Maddow Blog-Why Trump shouldn't try to draw parallels between his Epstein and Russian scandals

[LetMyPeopleVote]

If the president believes the Russia scandal and the Epstein scandal are of equal validity, then the White House has a real problem on its hands.

Pressed on the Epstein controversy, Trump keeps arguing that it should be discarded because his Russia scandal was a “hoax.”

But (a) that’s not how logic works; and (b) his Russia scandal really wasn’t a “hoax.” www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-17T17:22:06.103Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-shouldnt-try-draw-parallels-epstein-russian-scandals-rcna219377

As part of his response, the Republican president eventually got around to saying the story is “no different than Russia, Russia, Russia.”
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lu3syikxvh2o

Link to tweet

......There are two rather important flaws with the argument. The first is that logic doesn’t work this way: If someone is falsely accused of wrongdoing, it doesn’t mean that all future accusations must necessarily be seen as false.

The second problem is that Trump’s Russia scandal is still real, no matter how many times he pretends otherwise.

Indeed, the president’s timing could be better: It was literally just last week when Trump’s handpicked CIA director released the findings of an internal investigation that concluded, once again, that Russia attacked the U.S. political system in 2016 because Putin’s regime wanted to put Trump in the White House.....

But if the president is determined to keep talking about this on a near-daily basis, perhaps now is a good time to review some basic truths about the Russia scandal, many of which are too often overlooked.

Russia attacked the American elections in 2016

Every U.S. intelligence agency and lawmakers from both parties have long agreed that the Kremlin launched an expansive and expensive covert military intelligence operation that targeted the U.S. political system in 2016. This basic fact is no longer contested — except by Trump, who publicly declared that he found Putin more reliable than his own administration’s officials — and its importance is too often overlooked......

If the president is of the opinion that the Russia scandal and the Epstein scandal are of equal validity, then the White House should prepare for the ongoing controversy to become even more dramatic.

The Russia story was NOT a hoax. The author has a ton of great facts posted in this article on how Russia and trump worked together. If the Epstein matter is on the same level as the Russia interference story, then trump will NOT be happy