Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says Democrats need to stop flinching and start doing what Republicans have long perfected: staying on message. On The Breakfast Club Thursday morning, between discussing his biracial kids’ hair care routine with husband Chasten, aviation infrastructure investments, and the risks of artificial intelligence, Buttigieg called on his party to keep President Donald Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein scandal in the spotlight, equating it to how Republicans weaponized, in this case, a false narrative about trans women in sports as a permanent political talking point.
“I think you’re right that we should be pounding on that even if it’s not a central policy priority of the party,” Buttigieg told co-host Charlamagne tha God. “Why let it go, right, when there’s obviously something to it?”
Buttigieg linked the scandal to an unprecedented legislative standstill, explaining how the salacious story affects everyday people who are worried about making ends meet at home. “It affects you because one of your branches of government is not operational between now and September because Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republicans would rather shut that branch of government down than let the Epstein files come out,” he said. “Let that sink in.”
Last week, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to have members leave Washington early for Congress’s summer recess rather than vote on a resolution to release Epstein-related documents. House Republicans abruptly canceled floor votes amid bipartisan calls for a full unsealing of records. The House Rules Committee, a crucial gatekeeper for legislation, recessed for the week after Democrats threatened to force votes on Epstein-related amendments, effectively halting regular legislative business. Johnson sent lawmakers home until September.
Charlamagne had noted that Trump’s evasive handling of the Epstein files is “the first time that I’ve seen Trump supporters be agitated and angry about anything,” arguing that Democrats should adopt the GOP’s relentless strategy. “Democrats should treat this issue the way Republicans treated [transgender women] in women’s sports,” he said. “Never stop talking about it.”
Buttigieg agreed and emphasized that Trump’s ties to Epstein are not speculative. “It’s not some wild liberal conspiracy claim that he was involved with Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “There’s pictures, pictures still coming out now after all these years. Not to mention the pictures and footage that were there years ago, and not just him shaking hands, getting his picture taken with the guy, but ogling women with him, dancing with, grooving with him. Now we found out he was at his wedding. So obviously there’s something there. It’s not even arguable that there’s something there.”
Buttigieg also criticized the Trump administration’s February stunt, when Attorney General Pam Bondi handed out binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a group of 15 right-wing influencers.
“I don’t know [why the Biden administration didn’t release more],” Buttigieg said when Charlamagne asked why more information hadn’t been made public in the last administration. “But [far-right influencers] were waving around these binders, right? At press conferences.”
The group included Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok, whose anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has fueled real-world harassment and falsely branded LGBTQ+ people as “groomers.” The binders’ release was coordinated from the White House with Bondi, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Trump present. Despite the theatrical optics, Raichik had been remarkably silent and has not tweeted about the Epstein files in months, something that has not gone unnoticed online.
“Fun Fact: The account @libsoftiktok hasn’t tweeted about Epstein in over three months,” one popular account wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on July 19. On July 23, Libs of TikTok tweeted about a judge who denied a request from the Trump administration to unseal sensitive grand jury testimony in a case.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi briefed Trump in May that his name appears multiple times in the files, a revelation Trump and his aides have deflected or denied. Trump responded by smearing those demanding transparency as “weaklings” and “radical left lunatics,” and by filing a $20 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for publishing a report that included notes on a risqué birthday card he allegedly wrote to Epstein.
Trump has shifted his language in recent weeks, repeatedly insisting that only “credible” information should be released — a phrase he has used across multiple media appearances. “Whatever’s credible, she can release,” he told reporters on July 16. “I think it’s good.”
Buttigieg noted that this pattern of distraction is deliberate. “Trump says, ‘We’re going to release the files,’ and then he says, ‘We’re not going to release the files,’ and people are mad, including MAGA,” he said. “And what does he do? He’s like, ‘We’re going to arrest Obama.’ What? That has nothing to do with anything.”
The scandal has proven difficult for Trump to contain. Polling shows widespread dissatisfaction, even among Republicans, with how his administration has handled the matter. A CBS/YouGov poll released July 20 found that 9 in 10 Americans think the government should release all of its Epstein-related documents.
But for Buttigieg, the issue cuts deeper. He said that regardless of the party affiliation of people found to have engaged in abuse, people deserve answers. “Let the chips fall where they may,” he said. “We got to know. Anybody who’s an abuser, anybody who’s committed [a crime], of course [they should be held accountable].”
As for his political future, Buttigieg deflected speculation about a 2028 presidential bid but didn’t rule it out. Regarding the future makeup of the Democratic Party, he queried, “Is it more Pete Buttigieg or is it more [Zohran] Mamdani? Is it more Josh Shapiro or is it more AOC?” The party’s strength lies in its breadth, he said. “I think my style is different from some of the others in the party, and that’s fine,” Buttigieg said. “We’re each going to be putting forward the version of the message that’s true as to who we are… That, I think, is the future of the party.”
Watch Pete Buttigieg on The Breakfast Club below.
– YouTube www.youtube.com
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Pete Buttigieg, Charlamagne tha God say Democrats should hammer home Trump’s Epstein cover-up