Latest news with #Burchett
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Ghislaine Maxwell to testify about Jeffrey Epstein, US Congress to subpoena her: What we know
US Congress is set to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell to testify about the Jeffrey Epstein case. Republican Tim Burchett introduced a motion to compel Maxwell to testify before the House Oversight Committee, The Guardian reported. Ghislaine Maxwell to testify about Jeffrey Epstein (Photo by Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP)(AFP) 'We've just got to get to the bottom of this thing, folks,' Burchett said in a statement posted on X. 'It's four years and we don't need to tolerate this stuff any more.' Burchett explained that he had introduced the motion directing James Comer, chairman of the committee, to authorize and issue a subpoena for Maxwell. Comer was 'down with it,' Burchett said, adding, 'I believe he's going to issue the subpoena. He's a stand-up guy.' Burchett said he knows he would receive 'blow back, and folks up here are going to be mad at me, but ultimately and with all sincerity, I'm gonna answer my creator on this issue.' Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence at present. 'She's the last one standing' Burchett confirmed to Axios that he did not consult President Donald Trump before calling on the committee to subpoena Maxwell. However, he had written to Comer in the past, urging him to make Maxwell testify. 'She's the last one standing,' Burchett said of Maxwell. 'There's nobody else alive that can tell us anything.' Burchett added that he believes Maxwell could 'tell us the operation, how it went down, who were the supporters of it ... ultimately I'd like to see justice.' Meanwhile, a spokesperson also confirmed to the New York Post that the GOP-led House Oversight Committee will 'seek to subpoena' Maxwell for testimony 'as expeditiously as possible. 'Since Ms. Maxwell is in federal prison, the Committee will work with the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to identify a date when Committee can depose her,' a committee rep said. This announcement comes hours after the justice department revealed its plan to send Todd Blanche, the US deputy attorney general, to Florida to meet with Maxwell. Meanwhile, Trump asked attorney general Pam Bondi last week to ask a court to release all relevant grand jury testimony in the Epstein case. Maxwell attorney David Oscar Markus later confirmed on social media that 'we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully.'
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Republicans and Democrats call for more information on Epstein case
Trump and many of his allies vowed to release a trove of files in the case, including a so-called 'client list' that many involved in the case insist never existed. But the release of some documents earlier this year offered no new revelations. And the Justice Department said this month that it had closed the case and would not release more documents, concluding that there was no client list. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up One of Epstein's former lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, said in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday' that the grand jury testimony was unlikely to contain the information that has most interested Trump's supporters. Advertisement Trump has encouraged his base to move on. But the backlash seemed to be on his mind Sunday morning, when he accused 'Radical Left Democrats' of exposing the 'Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.' Burchett also took up Trump's argument Sunday, saying that Democrats had the chance to release the materials when former president Joe Biden was in office. Advertisement At the same time, Burchett is one of 10 Republicans who have signed on to an effort to force a vote on whether the administration should release the files. The procedural maneuver would require a majority of House members, and Burchett said he was not sure if it would succeed. 'I have no earthly idea,' he said on CNN. 'You know this town buries secrets.' Democrats in Congress have seized on the divide that has opened up between Trump and his supporters, trying to force votes on measures that call for the release of Epstein-related files and pressing for hearings. They have rejected Trump's efforts to redirect the blame to them. 'The president blaming Democrats for this disaster, Jake, is like that CEO that got caught on camera blaming Coldplay,' said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, to CNN's Jake Tapper, referring to a viral video that showed the married CEO of a tech company with his arms around a woman who is not his wife. Klobuchar, instead blamed the public's clamoring for the files on right-wing politicians, including Trump, who she said had sown distrust in federal prosecutors over the case. 'People have a reason that they want to know what's in there,' Klobuchar said. 'They believe the president when he said there's stuff in there that people should see.' Several former federal prosecutors told the Associated Press that the Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecutions of Epstein and his former girlfriend, imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public's appetite for new revelations about the financier's crimes. Advertisement Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant US attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request 'a distraction.' 'The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing,' Krissoff told the Associated Press in a weekend interview. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.' Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief. Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.' 'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages. 'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.' 'They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. ... I don't think it's going to be anything new.' This article originally appeared in
The Hill
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Burchett says Bondi releasing Epstein grand jury files ‘will pretty much cover everything'
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) applauded President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for their plans to release relevant grand jury testimony in the case of sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein after nationwide pressure to produce more information related to the case, saying the grand jury files 'will pretty much cover everything.' 'I applaud the president and Attorney General Bondi for wanting to release the grand jury files,' he said during a Sunday interview on ABC's 'This Week.' 'I believe that will pretty much cover everything.' Burchett, who last week slammed the findings from the Justice Department's (DOJ) report on Epstein, also warned that 'just because somebody flew on a plane doesn't mean they're a daggum pedophile.' 'I have a lot of wealthy friends, and they fly on people's planes. And their plane will be down, and they'll say, 'Hey, we're going somewhere, and we've got an extra seat, do you want to go?' And they don't even know the person on the plane,' he said. 'So, you know, that's one of the things I worry about too.' 'But I worry about some of those innocent names being out on that too as well,' he added. When asked whether unsealing the grand jury records is enough for him now, Burchett responded that it's 'a start.' 