'Takes your breath away': Ex-GOP insider warns James Comer act will backfire spectacularly

MS NOW's Joe Scarborough warned Republicans that House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has established a precedent that's certain to backfire.

The Kentucky Republican has compelled the testimony of Bill and Hillary Clinton later this month about their association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but the "Morning Joe" host said that opens the door to forcing President Donald Trump to testify about his own lengthy friendship with the late financier.

"It kind of takes your breath away," Scarborough said. "You remember when [Olympic gymnast] Mary Lou Retton, like, on one leg, did all this, and then she lands. You're like, how could she do that? Right? That's the reaction every time James Comer and this committee does something even more stupid than I think is humanly possible, and you're like, oh my God, I wish I had Jim McKay, like, and that voice in the background talking about, like, spanning the globe to find the dumbest committee chair people ever, because that's exactly what's going to happen. By the way, anybody over 80 knows exactly who I'm talking about, I got you."

The president, his wife and his businesses are mentioned more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice, and Scarborough said many of his top administration officials turned up there as well.

"Anyway, that's going to happen, and it's going to happen not only to Donald Trump, it's going to happen to [Commerce Secretary] Howard Lutnick," Scarborough said. "Get your subpoena boots on, Howard, because you're going to be going thanks to James Comer to the Hill after Democrats take control. Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary who lied about his connections with Epstein – Elon Musk, same there. He's going to be subpoenaed by Congress because he lied about his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein. Donald Trump, as you said, going to be brought in because none other than Elon Musk said that Donald Trump was was all over the Epstein files, and that's, quote, the real reason they've not been released. Thank you for that Elon Musk."

"So yeah, Comer has laid the precedent for Donald Trump being called up there," he added. "The man who's been nominated to be the next Fed chair, also contacts with Jeffrey Epstein showed up in the Epstein files. He's going to be called up to the Hill because of James Comer, because of the precedent James Comer set."

Attorney General Pam Bondi would certainly have compelling testimony, Scarborough said, because she served the same role in Florida shortly after Epstein reached a controversial plea agreement – thanks to Trump's first labor secretary, Alex Acosta – back in 2007 with the help of attorneys Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Starr, who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial in January 2020.

"I would love to hear how Pam Bondi could explain how she was attorney general for the state of Florida from 2011 to 2019, and she never raised a question in a serious, meaningful way about the resident of her state, Jeffrey Epstein," Scarborough said. "That's going to make an absolutely fascinating, fascinating government oversight, judiciary hearing, and the thing about that also is, say, it's not like anybody could act shocked. Oh, I just didn't know I could. We were talking about it in 2015. We were talking about it in 2016. I kept asking, why is this guy out? I don't understand why is this guy walking the streets of Florida right now?"

"So again, what James Comer has done and really what I've been warning you Republicans all about really over the past year is when you set precedents like these really bad precedents, they're going to be followed by the next people who replace you," he added. "You're not going to be in power forever. This is just bad. It's just bad to be doing this because, again, the precedents that are being set."

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