[0:00]President Trump reversed his stance on the Epstein files. He's now urging House Republicans to support the release of the records in a vote planned for tomorrow. Last night, before publicly
[0:10]reversing his stance on that vote, President Trump claimed Democrats were using the issue to deflect. >> They're using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success
[0:22]that we're having as a party. >> CBS News senior White House correspondent Ouija Jiang joins us now with the latest on all of this. Ouija, good morning to you. Many of our viewers will be waking up. Maybe they'll be
[0:33]surprised to see the president changing his position on the Epstein files now. But you also wonder since Republicans will have this vote anyway, would it have made a difference? What What's your analysis? Why is the president changing
[0:44]his tune? >> Good morning, Arrow, and good morning to everybody. Well, President Trump has made very clear that he's simply over it. He doesn't want to talk about Jeffrey Epstein anymore and he is
[0:55]frustrated that it is getting in the way of all the issues he does want to talk about including affordability, immigration, things that are on his
[1:04]agenda. And so that is one reason why he is urging Republicans to support the measure to force the DOJ to release more
[1:13]files. And his hope is that that will um free up more space to focus on what matters to him. And you're right, Errol, in pointing out the other thing, which
[1:23]is uh that just last week, the White House tried to talk Republicans out of supporting um a measure that would force
[1:33]the vote that is coming tomorrow. And in the end, it did not work. There were enough signatures uh to have this vote tomorrow for um congressman, the speaker
[1:43]Mike Johnson to call for a vote. And so uh it could be you know just an acknowledgement that politically you know this effort is not going anywhere
[1:53]from members of his own party and so it is uh you know savvier to get on board uh than try to block it which raises
[2:04]even more questions about why. >> Yeah and we're going to dig into some of those questions right now. Ouija Jang with the latest from the White House for us. Ouija thank you. Uh CBS News chief Washington analyst Robert Costa joins us
[2:16]now from our DC bureau with more on this. Good morning Bob. I want to kind of dig into this a bit more with you. What is your take on what appears to be a reversal from the president now that
[2:26]the political tides on this topic are changing. >> Good morning. It's good to be with you. When you talk to people close to President Trump, they don't see this as a reversal. They see this more as an
[2:38]evolution of how he's trying to handle an issue he detests. Uh the the frustration in President Trump's inner circle, especially with the president himself, is so real uh based on my calls
[2:49]over the weekend, that he wants to just push this away and have Republicans focus on other issues like the economy. The White House knows after what happened in the off-year elections, they
[3:00]need to talk more about affordability and helping working people across the country in terms of health care costs and in dealing with inflation and other issues. But at the same time, they know that so many Republicans don't want to
[3:12]move away from this, especially Representative Marjgerie Taylor Green, Representative Thomas Massie, among others. And so, they're trying to navigate those political dynamics sometimes uneasily.
[3:23]>> And what do you make of the Republican Congressman Tom Massie and his push to get documents released? because he even has said, I think over the weekend, that
[3:34]the president's efforts to get the DOJ uh to release files as it relates to Democrats is a bit of a smokeokc screen that would prevent the full investigation documents from being
[3:45]released. How is the president and the White House viewing Massie and MTG? >> They see Congressman Massie as a nuisance. You've seen President Trump weigh in on Congressman Massiey's
[3:56]personal life. You've seen him weigh in on Representative Green and call her a traitor to the country. What you're watching here though is a Republican
[4:05]party that is very tense about how exactly to frame what is happening with the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Think
[4:14]back even 10 years ago when then Mr. Trump, the businessman, Donald Trump, was running for president for the first time, at least in a major way. And you had him talking about what he believed
[4:26]was corruption among the American political establishment. He cast the Democratic nominee, Secretary Hillary Clinton, as a corrupt figure in American life. and he was part of this uh group
[4:38]of voices in the Republican party who really used a broad brush to say that the Democratic party in particular, but that the the elites of this country were corrupt and that their conduct was in
[4:50]some way uh not that great. And that fervor hasn't gone away and it's part of what's driving this conversation. >> And we'll keep watching this closely. Uh Bob Costa in our DC bureau, great to see
[5:01]you this Monday, Bob. Thank you. >> Thank you. I want to bring in CBS News congressional correspondent Caitlyn Huey Burns to talk more about this. So, uh, we just described something interesting, uh, Caitlyn, a few weeks ago, uh, some
[5:13]Republicans were attacking towards the president's point of view, which is they either didn't want to talk about it or they seem to be in support of what the president was suggesting, which is that
[5:22]we should all move on. Now, we're seeing a number of Republicans who are probably going to vote to release these files uh tomorrow, and we may even see more.
