Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is rejecting President Donald Trump’s attempts to shift blame to Democrats over the renewed controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, arguing the issue stems from decisions made under Trump’s own administration.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Klobuchar dismissed Trump’s claims as deflection.
“The president blaming Democrats for this disaster, Jake, is like that CEO who got caught on camera blaming Coldplay,” she quipped to host Jake Tapper. “This is his doing. Epstein was indicted and jailed while Trump was in office. Epstein also died in federal custody on his watch.”
Epstein, a financier with powerful connections, was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019 and died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell the following month.
The controversy resurfaced earlier this month when the White House announced that a Justice Department and FBI review had turned up no incriminating client list tied to Epstein. That conclusion sparked backlash among some of Trump’s core supporters, who have demanded further transparency and even called for the removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Trump, clearly frustrated, has sought to redirect anger toward Democrats. In a series of Truth Social posts, he accused the “radical left” of using the Epstein case as a political weapon and questioned why no action had been taken during President Biden’s term.
“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years… use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!” Trump posted Friday.
Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of several House Republicans calling for full disclosure of Epstein-related files, echoed Trump’s attacks during his own CNN appearance on Sunday.
“Where the heck have they been the last four years?” Burchett said. “I’m ticked off at everybody… this should have been handled a long time ago.”
Klobuchar, however, maintained that the current uproar is a crisis “of the White House’s own making,” and rejected any narrative that places the blame on Democrats.
“This president wants to change the subject,” she said. “But the facts are plain—this all happened under his administration.”
