TIMING IS EVERYTHING

James Carville Says Trump-Hating Podcast to Blame for Invasion

The Dem strategist isn’t afraid to call out his own party—and the president.

Prominent Democratic strategist James Carville shifted blame for Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela away from the president himself and onto fellow podcast hosts.

Appearing on MeidasTouch’s Court of History podcast, Carville dissected the Trump administration’s astonishing abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife over the weekend—and the potential blue-blooded reasoning behind it.

“I think this show bears some responsibility for the Venezuelan incursion, because I think that this is done in response to Epstein,” Carville, 81, told hosts Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz on Monday.

The former Bill Clinton aide and Princeton historian have chronicled the fallout from the close friendship between Trump, 79, and Jeffrey Epstein, which the president has repeatedly denied.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the Department of Justice to release all of its investigative files on the late pedophile by Dec. 19, 2025.

As attention shifted toward Venezuela, the Department of Justice said in court filings submitted Monday night that about 12,285 documents—totaling roughly 125,575 pages—had been released so far, while more than 2 million pages remained in “various phase[s] of review.”

NICE TIMING

Key Epstein Deadline Arrives as Attention Turns to Venezuela

Catherine Bouris

In fewer words: The DOJ has reviewed less than 1 percent of the total Epstein files.

“And no show has brought more Epstein facts to light than The Court of History,” Carville said. “If you just do a word search in the five days before this, how many Epstein references there were and then the five days after that... this is pretty clear,” Carville said. “And in [Trump’s] mind, this worked brilliantly.”

“Mission accomplished, he might say,” Carville added. “He has completely run the story away from Epstein.”

The podcast hosts weren’t the only ones to question the timing of the president’s alleged diversion. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday slammed the Justice Department for failing to submit a report to Congress required under the law mandating the files’ release.

FOG OF FILES

Trump DOJ Scrambles to Redact Epstein Files Before Deadline

Erkki Forster

He noted in a post on X that the report was “required to include a list of all government officials and politically exposed persons named or referenced in the released materials, without redactions.”

“What are they trying to hide?” Schumer wrote.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee noted the curious synchronicities.

“We are sure it’s just a coincidence, but today is the statutory date for the DOJ to explain its redactions in the Epstein file productions,” they wrote in a post on X on Saturday, when Trump invaded a sovereign nation.

“We have not forgotten, and we won’t let up—regardless of the President’s new unconstitutional actions.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and MeidasTouch for comment.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.