Ranking Member Robert Garcia Blasts Fox News for Manipulating Trump’s Comments on the Epstein Files, Misleading the American Public
Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corporation Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer, and Fox News Media Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Scott regarding Fox News’s deceptive editing of an interview with President Trump regarding the criminal investigation into his longtime friend, convicted sex offender, and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Ranking Member Garcia is demanding to know if President Trump or his presidential campaign were involved in Fox News’s decision to edit the interview. This comes after Elon Musk’s allegations that the Department of Justice has not released additional evidence in the Epstein prosecution because President Trump is implicated in the files.
“It’s outrageous that Fox News appears to have censored the facts on their news network, and in doing so, blatantly lied to the American public with regard to then-candidate Trump's willingness to release the Epstein files. The millions of Fox viewers deserve to know who decided to edit Donald Trump’s answer about releasing the Epstein files and why. Oversight Democrats will investigate until we find out the truth of what Fox News and Donald Trump are hiding,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
“On June 2, 2024, in the midst of his presidential campaign, Fox & Friends aired an interview with President Trump in which he was asked whether he would declassify files related to Jeffrey Epstein. President Trump appears to respond, ‘Yeah. Yeah, I would.’ However, in the raw footage, President Trump clearly refuses to unequivocally endorse full declassification of the Epstein files. Trump says, ‘You don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there.’ Trump’s true answer was only released later, after the hype of the initial Sunday broadcast had reached the most people, as the Trump campaign continued to amplify the manipulated—and clearly manipulative—version,” wrote the Ranking Member.
Despite Trump Administration officials’ previous attempts to gain credibility with the public by calling for the release of Epstein’s “client list” and the Trump campaign’s amplification of his edited answer to claim he promised full declassification, President Trump is now demanding that Americans “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein.” The President has even gone as far as calling his supporters “stupid,” “foolish,” and “weaklings” for continuing to ask questions about the Epstein client list.
In February 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi assured Americans that a so-called Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk for review. However, Attorney General Bondi now claims the “client list” does not exist.
“It is obvious to the American public that someone is lying and someone is trying to hide something. As a network that reaches an estimated 2,663,000 total viewers, Fox News should not be in the business of censoring interviews with presidential candidates to mislead the public. The American people have a right to understand why Fox & Friends chose to alter President Trump’s stated position on the release of the Epstein files,” concluded Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
Click here to read the letter to Fox Corporation Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News Media Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Scott.
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