‘Hold up’: MAGA ally’s Trump defense halted as she butchers victim’s name live on CNN

CNN’s Audie Cornish put an end to a conservative panelist’s efforts to exonerate President Donald Trump in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

The Department of Justice disclosed another batch of documents related to a sex trafficking investigation into Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, with the president’s name mentioned frequently, but Concerned Women for America CEO Penny Nance insisted to “CNN This Morning” that Trump had nothing to fear from the contents of those files.

“Listen, President Trump signed the bill, the law that requires the release of all of this,” Nance said. “I, as a survivor of an assault, I feel very strongly that this issue has to be treated with the respect that it deserves, and all of these victims deserve justice. That’s what I told Alex Acosta.”

Acosta had reached a controversial 2008 agreement as U.S. attorney in Miami that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two counts of solicitation of prostitution and given immunity from federal prosecution. Trump nominated him during his first term as secretary of labor – although he resigned in July 2019 over criticism of that plea deal.

“Hold up,” Cornish interrupted. “Look, I don’t think the president is treating this – we don’t feel satisfied by what we’re hearing, and I don’t mean to interrupt you, but you have victims speaking out repeatedly.”

“I believe they will get what they deserve, I believe in time they will,” Nance continued, “and I actually think that this began with Alex Acosta when he was was the prosecutor that gave him the sweet deal in Florida. President Trump actually fired him for it when this all became clear. It should have happened sooner, but it did, and I actually think that we have done ourselves as conservatives a disservice not requiring this to all come out immediately, because the truth is that all the victims have said that Donald Trump was not guilty.”

“In fact, Virginia [Giuffre] said that – I’m sorry, I think I’m saying her name wrong – said that he didn’t even flirt with her,” Nance added, butchering the last name of Epstein’s most prominent victim, who took her own life earlier this year. “So this is the issue is not about Donald Trump, but it is an issue about some very powerful people.”

Cornish halted Nance at that point.

“Well, let me pause because I think we’re actually going to learn more about the documents,” Cornish said. “Number one, we’re going to have a survivor on later today, so you’ll get to hear from them directly, and it’s important to note that the president, as you said, has not been accused of being involved in Epstein’s criminal activity. We’re going to be watching for what comes out of those documents today.”