[5:32]What's going on? Yeah, Vlad, that is the thing to remember here is that you are likely going to see a lot of Republicans on the House side vote for this measure
[5:43]to release the files. It's one thing to sign on to a discharge petition, as we just described, to force a vote. you only saw a handful of Republicans support that, but now that it was out
[5:54]there and going to be something to be voted on, you were always going to see a lot more Republicans vote for it than signed on to that petition. So, in many ways, the president weighing in on this
[6:05]and saying, "Sure, go ahead." Um, he's kind of behind the eightball here. And that was an attempt to get ahead of what is likely going to be a mass vote from
[6:15]Republicans to release these files. And the reason is Vlad is if you remember this was such a key motivator among the base of the Republican party among
[6:27]Trump's base. I mean I was recalling pictures from the RNC convention floor where people had shirts that said uh release the Epstein client list. There
[6:37]was always this pressure within the base to move forward on this and there was this hope that once Trump took office they would see those files. A lot of
[6:47]that was because a lot of these Republicans thought that there would be a lot on Democrats in those files as well. And so that helps explain this kind of fissure in the base that we're
[6:56]seeing manifest in the way in which Marjorie Taylor Green and Donald Trump have diverged here, diverged to put it mildly, I should say. Um, and so what
[7:07]you're going to see tomorrow is a lot of Republicans signing on to this because this is something that they all wanted, you know, before Trump took office. Um, the question is, Vlad, what the Senate
[7:19]does because before Trump's comments over the weekend encouraging people to vote for it, the Senate had no appetite to take this up. Now, that will likely change. >> Yeah, that will be very, very
[7:30]interesting. And of course, the fate of uh the vote tomorrow um is probably certain. Those files, they will vote to release those files, but the fate of how it lands in the Senate is unknown. But
[7:41]let me ask you about uh Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green who says that she's facing threats because of her tensions with the president. And I thought interestingly she was asked about
[7:52]the fact that over the course of the term of her time in Congress and in her support of President Trump, it was okay when the president was at, you know, going after other people. Now that the
[8:03]energy is directed at her, she's coming out in public and saying that she's getting death threats. Um, how is she responding to what the president is saying where he has made up nicknames for her and is suggesting that he will
[8:15]no longer endorse her? >> Yeah, I think this is such an interesting um uh divide here in the the Republican party and the Trump base because uh she has said, look, I've been
[8:26]there for you since the beginning, but she's also expressed some disagreements with some of his policies lately on immigration and the economy and other things. Um, the important thing to note
[8:38]too is that she said over the weekend that yes, she realized that she also contributed to toxic politics and the discourse. But take a listen to how
[8:47]Trump responded to when he was asked about Marjgery Taylor Green getting these threats. >> Her life is in danger. Who's that?
[8:57]>> Marjorie Taylor Green. She says >> Marjorie Trader Green. Uh, I don't think her life is in danger. I don't think, frankly, I don't think anybody cares about her.
[9:08]>> So, as you can see, no love lost there. But there is this real concern about threats to lawmakers that preceded all of this only likely to be intensified now, Vlad.
