The Justice Department's release of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein amounts to "much ado about nothing," as Democrats would have already used the material against President Donald Trump if it contained damaging evidence, former Sen. Rick Santorum said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"If Donald Trump was really implicated in anything serious, Joe Biden would have released this and done everything," Santorum told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "The Democrats would have done everything they could to try to destroy him."
Santorum's comments came amid criticism from Democrats and some Epstein survivors who say the document release lacks transparency and accountability.
Santorum dismissed those claims, saying the release of unfiltered materials creates confusion rather than clarity.
"Just because you have documents in there doesn't mean the people who are writing these documents are telling the truth," Santorum said.
"People lie. You hear about fake documents. How about real documents that put information that's simply not true?"
He said that is why the Justice Department traditionally avoids releasing broad, unverified data dumps.
"This is not transparency," Santorum said. "What transparency does is clarify things. What data dumps of unvalidated, unverified information is, is not transparency. It's confusion."
Santorum also pointed to past Democratic efforts to prosecute or politically damage Trump, saying the absence of Epstein-related allegations during those battles is telling.
"Let's not forget how many cases did they make up to try to put Trump in prison," Santorum said. "If there was something there that they could have done it, they would have used it."
Santorum also discussed the economy, following the release of new Commerce Department data, which showed economic growth accelerating sharply in the third quarter.
Santorum credited long-standing conservative economic principles, including tax cuts and deregulation, for driving growth, while cautioning against overstating the immediate impact of tariffs.
He said the strongest indicator for everyday Americans remains energy prices, particularly gasoline, while broader economic stabilization and wage growth will take time.
"What we have to do is stabilize the economy, lower the rate of inflation to around 2%, and then grow wages, grow the economy to catch up to what you lost during the Biden years," said Santorum.
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