Alternate headline: The Epstein Light Grenade continues to function exactly as designed.
Honestly, this clip doesn't require much explanation or commentary, but it deserves its own perch rather than getting buried in the Final Word, too. It's also an example of a very different strategy for any White House in dealing with Congress, mainly due to political pressures on all sides to keep escalating political fights.
However, if Democrats want to pick fights with Republicans over the Epstein files, they'd be well advised to choose someone who isn't throwing those rocks from inside a glass house. Ron Wyden tried playing Epstein games with Scott Bessent today, and the Treasury Secretary showed up ready to play right back:
BESSENT: "Sen. Wyden has slandered the Treasury building to cover up his son having an investment with Jeffrey Epstein."
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 3, 2026
WYDEN: "Nobody is interested in the rambling of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history."
BESSENT: "Your son's largest investment position… pic.twitter.com/N8KNmWxvMV
BESSENT: "Sen. Wyden has slandered the Treasury building to cover up his son having an investment with Jeffrey Epstein."
WYDEN: "Nobody is interested in the rambling of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history."
BESSENT: "Your son's largest investment position was Rick's Cabaret. Did your son and Epstein talk about poll dancing?
Bessent didn't just pull that allegation out of his nether regions. The Democrats' insistence on full release of the Epstein files turned up an attempt by Adam Wyden to get Jeffrey Epstein to put money in his private investment fund. The New York Post covered it two months ago:
Seven years after Epstein was released from a Florida prison after pleading guilty to solicitation of prostitution from a minor, Adam Wyden, who founded his own private investment fund, ADW Capital, in 2010, was introduced to the disgraced financier through mutual friend Jonathan Farkas.
“Adam my friend jeffery Epstein who manages 5 billion said to call his office he wants to see your record and would consider investing with you,” Farkas wrote on April 27, 2016. ...
The men decided to huddle the following day at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse at 10 a.m., according to the documents.
Wyden gushed in a follow-up message to Epstein after the meeting about his “passion and dedication for my business” while seeking to reel him in as a client.
“I live and breathe this business and take my returns, integrity and reputation quite seriously,” he wrote in the April 2016 message.
He also called them “like minded individuals” and said he ‘would very much look forward to having you join us at the fund.” There are no indications Wyden knew about any illegal Epstein activity or that Epstein became a client.
Having picked this fight, Wyden then got "stunned into silence," and this has the full quote as Bessent stuck the landing:
🚨 OMG. SEC. SCOTT BESSENT JUST WENT THERE 🔥
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 3, 2026
SEN WYDEN (D): We don't want ramblings about the most corrupt regime in history, we want facts
BESSENT: "And we'd like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey EPSTEIN talked about. Your son's largest investment position was Rick's… pic.twitter.com/E5SKrZ0zyE
BESSENT: "And we'd 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 clearly prepared for this attack. Was he warned by someone in Wyden's office about it? Did he just figure that Wyden was dumb enough to posture on the Epstein files despite his son's appearance in them? That much turned out to be true, and Wyden ended up looking like a baby seal at harvest time in Canada.
Bessent is an absolute legend for this, but it's been a feature now from Trump officials in this term. They have done their research on Democrats who want to use them as punching bags, preparing carefully for potential personal attacks with ammunition for scorched-earth responses. That's a measure of just how toxic partisanship has become in the age of Democrats' Orange Man Bad obsessions, but also a measure of how quickly Trump administration officials have adapted to this no-holds-barred environment. The environment is lamentable, but the lesson here is clearly this: Don't start none ... won't be none.
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