[9:20]>> Yeah, for sure. We should point out, of course, that the congresswoman uh during that interview with CNN uh apologized, said that she understood that she uh had contributed to that toxic uh the toxic
[9:31]politics in this country. Uh so we'll see where it all goes. Uh it really is very very interesting to see uh what is happening and I guess uh we'll be talking throughout the course of the day and certainly tomorrow Caitlyn when that
[9:42]vote happens in the House. We appreciate you. Thank you. >> Now let's bring in CBS News congressional reporter Torian Small. Torian, good to see you. Can you walk us through the break that we are seeing in
[9:52]the Republican party ahead of this vote that's expected to happen tomorrow and and there was a back and forth between Marie Marjgery Taylor Green I should say and the president. Yeah, considering the fact that
[10:03]Congresswoman Green is and has been such a staunch supporter of the president, a fierce defender and cheerleader, this rift is pretty seisment. We've seen the
[10:14]breakdown happen over a couple of weeks now largely surrounding this Epstein vote, but ultimately though, we've seen as the president has done to previous
[10:24]political opponents, the name calling that he's uh used with other opponents. He's using with Marjorie Taylor Green. In fact, a post from social media he
[10:33]said or he called her wacky Marjorie Traitor Brown and in parenthesis remember Green turns brown when there's rot involved. Not afraid to that go to
[10:43]the name calling for her. But this is something that Green herself has said she's had quite a bit of pause with as she's at this inflection point of her support for the president. She's taken
[10:53]to social media. She's taken to uh the Sunday shows to say that she's also reflective of the vitrial that she's brought to public discourse. She's been apologizing for it, but she's
[11:04]acknowledged that the feud with Trump is bringing what she's calling death threats uh and great harm to her and her family. This is the president's response to her saying that she's now concerned
[11:15]by his rhetoric. Those are the types of words um used that can radicalize people against me. >> Her life is in danger. >> Who's that?
[11:27]>> Marjorie Taylor Green. She says >> Marjorie Trader Green. Uh I don't think her life is in danger. I don't think frankly I don't think anybody cares about her.
[11:39]>> Yeah. a huge dismissal of her uh thoughts and her feelings there because again like Olivia just laid out. He really wants to move on beyond the Epstein fence calling it a hoax and
[11:50]linking it to Democrats even though as you know Mugo as we've been talking about for weeks now there's a growing uh amount of ground swell of support for the release and full transparency also
[12:02]within the Republican party here. And to also see a push from some Epstein survivors to release the files. Some of those survivors, they want to meet with President Trump. But will that actually
[12:13]happen? >> Well, we'll see. The likelihood of it happening is very low, but this also comes after some survivors came together
[12:22]to put forth the national ad calling out uh lawmakers to pass the the FC Transparency Act. Uh, but we also know Representative Roana, a Democrat I
[12:32]should mention, uh, said that at some point he wants to have a talk with the president to coax him into meeting with those victims. We reached out to the White House to see if they were receptive of that. And they told CBS
[12:44]News that they're framing this differently, saying that this administration has done more around the transparency of this, releasing the most documents from the estate. They're
[12:54]saying that no other administration has been forthcoming with this information. But again, dodging on the question whether or not the president would be up to actually meeting with the Muga.
