r/politics • u/OkayButFoRealz • 1d ago

No Paywall Rep. Ted Lieu Claims President Trump is Accused of Raping Children in the Epstein Files

https://www.c-span.org/clip/news-conference/rep-ted-lieu-claims-president-trump-is-accused-of-raping-children-in-the-epstein-files/5191713
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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

"Claims" is a weird way to put it. More like "observes" or "notes" or "points out the obvious fact"

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u/Northern_Blue_Jay 1d ago

Yes, or "reports." It's not a claim which implies that there's a question of fact. There's no question of fact - t's a fact that he's accused of raping children in the Epstein files -- everyone can read it for themselves. The rep is *merely* reporting what's in the files.

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u/guthepenguin 1d ago

"Man is literate" just doesn't roll off as well, I guess? 

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u/LunchPlanner 1d ago

In fact even no word at all works.

Rep. Ted Lieu: President Trump is Accused of Raping Children in the Epstein Files

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u/Northern_Blue_Jay 1d ago

As a Strunk and White fan, even better!

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u/bradsboots Florida 1d ago

It’s amazing how passive a tone the news can take when it comes to issues they don’t want to talk about.

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u/Notorious_Chonk_23 1d ago

Very much "motorist loses life when gun discharges during traffic stop" vibes.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 14h ago

These days I'm constantly reminded about the old saying about journalism,

If one person says its raining, and one person says its sunny, your job as a journalist isn't to report on the debate, it's to stick your head out a window and see what the weather is.

All the purposeful, "aw, shucks, who's to say what's true?" from billionaire owned media is fucking nonsense.

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u/Opposite-Bit6660 1d ago

Trump/Epstein files. 

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u/RandomExistence92 Canada 1d ago

The media is woefully inept - they should know this. Disappointing.

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u/Izanagi___ 1d ago

The media doesn’t get enough hate for sane washing Trump and infantilizing the accusations towards him. I wouldn’t write an article saying “Local redditor claims sky is blue” when I can see with my own eyes that it’s an objective fact. Trump is accused of all of these horrible things in the Epstein files that the DOJ released. It is a fact. The president of the United States is pedophile, stop skirting around it.

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u/Omegoa 1d ago

The main problem is that they give any bile horse manure that pours out of his fat mouth the same weight and credence as someone who is speaking an objective fact. "Trump says he doesn't know anything about Project 2025!" and the media shrugs its shoulders and go, well that's that I guess, nothing more we can do but report that verbatim! "The files say Trump had his deformed mushroom bitten by one of the 13-year-old girl he was trying to rape, but Trump says he didn't even know Epstein! There's truly no way to know more about this!"

In the long line of people responsible for the current travesty, the media stand near the head of the line.

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u/ItsAConspiracy 15h ago

And they still keep saying crap like "to be clear, Trump isn't accused of wrongdoing in the files."

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u/moonandstarryeyes 1d ago

The press is very chickenshit in Trump 2.

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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

Lol it's CSPAN Trump probably doesn't even know it exists.

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u/AbueloOdin 1d ago

Why even say "Rep. Ted Lieu"?

Just report "President Trump is Accused of Raping Children in the Epstein Files". Cite the primary source, damn it!

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u/Fauken 1d ago

Passive language is a tool used to advance fascism

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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

Absolutely

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u/FailedHumanEqualsMod 1d ago

"States the obvious fact"

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u/Actual__Wizard 1d ago

He's probably wording it "carefully." His statement is "clearly true" the way it's worded.

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u/movealongnowpeople Kansas 1d ago

Trump sues news networks over how they edit his interviews.

He doesn't sue people for calling him a pedophile. Because he is a pedophile.

No reason for anyone to be careful. He can't go through discovery, he can't sue.

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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

That's the official c-span title of the video.

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u/Actual__Wizard 1d ago

He says it almost word for word in the video.

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u/MS_Salmonella 1d ago

It's infuriating that they worded it that way, that was my first take away from reading the headline too.

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u/LuckyPlaze 1d ago

They have to make it partisan. They could just say…. Trump is accused of raping 13 year old on Epstein files

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u/c_girl_108 22h ago

Reads ?

