CNN anchor Jake Tapper exposed GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Sunday after the Republican senator tried to link the Jeffrey Epstein case to former President Barack Obama—despite it happening under President George W. Bush.
After Tapper pressed the Oklahoma senator on why Attorney General Pam Bondi had promised to release files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender who died by suicide in prison in 2019, before the Justice Department closed the case, Mullin said the real scandal was a deal he claimed the Obama administration struck with Epstein in 2009.
“2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein, and that sweetheart has not been exposed,” Mullin said.
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Tapper then walked Mullin through the facts of the deal, which was announced in 2008 under then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, a Bush appointee who later became Trump’s first labor secretary, covering Epstein’s alleged offenses between 2001 and 2007. Epstein pleaded guilty to two crimes. “It all took place in 2008,” Tapper said.
Mullin stuck to his guns and refused to accept the fact-check.
“Who was in office at the time? Who was in office at the time?” Mullin claimed.
“George W. Bush,” Tapper responded.
Mullin is the latest MAGA star to try to drum up controversy on Obama. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard alleged earlier this month that Obama and his intelligence officials manipulated intelligence to link Trump to Russia’s influence plot during the 2016 election, a claim Obama’s office called “a weak attempt at distraction.”
Mullin’s office did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Mullin further insisted on Sunday that the case “came out” in 2009, when Obama was in office, despite all news reports referencing Acosta striking the plea deal with Epstein in 2008. He then claimed it was “sealed” in 2009, preventing the disclosure of grand jury information that the Trump administration has tried to get released.
Tapper, again, walked Mullin through the timeline—and noted that Obama had nothing to do with it.
“That‘s why Alex Acosta resigned in the first Bush administration because the Miami Herald had written this story in 2018 about how Epstein got away with so much,” Tapper said, appearing to misstate the first Trump administration for Bush’s.
Mullin still tried to clear Trump’s name, reverting to the MAGA talking point that Democrats did not push for the release of Epstein documents during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Not a word was said during the Biden Administration,” he said. “Nothing was said during the Biden Administration.”
“People can look it up,” Tapper said before ending the interview. “The sweetheart deal was 2008 during the George W. Bush Administration. But I always appreciate you coming on the show. Senator Mullin, thanks for joining us.”