[13:05]>> Okay, Tori Small at the capital for us today. Thank you. >> So, live outside the White House is CBS News correspondent Natalie Bran. So, Natalie, the president has gone from fight there in that clip to what felt
[13:15]like a surrender statement on social media to just go ahead and release the files. So, how is that being read in Washington? >> Yeah, good afternoon, Reed. The
[13:26]president's new statement comes as, you know, some lawmakers over on Capitol Hill are talking about a growing amount of GOP support for uh this measure in the House, expected to get a vote very
[13:37]soon to release all of the Epstein files. So, it seems to acknowledge uh that this is moving forward. A and as you saw in that post, the president is saying, "Okay, go ahead and release them. We have nothing to hide and we'd
[13:49]like to move on." on making clear that he would like to talk about other topics, the economy, affordability issues that, you know, voters have expressed are top of mind for them. And
[13:59]he also in this post notes uh the actions that he's taken, including calling for this new investigation for the DOJ to look into alleged ties between Epstein and prominent Democrats
[14:10]and also major financial institutions. Uh the clip that you played was responding to Congressman uh Massiey's statements that is this a smokeokc screen, questioning the intent of the
[14:22]strategy here because Massie argues, well, the DOJ could uh use an an active investigation or a new investigation to
[14:32]say we cannot release some of those files. You heard the president dismissing that concern uh by criticizing Massie. But also important to keep in mind, Reed, that there is
[14:43]that July memo from the Department of Justice, which really sparked a lot of this outrage over uh the Epstein case and where it stood, saying that uh their
[14:55]review found that really no uh further charges or no charges of uh third parties uh you know, were were predicated based on what they had been
[15:06]investigating prior. So, we're going to have to wait and see how this all plays out. >> Well, we're also seeing a push from some Epstein victims to release the files. Some of those victims uh want to meet
[15:17]with President Donald Trump himself. Will that happen? >> Yeah, we know that survivors of Epstein are planning to be on Capitol Hill for a
[15:28]news conference tomorrow. And one of the Congress members who's led the push over on Capitol Hill to release the files, Roaness, suggested that President Trump should meet with them. So CBS News asked
[15:39]the White House if there are any plans for that and we did not get a direct statement, but a spokeswoman uh pointed to the actions taken uh by the
[15:49]administration, including the release uh the White House says of tens of thousands of documents uh complying with a House oversight uh subpoena. also
[16:00]referenced this new investigation to say that this administration has done more uh for the victims than than Democrats have. Important to also note, Reed, that
[16:10]this Epstein investigation now spans around 20 years. So that encompasses uh several administrations now, both Democrat and Republican.
[16:22]>> All right, Natalie Bran there at the White House. Thank you so much for that. >> What could be behind this change of heart for President Trump? I think it could be a couple of things, Lindsay. First of all, he probably sees the
[16:33]writing on the wall that uh while there were only a handful of House Republicans who signed on to this discharge petition to force a vote on the House floor over
[16:43]um releasing these Epstein files. There are more House Republicans now coming forward and saying, "Hey, as long as it's coming up for a vote, they're going to vote in favor of it, too." And so it
[16:54]was clear that the president's preferred position was not going to win the day. And uh so this may be just an acknowledgement that if you can't beat them, join them. Um the challenge for
[17:05]the president will be if this now sparks more interest in the Senate uh to take a vote to uh release the Epstein files than was there before now that they see that oh the president himself is on
[17:17]board as well. Um, and then I think the second thing is that uh a rec there's a growing recognition here at the White House that it's going to be very difficult for them to put this issue to
[17:27]rest to put it behind them uh until and unless these Epstein files are released. And so if that's the case, perhaps um coming around to accept a release sooner
[17:38]rather than later might be the best option for them. And the president has also called on the Justice Department and FBI to investigate multiple high-profile Democrats over alleged involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. What
[17:49]do we know about that? Uh >> that's right. The president called for that at the end of last week. His uh his attorney general quickly said yes, we'll
[17:59]do, Mr. president and she assigned the uh US attorney from the Southern District of New York to begin that investigation despite the fact that her Department of Justice and the FBI announced just a few months ago that
[18:11]there was uh nothing more to look into. No uh un unindicted co-conspirators in this case and that the matter was being put to rest. So that has now changed and
[18:20]what remains to be seen is a how far will these investigations go? Will they really start probing uh former President Bill Clinton's relationship with Jeffrey
[18:30]Epstein? Um Larry Summers, former president of Harvard, are they going to be looking into his relationship with Epstein, or are they merely uh paying lip service to it, knowing that it's something that the president of the
[18:41]United States said publicly that he wants? >> President Trump ended that fiery social media post saying he wants Republicans to focus on affordability. What can we expect there?
