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A segment on CNN’s OutFront with Erin Burnett on December 29, with Brianna Keilar filling in, unpacked a stunning New York Times report describing an explosive phone call between President Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. According to the report, Trump erupted in anger during a September conversation after learning that Greene was pressing to expose the names of powerful individuals allegedly implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual exploitation of children. What makes the exchange so consequential is not just the intensity of Trump’s reaction, but what he is said to have yelled at Greene: that her efforts would “hurt his friends.”
Greene, who has increasingly positioned herself as an advocate for Epstein’s victims, had warned that she was prepared to publicly name individuals connected to Epstein if the Department of Justice continued to stall on releasing the files. Many of the victims, most of them poor and lacking political or legal protection, have long expressed fear of retaliation if they come forward—fear not only of lawsuits, but of intimidation and physical harm from extraordinarily powerful people. That imbalance of power has been one of the central reasons the Epstein network has remained shrouded in secrecy for so long.
Unlike the victims themselves, Greene occupies a unique legal position. Under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, statements made by members of Congress during official proceedings are protected from civil liability. In other words, Greene can say things on the House floor that would expose an ordinary person to crushing lawsuits. That protection gives her leverage few others have, and it explains why her threat to name names carried real weight.
According to Greene, Trump berated her during the call, warning that continuing down this path would damage people close to him. That claim immediately collides with Trump’s long-standing public posture. For years, he has dismissed the Epstein files as a “Democrat hoax,” suggesting there is nothing real or consequential to be found in them. But if the files are meaningless fiction, then why the panic? Why the shouting? And why the concern that unnamed “friends” would be harmed by their release?
That contradiction is the heart of the story. Trump cannot simultaneously argue that the Epstein files are a baseless hoax and privately warn that exposing them would hurt people he knows. The two positions are mutually exclusive. If there is nothing there, no one should be worried. If, however, the revelations are dangerous—to reputations, careers, or worse—then the hoax narrative collapses under its own weight.
The most plausible explanation left is that Trump does not want the files released because they contain information that would cast him and people in his orbit in an extremely negative light. Whether that information rises to the level of criminal exposure is a separate question, but reputational damage alone would be reason enough to fight disclosure at every turn. At a minimum, the reported phone call suggests that Trump takes the contents of the Epstein files far more seriously in private than he does in public.
The White House dismissed Greene’s account by waving it off as bitterness and attacking her credibility, effectively portraying her as unstable rather than addressing the substance of the allegation. But that response does little to resolve the glaring inconsistency at the center of the story. If Greene is lying, the administration could directly deny the call or the quote attributed to Trump. Instead, it chose mockery and dismissal—an approach that raises more questions than it answers, and only deepens suspicion about what, exactly, remains buried in the Epstein files.