On Friday's The 11th Hour, during a discussion of the possibility that former President Bill Clinton's reputation might be hurt by release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, MS NOW contributor Jason Johnson laughably claimed that Democrats have never had a problem with convicting other Democrats even though every Senate Democrat voted against convicting President Clinton in 1999.
MS NOW's The 11th Hour
November 21, 2025
11:19 p.m. Eastern
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Okay, but, politically speaking, Jason, I get the political calculus of why you want to go after Bill Clinton. I'm not arguing it -- I see it. But on what grounds would you say, "I'm going to go after Bill Clinton and protect Ghislaine Maxwell"? This is the part of the trade that I don't get.
JASON JOHNSON, MS NOW CONTRIBUTOR: It's because they desperately need to change the story to being about Democrats. Like if you remember, this whole thing -- the whole, "We're going to release the Epstein files," by Trump when he was running for President was because everybody assumed that it was going to be Bill Clinton who got exposed, right? That's what this -- that's what the MAGA -- that's what the QAnon Pizzagate people believe.
RUHLE: But Democrats are willing to say, "Let Bill Clinton get exposed -- let anybody get exposed -- it's about the victim."
JOHNSON: But, see, that's the thing. Epstein has never been about Democrats because Democrats have never had a problem, like you said, with convicting their own people. This is an internal circular firing squad amongst MAGA. It is -- it is MAGA people who are upset -- it's MAGA people who are concerned. Because if you're a Democrat, you haven't voted for Trump in any of the last 16 years worth of elections. It is baked into the cake that you think he is a sexual abuser -- whether it's, whether it's grabbing women by their body parts, whether it's doing things to his first wife, whether it's going into dressing rooms. I mean, you already think that's who Donald Trump is. This is about people who are true believers who are disappointed. And they are desperate to turn it into a Democrat problem rather than Ghislaine Maxwell or anybody else.
. steve malzberg
