Conservative pundit Scott Jennings claimed Monday that there was “no fracture” in the GOP regarding the Jeffrey Epstein saga—only to be shown a poll indicating a divided Republican electorate.
The CNN commentator was discussing the scheduled appearance in Congress this week of some of Epstein’s victims on The Arena alongside former Harris campaign adviser Adrienne Elrod.
Jennings took issue with the Democratic strategist saying that GOP leadership has to deal with a “challenging fracture within the MAGA base.”
“There‘s no fracture in the Republican Party over this,” Jennings insisted.
“If I were the president and I were the administration, I would trust and want to work with James Comer on this, apart from having this spill out into a larger issue that continues to chew up floor time,” the former George W. Bush administration figure continued. “My advice: work with Comer and get all the information out you can through the House Oversight Committee.”
CNN anchor Pamela Brown then cited one indicator that Republicans may not be as unified as Jennings claimed.
“You say that there‘s no fracture—I just want to go to this really quick,” she said, introducing a Quinnipiac University poll from late August showing 44 percent of Republicans approve of how the Trump administration has been handling the “Epstein files,” while 34 percent disapprove and 22 percent had no opinion. The same poll found 73 percent of voters believe the Justice Department hasn’t been transparent on the topic.
“So, I mean, there is a fracture,” Brown told Jennings, who responded by touting Trump’s approval rating among Republicans. Jennings claimed it was 93 percent, though the Quinnipiac poll pegged it at 84 percent.
“But on this issue in particular,” Brown replied, “is there any concern that this could come back to bite Republicans at the polls?”
Jennings answered that he had precisely “0.0 concerns.”
For “the larger group of American people, the electorate of this country, this is one of the lowest rated issues for them,” he claimed. “Look at all the opinion polling on this. Nobody brings this up as their top issue. This is a completely manufactured issue among a handful of people.”
Brown then highlighted twelve members of Congress who have publicly supported releasing files released to the dead sex offender, among them Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Rep. Tim Burchett, and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Massie and California Rep. Ro Khanna have scheduled a press conference for Wednesday to give an update.
Next week, Epstein’s estate is expected to hand over to lawmakers a 2003 book in which Trump reportedly left a suggestive birthday note and drawing for Epstein. Trump has denied doing so.
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