in the world. Everyone that I've talked to about Jeffrey Epstein, I've had a lot of conversations about him over the years, are just disgusted at his alleged crimes, his alleged web, his alleged sex trafficking ring.

12:21But only one person involved in his alleged activities, Ghislaine Maxwell, that's the only person who's ever been convicted of a crime related to Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think an investigation that you're calling for, would that reveal these potential accomplices, the potential co-conspirators? Do you think other people would face accountability for these potential crimes? They should, and there will be more. And you mentioned Ghislaine Maxwell. She's the only person ever convicted, sentenced to a prison, as she was in Florida, for women convicted of a certain type of crime. And then after she interviewed with Blanche, the president's personal counsel, and now the attorney general, she was moved to a minimum security prison in Texas where she gets pet time.

13:09She gets extra exercise time. She gets extra everything. She's in a prison lager. She's in a luxury, so to speak, prison. Why was she moved into a luxury prison? because she can talk and she knows what happened and she's waiting and she will get a pardon in the last days of Donald Trump. I know that in this report, there is a mention of Attorney General Todd Blanche. There's a few mentions of him, but there's mentions of when he was the deputy attorney general back in the summer of 2025. He had a two day meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell. He went to the prison that she was in. And then in this report, there are allegations that his actions during that interview, quote, quote, potentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding, serious felonies, serious claim.

14:00What did you find about Blanche and that conversation that shocked you? I don't think we found much about it. He didn't tell us anything. And just Lane's not talking either. But she got moved from a kind of a very strict and limited

14:18abilities, social activities, etc., prison to the most liberal of all. And there's a reason she did. And Blanche said, well, she was complaining about her situation there. Every woman in that prison would have complained. Were any of them moved to Texas to the most least restrictive prison in the system? No, only one person, the person who was an accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein and could have known about Donald Trump. She was moved. This whole thing stinks. I know that House Democrats here on the Judiciary Committee, they want an investigation here. Let's say that Democrats win the House, they take back the House in the midterms.

15:02What would that investigation look like? What would those actions into Epstein look like? Well, I'm sure they'll get into witnesses, especially the women that have alleged that they've been raped and have them testify publicly. I don't think any of them have testified publicly, but these women will. And and hopefully they can get into some of the files. I don't know if the Justice Department will probably still sit on them. They can't let them go. Trump's in charge of the Justice Department. Blanche isn't going to do anything to hurt Trump. So it's a mess. We need a Democratic president in 28 and he needs to have a reconciliation commission.

15:43America's American. It depends on, relies on due process, relies on the First Amendment, relies on following the Constitution. We have shattered the Constitution under Trump. Pardons, in my opinion, have been sold. The millions clause has been thrown away. We take$400 million airplanes from Qatar. He wants to take it with him to Biscayne Boulevard, have it sit on Biscayne Boulevard. That's not his airplane. If it was given to the United States, it's our airplane. He wants to take it with him. And he'll probably have Hegseth give it to him, and then he'll take it away, and he'll pardon himself, and he'll pardon Hegseth, and he'll go down the list.

16:22I really appreciate you coming on today. That's the time we have. But thank you so much for the conversation.

16:28Steve Cohen: And you're welcome back anytime. You're welcome. Nice to be with you again.

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