Trump may hurl 'vulnerable' fall guy  overboard to fight Epstein heat: NYT reporter

President Donald Trump has an easy scapegoat to throw under the bus if he continues to feel the heat from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, New York Times reporter Michelle Goldberg told MS NOW's Ari Melber on Friday: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick, a billionaire who has been at the forefront of defending Trump's tariff policies, has been caught lying about the extent of his relationship with the deceased financier pedophile, and even top GOP lawmakers are suggesting he could be brought in for questioning.

"I think the fact that they did them behind closed doors goes to the fact that they wanted to use them to either divert attention from Donald Trump and his allies, but didn't actually expect there to be any moments that were going to help them advance their side of the story," said Goldberg. "If they did, they would have wanted this to happen in public. They would have wanted to make a circus out of it."

"I also, I think — I also think we have to say that Bill Clinton's statement about how he never, never knew, I believe him, maybe that he never saw anything going on," said Goldberg. "But he said, you know, it's testament, something to the effect of it's testament to how well Epstein hid his crimes. He didn't hide them that well. You know, there was a reason that back when Bill Clinton was jetting around with Epstein, they called the plane the Lolita Express. And so, you know, even though I'm sure some of your viewers are Bill Clinton fans, I don't think that we should take everything he said here at face value."

"I think that's a good point," said Goldberg. "And so with the under a minute I have left, where does this go? The pressure is clearly building, including the details I mentioned."

"Well, yeah, I mean, I think the Lutnick, the pressure is going to continue to build on Lutnick again because he was caught red-handed in a lie, whatever his relationship was or wasn't with Epstein," said Goldberg. "He told this elaborate lie about cutting ties with him that we now know was blatantly untrue. And I think, you know, there's people on the right who see him as a clown or a distraction. So I imagine that he's one of the more vulnerable people in the Trump administration."

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