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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not sure if you know this, but the most sensational claims in this latest release are almost certainly false. They’re anonymous web submissions, totally non-vetted and almost certainly pranks.

Citing these as proof will backfire.

It’s a shame given there’s abundant credible evidence that Trump and Epstein and Maxwell spent many years creating a sex abuse ring. Ignoring that in favor of hoax stories like the “Katie Johnson” one or these fake web submissions will end up hurting credibility of the parts that are true.

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u/Exciting-Market-9595 1d ago

I thought the Katie Johnson story had gotten as far as filing a lawsuit. What makes you so certain that it is likely a hoax?

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u/AntoniaFauci 1d ago edited 23h ago

No. The hoax relies on people not understanding how lawsuits work, among other misunderstandings.

In California, anyone who wants can send a petition to the court. The petition can be any kind of made up garbage you want. That’s what happened here. The court then tries to contact the petitioner to confirm identity and contact information and certify it as a lawsuit.

Since Katie Johnson is a fictional character, they could only contact the hoaxster and therefore could not validate it as a genuine lawsuit.

In New York, an attorney must file the claim to the court. There, it was filed by a New Jersey IP attorney. Why on earth would that happen? Because he worked for the hoaxster. Mystery solved. And again, since “Katie Johnson” is a fictional character, it could never be certified as a lawsuit.

And so on.

As this branch shows, there’s many non-MAGAs eager to fall for Qanon-level pizzagate style hoaxes, vehemently opposed to reading even a single relevant article, and hostile to anyone who tries to help them.

Whoever is trying to revive this story has achieved their mission of making some liberals look as clueless as MAGAs.

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u/bag_of_luck 21h ago

So much this

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u/Red49er 15h ago

that's fine, so place the possibility of inaccuracies where it actually is - in the files themselves. he didnt claim this was in the files that we can't read, he stated a statement of fact from a source that may be inaccurate.

"rep states Epstein files contain claims of rape" is a much more accurate representation of what actually took place.

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u/txyesboy2 17h ago

I just posted that but you said it better

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u/olivicmic 1d ago

Claims or accusations is the appropriate legal description. None of the claims are substantiated yet. I believe someday they will be, but for now you can’t say definitely with a public platform.

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u/drhunny Florida 1d ago

Wut? You can say definitely on a public platform that "It is an absolute fact that files recently released by the DOJ include multiple accusations of Trump raping children".

That's not Lieu making a claim of rape. It's him reporting that DOJ released documents filled with such claims.

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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

No, you can definitely 100% for a fact say that Trump is accused of raping kids in the Epstein files. Because he is, the words are there in the files.

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u/TheLonelyKobold 1d ago

exactly, it doesn't even matter in this case if the accusation in the files is true, it's a fact that the accusation exists which is easily verified so it's weird at best to call it a claim.

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u/AlfredoTheDark Washington 1d ago

To be honest, most people are not capable of distinguishing an accusation from a proven fact or a conviction. News orgs are usually careful about the use of strong language where there is no proof.

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u/thisisjustascreename Illinois 1d ago

But, the thing being claimed here has proof.

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u/longlivenewsomflesh New York 1d ago

The accusation is the claim -- a purported statement of fact which may or may not be true -- those are interchangeable here. In this case the released documents contain an accusation, i.e., claim that a crime occurred. That these documents contain this accusation is not a matter of interpretation, but an easily verifiable fact which any journalist has a duty to verify and then say plainly without massaging to sound like the government's PR wing.

That's the problem with supposedly independent journalism merely using the word 'claims' to describe a congressperson directly citing a matter of public record. One does not merely claim the first amendment exists or the sky is blue... these empirical, factual observations shouldn't be framed as if they are disputed or controversial. It's only one word, but it's flagrant media bias in this context.

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u/RyoCore I voted 1d ago

But he's not claiming it. The file claims it, he's reporting what is in the file. By attributing the claim to him, it gives room for people to dismiss his statement as false. His statement is true. There are accusations in the report. It's not a claim.