[18:51]>> Well, um he is talking about it more. is going to be talking about it this evening with a group of McDonald's store owners. Um, and there are a couple of policies that he has been pushing in
[19:02]that vein. Number one, he's been talking about wanting to send $2,000 tariff checks uh to low and middle inome Americans. We don't know exactly where that stands. His economic adviserss say
[19:14]that they're looking into the options and they're going to present those options to him soon. Um and then we saw a roll back of tariffs on goods from around the world that aren't made here
[19:26]in the United States or grown here in the United States or even if they are um they are produced in very small numbers. We're talking about things like bananas and avocados and coffee where we had
[19:36]seen a big spike in the cost of those goods because Americans need to buy virtually all of them from overseas. And now the Trump administration says they're going to be rolling back some of
[19:47]those tariffs in a bid to get those prices back down. Nancy, thank you. Now, in the last hour, the president said he would sign that bill. >> What I just don't want uh Epstein to do
[19:58]is uh detract from the great success of the Republican party, including the fact that the Democrats are totally blamed for the shutdown. you know, they cost our country hundreds of billions of
[20:10]dollars with that at a lot of inconvenience. So, uh, I'm for any I I don't they could do whatever they want. >> We'll give them everything. Sure, I
[20:20]would. Let the Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it, but don't talk about it too much because honestly, I don't want to take it away from us. It's really a Democrat problem. The
[20:32]Democrats were Epstein's friends, all of them. And it's a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax. >> For more on this, let's bring in CBS News White House reporter Willie James Inman. Willie, do you have any
[20:43]indication about where this change came from? >> Hey there, Liz. Well, this all came to a head over the weekend really because the president had this falling out, this
[20:54]very public falling out with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who has really been one of the major proponents of releasing the Epstein files along with several other
[21:04]Republicans and Democrats as well. This is really a bipartisan issue even though the president is trying to say that it's only Democrats uh who are really talking about this and calling it a Democratic
[21:16]hoax. Now uh we saw over the weekend not only that public blow up what we saw the president's uh change of tune calling for Republicans to vote uh to release these files. Remember just days ago the
[21:27]president called for investigating Democrats uh including former President Bill Clinton and their ties to Jeffrey Epstein. And there you see on your screen there, the president calling it a
[21:37]Democratic hoax and saying that he doesn't care if these files are released. In fact, he essentially repeated that same thing essentially aboard Air Force One on the tarmac when he spoke to reporters when he was
[21:49]leaving Florida. Uh so the president uh in large part trying to say that this is a distraction from his agenda from uh talking about affordability from talking
[22:00]about what he sees as successes uh for uh the beginning of his second term. He views this as a distraction for Republicans and thinks that they should just turn the page and move on. And with
[22:10]this vote tomorrow, of course, it has to go through the House first and then it goes on to the Senate. The president says uh he could potentially sign it. But remember uh that part of this um is
[22:21]all under investigation at the Department of Justice and any documents that are a part of that investigation likely will either be redacted or not released at all. So uh that is a wrench in terms of what uh could potentially
[22:32]happen down the road. A wrench in this whole process. Uh but still nonetheless now the president seemingly changing his tune calling on Republicans to uh release to vote to release these documents. And we'll have to wait and
[22:44]see in terms of what happens in the Senate. lives. >> And Willie, we're also seeing a push from some Epstein survivors to release some of these files. Some of those survivors even want to meet with President Trump in person. So, what is
[22:54]the White House saying about this? >> Yeah, that's right. Ahead of this House vote, we saw a PSA from some of those uh
[23:03]Jeffrey Epstein survivors uh seemingly talking about uh the trauma that they face. But also, we have seen some of those survivors call for the release of those documents. uh many of them
[23:14]supporting uh Congresswoman uh Green who uh says that she stands with those victims as well. Uh we have seen Congressman Ro Kana uh a Democrat who
