Trump Press Sec Seethes as Epstein Spin Falls Apart in Briefing Fiasco

House Democrats have released Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book,” and it’s brutal for President Trump. His note to Epstein is real, and it appears to bear his distinctive signature. There’s also an image of Epstein holding a big check that discusses selling a “fully depreciated” woman to Trump. On Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, visibly irritated, offered some truly absurd spin about Trump’s signature on the note to Epstein. She dodged a question about the check with rank misdirection while curtly brushing off further queries. And to purportedly show that his signature was forged, she preposterously cited an article in ... right-wing media. The upshot: White House spin looked comically awful throughout. Leavitt flashed anger at other points, accusing reporters of ignoring serious crimes and of being dishonest about Trump’s militarization of Washington, D.C. We talked to MSNBC’s Steve Benen, author of Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past. We discuss why MAGA deceptions on Epstein are worse than usual, what that says about the evolution of the right-wing disinformation machine, and where this scandal is going next. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.