Latest news with #TheLastWordwith
24-07-2025
- Politics
Epstein's estate has his 50th birthday book, victims' lawyer says
A prominent lawyer who has represented hundreds of Jeffrey Epstein's victims is calling on Congress to subpoena the disgraced financier's estate for a copy of an alleged birthday book that the Wall Street Journal reported contains a "bawdy" letter from Donald Trump. Attorney Brad Edwards claimed in an interview on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" on Wednesday that some of his clients were involved in assembling the book and could attest to its authenticity. "If anyone cares for a solution as opposed to perpetuating scandal, there is an obvious and easy way to obtain the book at the center of the latest controversy. It's Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday book, and like all other similar possessions, the estate is obviously in possession of it," Edwards said in a statement to ABC News. "Ask or subpoena the estate or their lawyers, and everyone will then have the book and can move on, which is best for the victims." According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly sent Epstein a letter in 2003 for his 50th birthday, which was included in a book made for Epstein that contained letters from numerous Epstein associates. Trump has denied the existence of the letter and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter. "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit," a spokesperson for Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones said in a statement. An attorney for the Epstein estate, when asked about Edward's remarks, said they "will comply with all lawful process." The representative did not respond to questions about whether the estate has the book or if it contains a letter from Trump. Edwards argued that releasing the book would resolve any questions about the letters included in it while respecting the victims of Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019. "The existence of the book is an absolute fact. Now, who wrote letters? What's in the book? You're going to have to get the book to figure it out," Edwards said on MSNBC. "But this isn't something that needs to be a mystery forever and drag the victims into all kinds of anxiety for nothing." Neither the White House or the Justice Department immediately responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
The Hill
24-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Epstein ‘birthday book': Victims' lawyer calls on Congress to subpoena estate
A lawyer for more than 200 of Jeffrey Epstein's victims called on Congress to subpoena the late financier's estate for the so-called 'birthday book' that allegedly includes provocative letters from high-profile individuals. The Wall Street Journal last week reported on a letter it said President Trump had sent to Epstein. Trump has sued the Journal and denied writing the letter. Attorney Bradley Edwards said in a Wednesday interview on MSNBC's 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' that the Epstein estate possesses the 2003 'birthday book.' He said he has 'numerous' clients who can confirm the book's authenticity and said he suspects the executors of Epstein's estate would be willing to turn over the book if they were asked to do so. 'If they didn't just voluntarily turn over the book, out of fear of reprisal, Congress could issue a subpoena to their attorneys,' Edwards said. 'I know the executors' lawyers. I worked with them for years. They're good people. They're good lawyers. They would comply with a subpoena immediately,' Edwards added. 'We could solve this problem so quickly, if people actually want to solve problems.' Edwards said doing so would provide answers quickly and give the victims some closure. 'Nobody would have to guess. There wouldn't need to be a lawsuit. There wouldn't have to wait to be discovery. You would immediately have the answers. You could flip to the page: Is there a letter? Is there not a letter? It's over. The victims then get to move on.' Edwards said he expects the birthday book would provide answers to many questions about Epstein, including, 'Who were Jeffrey Epstein's best friends at the time? What letters did his family write to him? What other pictures were in there? Things of that nature.' 'Redact victim names, release the book and move on,' Edwards said. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) joined the MSNBC program shortly after Edwards's interview and said he didn't know the book was in the estate's possession and indicated he plans to move forward with issuing a subpoena. 'It is a revelation to me that he said that that birthday book is with private lawyers in the Epstein estate,' Khanna said in the interview, describing Edwards's comments as a 'bombshell revelation.' Khanna noted that the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Wednesday approved several subpoenas, including one directing DOJ to turn over materials relating to the Epstein files, but Khanna said he wasn't confident the subpoena would yield results. 'We subpoenaed the Epstein files, but that's a hard thing to do to get the Department of Justice to cooperate in releasing those files,' Khanna said. 'What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys in a private estate and to get compliance.' Khanna said he plans to invite Edwards to meet with the Oversight Committee to discuss the issue further, adding, 'And I think we can easily move forward on this subpoena of that birthday book, which could really advance this case.' The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the book includes a letter from Trump with several lines of text 'framed by the outline of a naked woman.' The letter, according to the Journal, ends, 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump denies having written the letter, which he called 'a fake thing,' and has filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.
