MSNBC host Joe Scarborough repeatedly called out Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton’s apparent lack of evidence when the congressman made allegations that President Donald Trump supposedly had ties with deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Some Democrats have speculated that the president is named in the files related to the notorious pedophile — especially in recent months. Moulton, during his Friday morning appearance on “Morning Joe,” claimed Democrats were seeking to help “working people in America,” while Trump was backing the “billionaire class” — before he made Epstein-related allegations that took Scarborough aback.
“The Democrats are here to help working people in America, and Republicans are here to protect the billionaire class. And you see time and again from this White House, you know, if you’re a criminal, you’re going to buy your way to freedom with Trump. If you are one of the people like him, who took advantage of young girls with Jeffrey Epstein, then we’re going to sort of make that go away. I mean, fundamentally, Speaker [Mike] Johnson,” Moulton, who is running for U.S. Senate, claimed, before being cut off by the MSNBC host.
“Well, we don’t have evidence that he took advantage of young girls with Jeffrey Epstein,” interjected Scarborough, a prominent Trump critic who served in the House as a Republican from 1995 to 2001, before eventually leaving the party.
“Right, right, right. Just common sense be damned,” Moulton responded.
“I’m not saying common sense be damned. I’m saying facts. Let’s look at the facts. Is he in the Epstein files?” Scarborough fired back.
“He’s obviously in the Epstein files. And the reason that, fundamentally, Speaker Johnson has us on vacation is because he does not want to seat the newly elected Democratic representative of Arizona,” Moulton claimed, referring to Democratic Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.
Democrats have accused Johnson of not swearing in Grijalva because she would be the tie-breaking vote on a discharge petition to release the Epstein Files. However, Johnson has clarified that his decision not to seat the representative-elect is due to the ongoing government shutdown, which Senate Democrats have consistently prolonged.
“But you said he took advantage of young girls,” Scarborough again cut in. “You have no — you have absolutely no evidence of that.”
Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent victims of Epstein, did not accuse Trump of misconduct in her posthumous memoir released on Oct. 21, roughly six months after she committed suicide. Giuffre’s ghostwriter told People magazine that she was a huge fan of Trump, believing he would release the Epstein files.
Victims of Epstein told NBC News reporter Hallie Jackson during a Sept. 3 panel that they had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Trump. Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell also said she “never” observed Trump in any inappropriate setting with Epstein during an August 2025 interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“I just, again, just want to be very clear, there’s enough to talk about Donald Trump without making that assumption,” Scarborough said at the end of his long exchange with Moulton. “If you want to make that assumption, you can do that on the floor, the House floor. And if you have documents on it, then I’m sure the American people want to see that.”
Bradley Edwards, an attorney who represented some of Epstein’s victims, described Trump as someone who aided his efforts, in a 2018 video.
“The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who in 2009, when I served a lot of subpoenas against a lot of people … he is the only person that picked up the phone and said, ‘let’s just talk, I’ll give ya as much time as you want, I’ll tell ya what you need to know,’” Edwards said in the 2018 video.
“And [Trump] was very helpful in the information that he gave, and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever,” Edwards continued.
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