Reagan Reese, White House correspondent for The Daily Caller Interview

Mendte in the Morning talks to Reagan Reese about the backlash that the Trump administration is facing regarding the handling of the Epstein list and if it could have negative effects on Republicans chances in the midterms and next Presidential election.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As hard as Donald Trump is trying to make the
story go away, as difficult as it has been for
the administration, it really does seem like this Epstein story
has legs, and the Democrats are enjoying this, and the
media is enjoying this. They're going with it no matter what.
It doesn't matter if they have very little information. They're

(00:21):
going with the story night after night after night. And
in an exclusive for the Daily car, White House correspondent
Reagan Reese wrote the following article, Insiders say Epstein mess
poses political trouble for Trump, but the White House disagrees.
Joining us now is Reagan Reese's White House correspondent for

(00:45):
the Daily Caller and Independent Women's Foreign Visiting Fellow. Good morning, Reagan, Hey,
good morning, another week another exclusive. Tell us what you found?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, so I do want to know. We wrote this
story on I believe I published it Wednesday evening or
Thursday morning of last week. And it was before The
key thing is it was before this whole Wash Street
journal piece with this letter to Epstein, because I do
believe that changes the calculus. But what I had found
beforehand was that polsters and strategists, they really did not

(01:18):
see this Epstein thing going away for Donald Trump. They
believed that this was going to have an impact on
the midterms because it was going to make President Trump's
base less enthused. Maybe your average American isn't paying close
attention to the Epstein case, but they are realizing that
there is something sketchy going on. But the people who
really care about the Epstein case is President Trump's base.

(01:41):
And President Trump time and time again has relied on
that magabase to carry him through the midterms. And we're
in through elections and when we're looking at the upcoming midterm,
the president is not on the ballot and that's always
a scary place for conservatives to be, and so it's
really key that you have that turnout from that MAGA base,
especially knowing that typically the opposition party always turns out

(02:03):
a little bit more than the incumbent in office at
the moment. So right now, strategists and polsters are kind
of sounding the alarm saying that President Trump Attorney General
BONDI need to rectify the Epstein files fallout.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Well, the grand jury testimony, the request to release that.
Will that quell anything.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's a good question, you know, as it was described
to me, you know, you still have to have a
judge kind of rule that the documents can be released,
that the grand jury documents can be released. So there's
still like a chance that they aren't released, that we
don't get those documents, you know, if they redact names

(02:49):
and it's only a couple of files or information that
helps Donald Trump. I do think that it could be
a dangerous situation for the administration because people want all
the answers, they want all the files, they want all
the transparency. They don't want things redacted. And so I
think what specifically we get from these grand jury files

(03:12):
could help the situation, But if it's not enough, I
think it could still pose trouble.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Regan. This is a huge mistake by the administration. They
obviously over promised, and many people in the administration, even
when they didn't know they were going to be part
of it, over promised, like Dan Bongino and Cash Patel,
and then Donald Trump just seemed frustrated by the entire thing.
Do we know what went wrong and what they found

(03:40):
in these files that they now know they can't release.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I typically believe the theory that a Cash Patel and
Dan Bongino, for example, were of the belief that there
is going to be more, that they were going to
be able to release more, and then they got to
got in the government, got to take a look at
the files and realized it wasn't exactly what they were promising.
Now in terms of Pam Bondi during the administration, over promising, this,

(04:09):
as it was described to me from one administration source,
seemed to be something of bad staffing, telling her, Hey,
there is a client list, there is a smoking gun,
and you should go on Fox News and you should
say that. And the binders, for example, releasing Epstein files
phase one of the binders to MAGA influencers outside of

(04:29):
the White House. You know that at the time was
viewed very poorly within the administration, within the White House,
and it was described to me by several administration sources
that they have been trying to backpedal everything, trying to
clean up essentially everything that has happened since those binders,

(04:50):
because they realized in that moment they'd overpromised and now
they were going to be left letting the American people down.
And so I simply think it was a case of
over promising, not really understanding what you had in front
of you and then having to let the American people
down really just a giant calm's mistake.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
You have great sources at the White House, and I
can't imagine Donald Trump is infurious about this because it
is embarrassing and apparently it's not going away. Is everybody
going to survive this or is anybody going to get
let go?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
I'm not tracking that anyone is going to be fired.
I think President Trump has shown his support for Pam Bondy.
Right after the Epstein files, the conclusion the memo came out,
the President had a cabinet meeting and Pambondy was moved
from her regular spot in the cabinet room to sit

(05:49):
right next to President Trump and Marco Rubio, and we
saw President Trump jump in and defend Pambondy as she
was getting peppered with questions from reporters. We've seenan Bongino
hold on and it seems like they've come to a resolution.
So in terms of big players, I don't believe, just
from my own observations, that anyone is going to be

(06:10):
let go. But it wouldn't surprise me if they were
members of Pambondi staff, for example, who did face consequences,
because that is something I've heard from within the administration,
that she was a victim of bad staffing.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I heard Dan Bongino that there was allegedly a meeting
and that Dan Bongino was accused of leaking and stormed
out of a meeting. And I heard that he may
be in trouble. Have you heard that.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, that was widely reported I think a week or
two ago that Dan Bongino was very upset with the
way the Epstein files were handled, that he blew up
on Pambondy. He was then called to the White House
for essentially a peacemaking meeting. They were very frustrated with him.

(06:57):
That was kind of a tense meeting as well. He
didn't show up to work the next day. But then
and that was a Friday. Then Saturday, Sunday we heard
from President Trump. He said, you know, I've talked to Dan.
He's a good guy. And then Dan Bongino, this was
last week, showed up Monday through Friday, and it seems
like there has been no more drama between the FBI and.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
J sounds like he's going to survive. Reagan Reese White
House corresponded for The Daily call for an independent women's
foreign Visiting Fellow. Thanks so much, Reagan, great work.