Reports that the White House hosted a meeting of top Trump administration officials on Wednesday night set off alarm bells in one lawyer’s ears.
According to multiple media reports, the White House meeting concerned the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein story. Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles were in attendance.
The meeting occurred after Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, met with Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and her lawyer.
Ahead of the meeting, a “source familiar with the matter” told NBC News that Trump was considering releasing transcripts of the interview Blanche conducted with Maxwell.
CNN’s Elliot Williams, a legal analyst, joined “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” to discuss the news.
“The idea of this meeting happening at all, we should identify as a huge, huge, huge problem,” Williams said.
Williams took issue with who attended the meeting.
“The FBI Director runs a law enforcement agency,” he added. “He is not a cabinet official. Yes, he was politically appointed, and I understand that’s how it works. But, there’s a long tradition of separation between our law enforcement agencies, our Justice Department, and the political leadership of the White House.”
Williams also suggestion of releasing the Maxwell transcripts telegraphed what the Trump administration may do next.
“If I were thinking about charging anyone with a crime, the last thing on Earth they want to be doing is releasing any transcripts publicly,” Williams said. “It’ll out their investigative tactics. It’ll out who their personnel are. It’ll out who they’re investigating, and potentially who their victims are as well.”