09 04 25 FOX News reporter Ryan Schmelz discusses the Epstein List Transparency Act

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Calling for transparency in the release of all the documents
involved in the directory Epstein case. Survivors of his abuse
united on the steps of the Capitol yesterday, some speaking
publicly for the first time.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Mister President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican.
Not that that matters because this is not political. However,
I cordially invite you to the Capital to meet me
in person so you can understand this is.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Not a hoax.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, says
he believes once they're done redacting what they need to,
they will release what the victims are asking for. Joining
us on the ka Comma Spirit Health Hotline live from Washington, DC,
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmels, Ryan, what was your initial
takeaway from yesterday's press conference with the victims.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
There's a lot, I mean, certainly the list that they're
compiling is quite one to watch for, I you know,
because I think there's always been this talk about who's
on the Epstein list. Does the Department of Justice have
an Epstein list? Is there one out there? Well, if
you have victims who are willing to name names and
come forward, well probably going to matter more and be
more incriminating than whatever the Department of Justice has, especially

(01:04):
when you have members of Congress who are willing to
go out there and name those names too, like Marjorie
Taylor Green said yesterday. But also I think the fact
that Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Bobert, Nancy Mace, three pretty
staunch Trump loyalists are coming out and backing this effort
to get to sign a discharge petition and force a
vote on releasing the Epstein files. You know, I think

(01:27):
that's quite substantial as well.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
And when we heard that survivor in that audio cut
there talking about President and Trump calling it a hoax,
what has been the overall response that we saw from
this press conference from the president yesterday.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I don't think we've gotten one just yet. So so
I think we're still waiting to see a president if
President Trump reacts to that. You know, I think what
you've heard from the White House quite a lot is
that they have a path forward here, which is that
they want to, you know, release the Epstein files with
a certain amount of time, and and so you know

(01:59):
that's not been good enough for certain people, right and
so that's where the back and forth comes from. As well.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
The redacting that James Comer sayds needs to be done.
What are they I mean it's names obviously, but what
specifically are they redacting? What do they feel they need
to protect if they do release some of these files?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, a sensitive information. You got names and addresses of victims.
They remember a lot of the victims in this case
were miners at the time of their alleged abuse, so
that's probably one of the big ones. You know, there's
thirty thousand pages here. There's a lot of information on there,
and there could be information that could put you victims
at risk and put them in a position of retaliation.

(02:39):
So there's a lot of information that needs to be redacted.
Now when it comes to those reactions, one thing that
Thomas Massey has had issues with he's the Republican who's
been pushing this Epstein Files legislation, is that he believes
that it's gotten redacted to the point that key information
is being taken out here. So there's now this debate
about the overall redacting of this and if it's active

(03:00):
or if it goes too far.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Ryan and wrapping up with you, what do we expect
of any type of timeline? I mean, is this something
that we're going to be talking about for months and
months to come.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
Well, I think it depends on what happens with this
discharge petition. Right the release of the thirty thousand documents
led to a number of Republicans not feeling the need
to sign on to the discharge petition. But if every
single Democrat signed this and two more Republicans sign this
discharge petition, then it's going to have enough votes to
be brought up for a vote, and then that's going

(03:32):
to be a whole new story that if they get that,
if they get those two signatures. So I think that
is what you want to watch for over the next
twenty four to forty eight hours. This could happen before
the end of the week's over.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Ryan quickly. Did anybody comment or what are we to
make of that oddly timed flyover during that press conference?

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I don't know, but I did hear a couple f bombs.
I can tell you that.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
All right, it's Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmels, thank you,