The Hill
24-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Khanna planning to subpoena Epstein estate for ‘birthday book'
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he plans to subpoena the estate of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for the so-called 'birthday book' that reportedly includes letters from high-profile individuals including President Trump. Khanna joined MSNBC's 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' on Wednesday after an interview with Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for hundreds of Epstein's victims. Edwards revealed in the interview that Epstein's so-called book — on which the Wall Street Journal first reported and which President Trump denies having written a note for — is in the possession of the Epstein estate. Edwards encouraged Congress to move to subpoena the estate to get possession of the book. Khanna, the Democrat who has co-led a bipartisan effort calling for the Justice Department to release files on Epstein, said he didn't know the book was in the possession of the estate and indicated he plans to move forward with issuing a subpoena. 'It is a revelation to me that he said that that birthday book is with private lawyers in the Epstein estate,' Khanna said in the interview, describing Edwards's comments as a 'bombshell revelation.' Khanna noted that the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on Wednesday approved several subpoenas, including one directing the Justice Department to turn over materials relating to the Epstein files. Several Republicans joined Democrats in approving the measure. But Khanna said he wasn't confident the subpoena would yield results. 'We subpoenaed the Epstein files, but that's a hard thing to do to get the Department of Justice to cooperate in releasing those files,' Khanna said. 'What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys in a private estate and to get compliance.' 'We can't trust the Trump Justice Department. That is going to get slowed down. It's going to be get bogged down. Even if we subpoena, they can try to defy the subpoena. I don't trust the DOJ to prosecute themselves for contempt of Congress,' he continued. 'But what we can do through Congress is go after these Jeffrey Epstein estate, and we've seen even Republicans are willing to vote with us on that,' Khanna added. 'This may be the cleanest way forward.' Khanna said he plans to invite Edwards to meet with the Oversight Committee to discuss the issue further, adding, 'And I think we can easily move forward on this subpoena of that 'birthday book,' which could really advance this case.' Trump sued the Journal for defamation on Friday after the newspaper published a story detailing an alleged letter the president sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. According to the Journal, the 2003 letter allegedly includes several lines of text 'framed by the outline of a naked woman.' It allegedly ends: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump denies writing the letter. 'This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media,' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. Khanna on Wednesday said issuing a subpoena for the 'birthday book' will reveal whether the letter exists. 'We will know if the letter the Wall Street Journal reported on, if that is in the book or not, or if there are any other letters or correspondence of Donald Trump in the book. We also will know whether hundreds of other people who have been implicated in sex trafficking are in the book,' Khanna said. 'And of course, we would take absolute care to make sure the victims are protected,' he added.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rachel Maddow Says the ‘Interesting Question' About Trump Is ‘What the Country Lets Him Get Away With'
Rachel Maddow belittled Donald Trump on Monday night whilechatting with her MSNBC colleague Lawrence O'Donnell, declaring that Trump's latest 'dictator' actions have made him 'very boring.' Not that she argued the current situation isn't serious, only that Trump is acting like, as she joked, a blonde copy of the extremely corrupt former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But Maddow also clarified that the 'really interesting question' about all of this is 'what the country lets him get away with. The comment came up at the start of 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell,' as the duo discussed how Trump's current actions — calling in the national guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom to quell lawful protests — are the exact opposite of what he said he could legally do in 2020 during the George Floyd protests. At that time, Trump said it would be unlawful for him to do so without a request of a state governor. 