Pelosi calls Epstein controversy “a distraction”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have much in common with Donald Trump, but they can agree on a few things. Like the president, the California Democrat wishes the Jeffrey Epstein controversy would hurry up and go away.

In an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, Pelosi dismissed the buzz around the late sex trafficker as a “distraction.”

The Department of Justice’s refusal to release case files or a long-promised “client list” related to Epstein has torn MAGA apart in recent days. When asked about her take, Pelosi said there are more important things for lawmakers to worry about.

“I’ll leave it up to them to talk it out. But again, whether it’s Jeffrey Epstein or Alcatraz, it’s all off the subject of what they’re doing with this budget that is harmful to the kitchen table, meeting the kitchen-table needs of the American people,” Pelosi said.

Nancy Pelosi says the Epstein files are a distraction pic.twitter.com/KMpxSDDtcG

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 17, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials visited Alcatraz on Thursday as a part of Trump’s plan to reopen the former maximum security prison. Bondi has been the subject of intense criticism over the last week from Republicans and Democrats alike thanks to the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case. A post from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s team drew a line between the two issues.

“Pam Bondi will reopen Alcatraz the same day Trump lets her release the Epstein files. So… never,” they wrote.

Pelosi agreed that the moves are connected while speaking to MSNBC.

“I think they’re both distractions,” she said. “I think that they’re off the subject of what is happening, changing the character and the culture of America by undermining, by placing huge, trillions of dollars of national debt on the, for future generations to carry forward at the expense of the health, nutrition, education of the American people.”

Though she might think the Epstein ruckus is a ruse, Pelosi did call on Trump to release the case files related to Epstein on Thursday.

“With deep respect for the victims, their trauma and their privacy, everyone on the Epstein list must be held accountable no matter who they are,” she wrote on X.  “Release the files.”