[23:25]has really uh also been one of those major proponents of releasing the Epstein files say that he's going to talk with President Trump that he will ask President Trump. Of course, uh he has wants to talk with President Trump
[23:37]and ask him to meet uh with some of these survivors. Uh the White House did send out a statement though uh in response to our request about whether or not the president will meet uh with
[23:48]these survivors. They didn't necessarily address whether or not that would happen, but they essentially said, this is coming from Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, uh saying that President Trump recently called for
[23:58]further investigation into Epstein's Democrat friends in that statement. then goes on to say uh that the Democrat party did nothing about Epstein for years and that they are only pretending
[24:07]to care about these victims now uh as they attempt to score political points against President Trump. So uh we're seeing that similar line come out from not only spokespeople but also from the
[24:18]president himself calling attention to the Democratic ties that Jeffrey Epstein had years ago. Uh and still of course we'll have to wait and see how that house vote plays out and if it moves forward from there, how that Senate vote
[24:30]plays out. But the president says uh that he would sign uh that legislation if it reaches his desk. Liz >> Willie James Inman, always so great to be with you. Thanks so much. >> Jeffrey Epstein survival. Danny Benki
[24:41]joins me now. Danny, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for joining me. >> Thank you for having me. >> First, I know it's not diff I know it's difficult. It's not pleasant, but let my
[24:50]audience know in whatever terms you want to discuss it, your relationship with Epstein and the apartment complex in New York. >> Yeah. So I was recruited in 2004. I was
[25:02]17 years old. Um a woman approached me and said that I could make some money as a masseuse. Um I was a dancer. I come from the dance world.
[25:13]>> Yeah. Aspiring ballerina. >> Um and so this woman approached me and said, you know, it sounds like you know body work, right? You know, you're a dancer. um and you should come and meet
[25:24]this this gentleman um on the upper east side. Um and so I went and uh at first
[25:33]it started as just a job and then um my mother unfortunately had a brain tumor and um was very very ill. And I found
[25:43]the scans. I had thought that Jeffrey's money had come from the medical profession. He had all of these um pictures around the house of naked women and there was one uh particular
[25:55]sculpture that was of a brain and we didn't really have the internet the same way that we do now, right? And so um I think the only thing the only piece that was out there on Jeffrey at that point
[26:06]was man mystery money man or mi >> money man of mystery. Um, so we just didn't have a ton of information on him, but so I had brought him my mother's
[26:16]scans and um, he the world shifted for me. He basically leveraged them um, and said that they would withhold he would withhold care for her um, if I didn't
[26:27]either recruit more girls to massage him or that I was going to have to do a lot more. Um, and I I did not recruit anybody. Um it I was so ashamed of what
[26:39]I was already doing there. Um and so basically >> the exploitation increased after that. >> Yeah. I mean the abuse increased. I mean
[26:50]it was it was full-blown sexual abuse. Um and for a year um and once I knew that my mother was going to rehabilitate and be okay, I was able to extricate
[27:01]myself from that position. But you know, you have to remember the incredible manipulation. It was a systematic manipulation that would occur. Um, even
[27:12]from the very beginning, he would talk about other ballet dancers that had been to the mansion and um, how like ABT was amazing and he had so many girls that were massage or massuses from ABT
[27:23]because they knew American ballet theater. Yeah. Um, I don't know if any of this is true, of course, but um, but you know, he would talk about these big ballet companies and you know, of
[27:34]course, part of me was like, well, that's my world. I understand that world. >> He might be entry into this world. Might give you credibility or introduce me to people. >> And he said that he would often use um that piece that was always, oh, do you
[27:46]want to meet a ballet master at New York City Ballet? I know everybody. And of course, those were people that I admired quite a bit. Um, and so he he was looking for the way in all the time,
[27:57]right? I never quite found it with me until he had the brain scans. And then that piece, um, you know, you could feel the shift in the room where I knew >> changed the power dynamic. >> The power dynamic. That's exactly right.
