Jake Tapper And Oklahoma Senator Get In Heated Back-And-Forth Over Epstein's 'Sweetheart Deal'

The contentious discussion comes as the handling of files related to the disgraced financier is under renewed scrutiny.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) lashed out Sunday at CNN’s Jake Tapper, who did not allow Mullin to freely spew erroneous claims about the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The contentious discussion came as the handling of files related to the disgraced financier is under renewed scrutiny. It also arrived after a judge denied releasing federal grand jury transcripts from 2005 and 2007 in an Epstein investigation.

During the interview on “State of the Union,” Mullin had incorrectly claimed that former President Barack Obama was in office when Epstein was granted a controversial no-prosecution deal about a decade before his death. In that deal, Epstein agreed to plead guilty to state-level prostitution charges and serve prison time in exchange for federal prosecutors ending their investigation.

“Remember, there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009, way before I was in office, way before [President Donald] Trump was even considering to be in office, way before [Attorney General] Pam Bondi was in office, way before Kash Patel was [FBI] director — 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein,” Mullin said. “And that sweetheart has not been exposed.”

Obama was in office from January 2009 to January 2017. The deal, a 2008 nonprosecution agreement that shielded “any potential co-conspirators of Epstein,” actually occurred under George W. Bush’s administration.