Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) walked into a budget hearing Wednesday thinking he could grandstand his way through an attack on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Instead, Wyden walked out looking like a fool.
The hearing was supposed to be about the federal budget, but Wyden, being a Democrat, had other plans. He opened with a broadside against President Donald Trump's administration, accusing it of "widespread corruption" and personally dragging Bessent into it. He also wanted to make Jeffrey Epstein the issue, because it’s pretty much the only play Democrats have, and it’s not even a good one. He claimed that Bessent blocked congressional investigators from accessing Epstein's financial records and participated in a cover-up lasting a year and a half.
"There's no better example than the fact that there has been a cover-up of the massive file of Epstein's financial records for a year and a half," Wyden said. "This is part of the effort I've made, it's the only one, to follow the money in the Epstein situation. And yet there's been a denial of access to committee investigators and lying in public about their significance. That subject alone deserves its own hearing. Senate investigators are trying to figure out who paid Epstein for girls, and unfortunately, Secretary Bessent is involved in preventing that from happening."
Strong words. Too bad they collapsed on contact with reality. As far as Epstein is concerned, the Trump administration has always been about transparency. The Trump administration released the Epstein files to the public, something the Biden administration refused to do. So the senator railing about cover-ups belongs to the party that actually kept those files buried for years.
Bessent wasn't about to sit there and take it.
"I had hoped to keep this in terms of the economy — Senator Wyden has mendaciously slandered the Treasury building in an attempt to cover up his son having an investment meeting with Jeffrey Epstein to ask for funding," Bessent said.
Wyden didn't take it well.
"Let's be clear here. Nobody is interested in the ramblings of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history. We want to get some facts about this deal. That's what we're here for," Wyden shot back.
And then Bessent went in for the kill. "And we would like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey Epstein talked about. Your son's largest investment position was Rick's Cabaret. So did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing as he begged him for money using your limited credibility?" Bessent said.
The room went quiet. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) turned to Wyden to check whether he had a response. He didn't.
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Here's what Wyden clearly didn't want discussed: his own son, Adam Wyden, has his own Epstein connections. Recently unsealed Department of Justice documents show Adam Wyden met Epstein through a mutual fund and later sought to pitch him an investment opportunity. In a 2016 email, Adam Wyden told Epstein, "I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope my passion and dedication for my business came through in the meeting."
Holy fuckin’ shit I would like to report a murder! pic.twitter.com/anCOnKP2vM
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) June 3, 2026
So the senator who came in hot with Epstein accusations against Trump's Treasury secretary has a son who was pitching investment deals to Epstein and sending him warm follow-up emails. But, hey… follow the money, right?
This is how the Democrats play it. They make accusations and insinuations about Trump and Epstein, yet every single time, the paper trail and the money trail, in this case, lead to Democrats.
The Democrat Party has been trying desperately to weaponize the Epstein investigation as a cudgel against Trump and Republicans. They just keep forgetting where all the breadcrumbs lead to, and that’s exactly what happened to Wyden. Bessent put Wyden's own family business on the table and refused to let a senator with his own Epstein baggage play prosecutor unchallenged. What a moment!
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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