Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) tried to blame former President Barack Obama for Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘sweetheart’ deal in 2008.
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Mullin claimed it was the Obama administration that struck a deal with Epstein in 2008 despite it happening under President George W. Bush.
The senator kept repeating the lie even after host Jake Tapper pointed out that his timeline is wrong.
“Remember, there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009….in 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein,” Mullin said. “And that sweetheart has not been exposed.”
Tapper pointed out that the deal was actually struck in 2008 by “the U.S. attorney at the time was a guy named Alex Acosta. He was a Bush appointee. He went on to become President Trump’s secretary of labor. It all took place in 2008.”
A DOJ review in 2020 found that Acosta exercised “poor judgment” when he failed to notify the girls and young women who alleged they were sexually abused by Epstein about the decision to not prosecute the sex trafficker.
But, Mullin insisted that it was the Obama administration that struck the deal with Epstein.
“Who was in office at the time?” Mullin asked.
“George W. Bush,” Tapper said.
“Who was in office at the time?” Mullin repeated.
“George W. Bush,” Tapper shot back.
“No, 2009 is when the case came out,” Mullin said. “And Obama was in office at the time.”
“It’s not true,” Tapper said.
“The case was sealed in 2009,” Mullin said. “That’s absolutely true. It was heard in 2008. It was sealed 2009.”
“The point is that the sweetheart deal, which was completed in 2008, was under the Bush administration — U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta,” Tapper said.
Mullin made headlines last week when he admitted that the Republican Party’s goal in the Jeffrey Epstein fallout is to provide “cover” for Donald Trump.