'I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom of…all of it, ma'am,' he said, mentioning the assassination of late President John F. Kennedy and the 'magic bullet' theory, a debated theory put forward by the Warren Commission Report in the year after his assassination. That commission concluded that one of the bullets fired at the late president's limousine struck the president and hit Texas Gov. John B. Connally Jr. in multiple places. Burchett also accused the Biden administration of withholding the Epstein documents. 'I'd warn people too, now we're getting a hold of this stuff,' he said. 'What happened the last four years under the Biden administration?' Burchett previously suggested the Biden administration may have destroyed Epstein's client list. When asked again whether he thinks all the files should be released, Burchett clarified he does, but that he is warning not to release files 'that have innocent names on them,' such as people 'who were then children, now adults, that were abused by this dirtbag, Epstein.' Still, Burchett criticized Bondi's communication at the beginning of the DOJ's release of the files. 'I think her communication with us early on was not as good,' he said. 'I mean, the binder, for instance, that she put out, I was very excited about that. But then I found the contents of it. I think it was her limited knowledge and taking advice from the wrong people, which you do a lot of in Washington.' Bondi handed several binders of case files titled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' to conservative influencers at an event earlier this year and vowed to be transparent with the investigation into Epstein. Burchett's comments follow Trump's directive last Thursday to Bondi to release the grand jury files related to Epstein. Still, the president remains skeptical that the release of the files will quell the demand for more information on the case. 'It will always be more, more, more,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
4 days ago
- Politics
GOP Rep. Tim Burchett doubles down on call for release of Epstein files
Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett on Sunday again called for the release of the Department of Justice's evidence against the late accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, part of a growing cadre of Republicans calling for transparency in the case. Speaking with "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Burchett said he wanted the Epstein files to be released, but cautioned against releasing material that might expose the identities of victims and others in the files who may be innocent. But Burchett pushed back against criticism leveled by President Donald Trump, who earlier this week called Republicans demanding the release of the documents 'foolish' and baselessly claimed the Epstein files were a hoax concocted by Democrats. 'Was I a little ticked off he said that stuff? Sure, I was, but I'm a big boy, Ma'am,' Burchett said. 'We're playing in the big leagues right now.' Trump has since directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to move to unseal grand jury evidence in Epstein's case, which Burchett called 'a start.' 'I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom of … all of it, Ma'am,' Burchett said. 'You know, this town doesn't give up its secrets very easy.' Asked by Raddatz if he believed Bondi should resign, Burchett said he criticized her communication on the issue but stopped short of calling for her to step down. 'I have a saying: It's not how you start, it's how you finish. If she finishes strong on this, then I'm all for it,' Burchett said. 'I'm sure the learning curve is steep, and I think she blundered in the beginning, I really do, as most Americans do.'
NBC News
10-07-2025
- Climate
- NBC News
EPA head promises 'total transparency' on geoengineering and contrails as weather conspiracy theories swirl
Greene added that Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., is a co-sponsor. Burchett has spread similarly bizarre claims about extreme weather. In a statement, a spokesperson for Greene said the congresswoman "has long discussed this issue" and that the bill was not related to the Texas flooding. Burchett's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following Milton and Helene, the NOAA released a fact sheet in October 2024 to try to debunk 'weather modification claims' that swelled after those two storms decimated communities in Florida and North Carolina. In it, the agency said that it 'does not fund or participate in cloud seeding or other weather modification projects.' Zeldin's nod toward more fringe explanations for extreme weather comes as the Trump administration has cut funding for climate change research and removed the website that hosted the government's climate assessments. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax, even as scientists have increasingly found strong evidence connecting the growing severity and frequency of extreme weather to global warming. Decades of research into weather modification have at times become fodder for conspiracy theorists. Between 1962 and 1982, NOAA was involved in a project called STORMFURY that sought to determine whether hurricane intensity could be modified. The research was unsuccessful at altering hurricane intensity and was discontinued. NOAA hasn't attempted similar research since, according to the fact sheet. Cloud seeding is a weather modification technology currently in use. The practice has been around since the 1950s and typically involves spraying silver iodide into clouds to draw water out of the atmosphere and produce extra snow or rain. Currently, cloud seeding programs are primarily used in Western states to boost water supplies, and companies are required to file notices before implementing them. 'Cloud seeding doesn't make water; it helps clouds in marginal environments to release 5-15% more moisture. But in Texas, there was already 100% humidity, extreme moisture and storms. The clouds didn't need any help,' Cappucci said. The spread of these claims has coincided with an uptick in threats directed at meteorologists. While geoengineering is a legitimate scientific endeavor, claims about its ability to control major weather patterns or create severe weather are not grounded in reality. Most geoengineering options are theoretical and untested. Federal researchers have taken only a few small steps toward studying their feasibility, and atmospheric scientists say there is no evidence of any large-scale programs. Last year in Alameda, California, a small-scale testing project of a form of geoengineering called marine cloud brightening by academic scientists was shut down after community outcry, despite researchers demonstrating that the actions were harmless. Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert explained that conspiratorial thinking usually spikes during moments of collective fear and uncertainty, especially during weather events in which people feel powerless. 'Conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative: they restore a sense of control by framing events as intentional acts by powerful agents rather than random, chaotic phenomena,' Alpert told NBC. 'In this sense, 'someone is doing this to us' feels more tolerable than 'no one is in control.'' However, while some view the EPA's move as an act of transparency, others believe it's merely the latest political maneuver to avoid critical environmental issues. 'Some people have 'questions' about whether birds are real — will that be your next project?' Rep. Don Beyer D-Va., said in response to Zeldin's Thursday morning