[28:08]And the abuse of power was extreme. Um, and yeah, so from that moment forward, >> for you and those in this very
[28:19]unfortunate community of survivors, what do the Epstein files represent to you? And what do you think they will teach the American public, if they are ever fully released?
[28:29]>> I see my 16, my 17-year-old self in those files. I see for I think many of us survivors looking at who we were then
[28:39]with all of our hopes, all of our dreams, all the things that we were aspiring to, all the promises that he made. Um I think that it brings us right back to that place. Um I want to be able
[28:49]to hug my 17-year-old self and say it's all going to be okay. Other women will not have to go through this and mean it. And right now, I don't I don't necessarily feel that. I think without
[29:00]the transparency, we don't even know what the process to accountability is, right? We need to have that clear path of looking through the emails and it's a lot. You know, I
[29:11]understand it's a lot. Um, but >> financial records and >> all of it >> who might have assisted in one way or another financially or some other means. >> Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of
[29:21]the time survivors are getting just name names and then that'll be the the road there. But first of all, it's very scary to come forward and name a ton of names of powerful people. Um, but also survivors are doing it through
[29:33]litigation. And I know I have a piece of litigation out there for um the accountant um and the lawyer of the estate. Uh there have been many other pieces of litigation that have been
[29:44]brought forward that have named names. And I even saw like somebody dressed up for Halloween with um the list the list, you know. So we there are there is a lot out there to that you can point to but
[29:56]we need the facts before we can move forward. >> And as you watch Congress wrestle with this what are your thoughts? What do you want them to do? >> I well what we want them to release everything as I me just mentioned the president
[30:06]could do this himself. >> It would be great. Um I mean it's again for us you've heard it so many times right we we talk about this on every like you've heard from a ton of survivors. There are thousand of us and
[30:17]we always say this is not political. It is a human issue. It is a moral issue. It is what I would ask my tiny 5-year-old son to do. Just do the right thing, right? Release everything so that
[30:28]we understand the full breadth of what we're even looking at. Um, so I just I just hope that everybody does the right thing so that anybody who has done any harm is just brought in for
[30:40]accountability and so that we can see some justice. >> I want to play for you sound yesterday from Meet the Press, uh, Republican Senator John Baraso. Please listen. technical problem with that, Danny.
[30:57]We're trying to fix that. If the control room can let me know if it has been fixed, we'll take a look at it. If it passes the House, we'll see what it says. And we all want accountability and
[31:07]and transparency. But to me, this is not about truth. It's not about uh justice. This is about an attempt by the Democrats to make President Trump a lame duck president.
[31:19]>> How do you evaluate that? >> Yeah. Um, we have >> not about truth, not about justice. That's >> we have survivors on both sides. We have of the aisle politically,
[31:31]>> Republican, we have Democratic, we have some that don't want to be political at all and are like, I don't follow politics. Like, we we are so human. Um, and so I think in looking at that, I may
[31:42]even have had survivors step forward and say, I voted for Trump. I am a Republican. Right. So I think that >> and even say it's not about him. >> Totally. And it's not. And I guess that's the whole point here, right? Is
[31:52]that we keep coming into this political realm and this political arena, but actually it's it's it's just not at its core. It's just not because I think it's we are every woman. We are actually a
[32:03]cross-section of the American people and of it's a great representation of American women. Um, when you look at our faces, we are all races, religions, creeds, political affiliations, like it
[32:15]and our stories are pretty close, I would say, for a lot of us. And we didn't know each other going into this. When you have a thousand women, right, you think about that number, a thousand,
[32:26]and you have at least 24 who are very forward- facing right now. And we're all saying the same thing regardless of our background, regardless of anything that came before. We're saying, "This is
[32:38]important. We need to stop this. We need to stop this from perpetuating for those girls who I, you know, I'm a choreographer. I teach dance. And um I often, you know, I'm teaching the girls