'I mean the difference,' Maddow said, is that 'he's decided that he's throwing it all out. You know, 'dictator on day from day one,' and you know, going to terminate parts of the Constitution. And he's decided that he doesn't matter what Congress does, and it doesn't matter what the courts do, that he's just the strong man he's going to be.' 'He's decided to throw out all the rules,' Maddow continued. 'The thing that that has done, as far as I'm concerned, is make him very boring, because it's like it's all on the table. We know exactly what he's doing. We know exactly what his intentions are. He's blonde Berlusconi. This is, I mean, he's just trying to do the same thing all the other strongmen and would be dictators do all over the country. I think the really interesting question is, what the country lets him get away with, and we're seeing a really interesting test of that right now, all over the country, especially this week.' Later in the discussion, Maddow argued that the issue isn't that Trump has changed his mind over what he can and cannot legally do, it's that 'we can probably intuit that what he's being told is, 'yeah, it's illegal, therefore, go do it.' I think that the more laws he breaks, the more blatantly unconstitutional things he both proposes and tries, I think the more they think power accrues to him, because he's less constrained by things that don't actually stop him.' 'And so ultimately, I mean, the courts are pushing him back. Congress, to a certain extent, is pushing him back a little bit, although I think a little bit more than they're giving credit for, but mostly it's people pushing him back. He's deeply, deeply, deeply unpopular and underwater on every issue, and he is absolutely panicked by the protests against him, to the point where he's already playing the biggest cards that he's gotten. He's not even six months into this term. I just think, I think we're getting the test really early, and I think that he's failing.' Maddow later noted that Trump's rhetoric and response to the protests is vastly out of proportion with the scope of them, but 'even if these protests were 100 times the size that they are, there still wouldn't be an operational reason to bring in active duty troops or federalized National Guard. I mean, it's just, it's not, it's not that sort of thing. This is obviously not operationally necessitated, right, in terms of the security of the city. He's doing this because he's panicking and thinks that he looks weak, and therefore he has to do something that seems strong.' 'And so we will have tanks destroying the streets of Washington this Saturday, and we will have National Guardsmen and active duty US Marines standing around Los Angeles, wondering what their what this has to do with their military careers. And it's all because he has no freaking idea how to deal with this politically. And he's absolutely panicking about the, I think, trenchant and joyful and sustainable opposition against him.' Maddow added. Watch the whole conversation below: The post Rachel Maddow Says the 'Interesting Question' About Trump Is 'What the Country Lets Him Get Away With'| Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell ‘Exhausted' by Trump, Takes a Week Off From His Show
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell needs a vacation because of President Trump. The veteran cable news anchor and host of 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell' said on Thursday night that he is 'exhausted' by the president's return to the White House and that he will be taking next week off for some much needed rest and relaxation. 'Here's the thing. This is day 52 [of Trump's second term]. I thought it was day 90. It's day 52 — right Rachel? — and I'm exhausted at day 52,' O'Donnell told fellow MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow. 'And so, I'm gonna take next week off and I'm telling you that now because I know you do not like it when I just drift away.' Maddow seemed a bit concerned by the news. She went from having a small frown and smirking during O'Donnell's update to shaking her head and looking perplexed. Maddow moved back to hosting her show, 'The Rachel Maddow Show,' five nights a week in January to cover the first 100 days of Trump's presidency — but O'Donnell said he can not do the same 100 day sprint. 'I know you have pledged to cover and be here for the first hundred days of the Trump presidency. I hope you noticed that I did not make that same pledge,' O'Donnell joked. Maddow added it is important to 'pace yourself' in the cable news business. 'You [have] got to be in this for the long haul, so I can't hold it against you. But I'm very sad,' Maddow said. O'Donnell said he is getting a head start on his vacation by taking Friday off — and Maddow joked she is 'pre-mad' with her colleague for the break. 'Take me with you. Can I go with you?' she added. You can watch their end-of-show interaction below: The post MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell 'Exhausted' by Trump, Takes a Week Off From His Show appeared first on TheWrap.
