Rep. Burchett Warns on Epstein Files: 'This Town Buries Secrets'

One of the dozen Republican House members seeking a discharge petition to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., has warned the Washington, D.C, "cover-up" must come to an end.

"I'm ticked off at everybody," Burchett told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "Look, this thing should have been handled. Now we're at the point they're going to start dumping files."

And not only dumping the files not yet released due to seal under the order of judges and courts, Burchett noted, but also potentially the planting of defamatory smears targeting political opponents.

"This town buries secrets," Burchett added.

"This town does not give up its secrets easy. And it's just fighting and kicking. And the reason I'm worried about these files now is the fact that the Biden administration, who, in my opinion, has a history of corruption, has tampered with these files. And we're never going to get to the bottom of it.

"And I think stuff could have been placed in those files.

"Do I have proof? Well, no, I don't. But I have a gut feeling and I have a historical reference, which is every daggum time something like this happens in this town, it gets covered up. And it needs to stop."

The political weaponization of the Epstein files – potentially targeting even President Donald Trump for past interactions with Epstein – is apparent by Democrats' own selective positions on the files that have suddenly changed, according to Burchett.

Even CNN host Jake Tapper noted Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was once one of those blocking the release of Epstein's flight logs as brought forth by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

"Dick Durbin, you're correct, he did effectively try to and did block my Sen. Blackburn from getting those files released," Burchett said. "And it's clear what the Democrats are up to.

"They're tanking. The country knows it. Their biggest candidate in the whole country, Jake, is a guy in New York, a guy, people are accusing of a communist. And what's he say? Oh, hey, I'm not a communist. I'm a socialist. As if that's a selling point.

"That's what the Democrat Party has fallen into. Where the heck have they been the last four years?"

As for the media and Democrats "trying to play politics with this thing," the changing of positions exposes the "cover-up," according to Burchett.

"And for Dick Durbin to start making his point now, I think that you all in the media should bust his tail for that, because that is very disingenuous," he told Tapper. "And that is clearly a cover-up by the Democrat Party."

Trump announced late this week, after the passage of the $9 billion rescissions bill that briefly stalled in the House because of some GOP holdouts, he is instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the grand jury transcripts that outlined the charges and case against Epstein.

"I thought they were dragging their feet," Burchett told ABC News' "Meet the Press" in a separate Sunday interview with Martha Raddatz. "In the beginning, under the Biden administration, they never did anything. And now all of a sudden, it's become a political issue.

"It's not a political issue with me, Ma’am. I've held the hands of people that have been molested, and they carry a life sentence."

But, Burchett said, Bondi started slow on this, but she can make up for it with a full release of the grand jury files, save for redactions to protect the innocent.

"I applaud the president and Attorney General Bondi for wanting to release the grand jury files: I believe that will pretty much cover everything," he told Raddatz.

But, the whole truth of the Epstein scandal will go down with Watergate and former President John F. Kennedy's assassination in the pantheon of D.C. cover-ups.

"I think it's a start," Burchett said of the impending release. "I don’t think we’re ever going to get to the bottom of anything."

"Sen. Dick Durbin blocked my senator, Marsha Blackburn, who valiantly fought to get those records out," he added. "and the media backed him up on it.

"And now, all of a sudden, the media thinks they've got something."

Notably, former Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz has told Newsmax in multiple appearances this week that knowing all the angles of the case, Democrats and America are ultimately chasing the empty vault of Al Capone. He added there is no criminally incriminating evidence that will be unearth related to any of Epstein's former friends and clients in those grand jury files where Dershowitz had been privy to decades ago.

During the first Trump administration, Epstein, then 66, was charged by the Trump Justice Department for one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors. The case noted the trafficking of minors was those to have sex with him. Although the public narrative accuses Epstein of trafficking to others, the case was only related to trafficking to him.

Dershowitz told Newsmax he has seen no evidence of Epstein to have trafficked sex, including with minors, to others.