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Now to the White House and our Nancy Cordes, who joins us from the North Lawn. Nancy, let's play the sound of what the president had to say when asked about the Epstein matters today. This is a Democrat hoax that never ends. From what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given, but it's really a Democrat hoax because they're trying to get people to talk about something that's totally irrelevant to the success that we've had as a nation since I've been president. So a hoax it clearly isn't, according to those on Capitol Hill, Republican and Democrat, who have met with the survivors, the victims. And yet the president persists. Right. It was remarkable to hear him calling this a Democrat hoax, in particular, given that it is Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky who is leading the charge on Capitol Hill to get these FBI files related to Epstein released. And of course, it is the Republican-led House Oversight Committee that is also subpoenaing individuals with former ties to Epstein to dig into this case. And so, certainly, there are Democrats who would like to see this material come to light as well. But as we well know, it's Republicans who control the House and the Senate right now. It was also notable, Major, that the president compared this to the Kennedy assassination, basically, to make the case that his administration has been putting out batches of documents and that it's never going to be enough, in much the same way that there are conspiracy theorists who never felt like they got to the bottom of that assassination in 1963, even decades after the fact. But we know that the lion's share of FBI documents, DOJ documents related to the Epstein case, are still under lock and key and have not been released. Another way we know this is not a hoax is the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told this very program that in July. Nancy, I mentioned on this program last night the possibility that the president might not only deploy National Guard troops for crime control to Chicago but other cities. And as if on cue, today he mentioned others. That's right. He talked specifically about New Orleans because the governor of Louisiana, the president said, had actually invited him in and said that they would welcome the National Guard in the city to help the local police department deal with crime there. President Trump said he wants to go to states where governors are welcoming him in. Certainly, that would be less of a legal headache for him. And he almost seemed, Major, to take a step back from his assertion yesterday that he was definitely going to be sending the National Guard into Chicago. He said, we want to send the Guard where we're being asked to send the Guard. And we know for a fact that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker does not want the National Guard. Chicago's mayor, Brandon Johnson, does not want the National Guard. And so it almost seems like the president was kind of pivoting away from Chicago and towards New Orleans. It is a decidedly different matter when a state requests a president to intervene as opposed to one that doesn't and has the intervention anyway. Nancy Cordes, as always, we thank you so very much.
