CNN Panelist Epically Rips Conservative Pundit After He Tries To Downplay Epstein Files

Podcast host Leigh McGowan criticized conservative CNN panelist Scott Jennings on Monday over his cavalier attitude about the Justice Department's failure to release the Epstein files, calling his response “insane” and “horrifying.”

The DOJ has released less than 1% of the Epstein files. The department acknowledged that it has released just 12,285 documents—totaling 125,575 pages—related to Epstein, even though federal law required the bulk of those records to be made public by December 19.

Before Christmas, the department said federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI had identified more than one million additional Epstein-related documents that were not part of its initial review, warning that full compliance with the law could take “a few more weeks.”

Last month, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, and Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said they were weighing an inherent contempt lawsuit against Attorney General Pam Bondi in an effort to force a faster release of the records.

Jennings was very dismissive of the DOJ's failure to comply, saying:

“They should follow the law, but let’s not get our knickers in a twist here."

McGowan, in a mocking accent, replied:

“‘Let’s not get our knickers in a twist over child rape.’ Why are you talking like that? It’s insane, like it’s insane."

“The Epstein files are a multinational, multi-generational child and woman sex trafficking ring. So your attitude right now, your sort of, ‘shucks, devil be gone,’ it’s just horrifying to me.”

"Every woman in the world who is watching this... why are you acting like you have no idea what's happening here? ... They're not following the law. They're 30 days late on following the law and they didn't explain why they redacted things in the first place, which they aren't supposed to do."

"They are hiding it; it is not the behavior of innocent people. Everything that is in these files, it could bring an entire house down. And, if it has to, it has to."

“If it brings down Democrats, bring them down. If it brings down Republicans, bring them down. If it brings down princes, world leaders, Hollywood people, bring them down. But what it feels like right now is that there's a giant cabal of people that do not have to listen to the law."

You can watch their exchange in the video below.

Many echoed her criticisms.

Attorney Spencer Kuvin, who has represented dozens of Epstein’s survivors, told reporters that "every day these records remain withheld sends a message to victims that transparency is optional when powerful interests are involved."

Kuvin stressed that the Epstein files "are not abstract government records; they are evidence of how institutions failed children. Continued secrecy retraumatizes victims and undermines public confidence in the justice system."

In their most recent letter to the DOJ, Representatives Khanna and Massie said the DOJ "failed to meet the Act’s requirements in multiple respects, including missing the statutory deadline, asserting common-law privileges that the Act does not permit, and applying extensive redactions that appear inconsistent with the Act’s expressed prohibition on withholding or redacting records to protect politically exposed persons.”