[32:48]that were the age that I was. And so I'm watching them and I'm thinking to myself, we just have to make it safer for them. We have to make sure that, you know, I every once in a while I'll overhear something and I'm like, that
[33:00]feels really unsafe. That feels like a really hard position that you've been put in. And it just takes me right back to my own trauma. And I think um we just have to make sure that they're growing
[33:11]up in a very, very safe world. >> Danny Bensky, I appreciate your time. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. >> CBS News White House reporter Olivia Raldi joins us now. So, what might be
[33:21]behind the president's reversal? >> Well, Lindsay, we know the president is extremely frustrated by everything with the Jeffrey Epstein saga. pretty much the last thing he wants to talk about
[33:32]and every time it gets brought up he says why don't we talk about affordability in the economy what he believes is actually a winning issue but his base is so interested in getting these files unveiled that there's going
[33:44]to be a vote tomorrow in the house that there's expected to be a significant amount of Republicans signing on to that's going to unlock these Epstein files that people have been asking about
[33:55]for years but you're right we've seen this sudden reversal from the president it seems that he realized he just can't fight against the ground swell of Republicans who want to see what are in
[34:05]these files. So after saying for weeks, months, uh that this is nothing, it's a nothing burger, it's a hoax, and he doesn't want to talk about it, then last
[34:15]night back on Air Force One on his way back to Washington, he said he is allowing House Republicans to go forward and vote for it. But the real question here is what happens next. Once the
[34:25]House approves it, then it heads to the Senate and they're waiting for an indication from the White House to see if they even want them to take up the legislation. So, a lot here at play and certainly over the next 24 hours could
[34:37]change here in Washington. So, do you find then that the president could be not on the same page with his base and with members of his party when he keeps calling it a Democratic hoax and wants
[34:46]to talk about anything but the Epstein files when there is such a passionate segment of the population that wants to see them? Well, it seems so there seems to be some type of disconnect there, especially
[34:57]when so many people on the campaign trail that I even spoke to said one of their top issues was the Epstein files and getting more information and revealing uh perhaps what was going on
[35:08]with them as it relates to uh just the years of investigations who was on his plane. We know that has been long conspiracy that has been talked about. Uh this is certainly something that has
[35:19]gathered the attention of a lot of people uh not only in Trump's party in the MAGA base, but across the aisle as well now that Democrats are interested in opening up these files. Uh but
[35:30]certainly the president would like to talk about anything but this. Uh but Lindsay, it doesn't seem like it's going to go away anytime soon. >> Aloi, thank you. Let's turn now to Capitol Hill where House lawmakers are expected to vote tomorrow on releasing
[35:42]the Epstein files. CBS News congressional correspondent Nicole Killian joins us from outside Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green's office. So Nicole, only four Republicans signed on to that original discharge
[35:53]petition to release the files. Marjorie Taylor Green was one of them. What do we expect will happen tomorrow? >> Yeah, that's right. Well, in addition to Congresswoman Green and those three
[36:05]other Republicans, Thomas Massie, the Republican sponsor of this discharge petition, has predicted that we could see a 100 House Republicans or more back this measure. He has made clear that he
[36:16]wants this to be veto proof. Nonetheless, as you mentioned, we did hear from the president earlier today saying that sure, he would be willing to sign this bill if it clears the House
[36:27]and the Senate. It's unclear what the bill's fate would be if it does pass the House, if it makes it over to the Senate. Uh but certainly there is pressure on the Senate to take this up
[36:38]as well, particularly if tomorrow's vote is successful. >> Do we have a sense of what will happen if it goes to the Senate? Well, again, there is pressure that is
[36:49]starting to mount on Senate leaders as well to try to take this up, particularly if this is a decisive or overwhelming vote in the House, as some
[37:00]congressional leaders have predicted. So, uh, you know, at this point, how they may take this up remains to be seen, but really it's a matter of if,
[37:09]not when. Nicole Kellian, thank you.