Tara Palmeri does something cable news won't: she fact-checks JD Vance's appearance on "The View" line by line, as the vice president recasts himself as the lone transparency champion of the Epstein scandal. Tara walks through the claims one by one — that Trump "reported Epstein to the police" (he didn't; he made a July 2006 call only after the investigation was underway), that Trump "threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago" (Trump has claimed Epstein was never even a member), and that the 2.5 million still-missing files are just "duplicates" or "under judicial seal." She brings in Rep. Madeleine Dean's account of reading a fully redacted email — subject line: Trump — between Epstein's attorney and Trump's attorney, and lays out the real reason Trump turned on Epstein: a 2004 Palm Beach bidding war over a mansion called the "House of Friends," not the girls. Then Tara digs into the bombshell New York Times reporting on Epstein's mental state and final days at the Metropolitan Correctional Center — new cellmate interviews describing shredded sheets, at least three prior suicide attempts, and a discovered noose, set against a crime scene so mismanaged it was never treated as a possible homicide. In the second half, Jim Acosta joins to unpack the Haberman/Swan "Situation Room freak-out," the mystery of who was recording inside a SCIF, Todd Blanche's forward-leaning push (and his reward: the AG nomination), the pardon-for-Maxwell quid pro quo, James Comer shutting the investigation down, and why the men named in the files — Leon Black, Jes Staley — still haven't testified. 0:00 – JD Vance on "The View": breaking down the Epstein claims line by line 3:48 – Fact-check: Trump didn't report Epstein; the July 2006 call to Palm Beach police 6:06 – The veto-proof Transparency Act and Mike Johnson's delay tactics 7:21 – Rep. Madeleine Dean and the redacted Epstein-Trump attorney email 9:59 – The missing 2.5 million files and Vance's "duplicates" defense 11:19 – The New York Times report: was it suicide? Shredded sheets and three prior attempts 13:48 – Epstein tried to dig up dirt on Trump — and setting up Jim Acosta 14:52 – Acosta joins: the Situation Room "freak-out" and who was recording in a SCIF 18:40 – Panic over a possible recording, and Trump's instinct to bury it 21:35 – Todd Blanche's rise, Bondi's binders, and the Maxwell pardon quid pro quo 23:58 – Comer shutting the probe down and the "shadow hearings" 26:00 – Why haven't the men in the files testified? The incestuous "Epstein class" 27:55 – Inside Epstein's final days — and do we really know what happened? 30:38 – Epstein joking about suicide, Comer's "dereliction of duty," and the wrap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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