MASSIEFLIX

Don Lemon: Massie on the Hegseth Holiday and the Epstein Recess

Sep 17, 2026 · 7:52 don-lemonhegsethimpeachmentjohnsonepstein

Don Lemon catches Massie the day Johnson sent the House home. Massie says leadership ran a whip count, skipped the Hegseth vote, and he is heading to DOJ to read more Epstein files.

Original by Don Lemon on YouTube ↗ · Is this yours? Claim credit →

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Chapters

  1. 0:00 The Hegseth holiday
  2. 1:08 218 signatures, then recess
  3. 2:07 The war at the pump
  4. 3:48 Foreign money vs mail-in votes
  5. 4:52 Trump fractured his coalition

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  1. Hi Senator, good morning. How you doing? Good to see you again. >> Yeah, how you doing, Don? >> Uh how do you feel about them, you know, adjourning everything so that
  2. you don't they don't have to vote on what you want? >> Hey, this is I call this the Heggseth Holiday today. Uh and the next 2 weeks is the Epstein recess.
  3. You know, I introduced the uh articles of impeachment. They had 48 hours to vote on it, and so 24 hours later, Mike Johnson adjourned Congress to avoid
  4. the vote. I think they did a quick whip check. >> Yeah. >> Found out it wasn't good news. Uh otherwise, they would have had the vote and tabled it. >> Yeah.
  5. >> But you think it was on purpose? >> Well, I know it was on purpose. Because if they had adjourned a day early for any other reason except for the Heggseth
  6. uh articles, they would have had the vote yesterday on the Heggseth articles. >> Yeah. >> Like he has to have a vote within 48 hours, but he could have it in 12 hours
  7. or 24 hours so that and there's no benefit to Pete Heggseth to have this hanging over his head until the election day. He should If if the whip count had
  8. been good, they would have disposed with this with my motion with the motion to table. >> And then the Epstein >> On the Epstein bill,
  9. >> [clears throat] >> I got to 218 signatures last night. I got the fourth Republican that I need. It's only because there two Democrats that are um absent, probably for good
  10. reason, maybe the health or family, but they would be here next week, and I would be we'd be having a vote on the Epstein files transparency act, too.
  11. >> What are they worried about? >> Transparency. They're worried about accountability. They're um in in advance of the election. But we
  12. should be here today like I'm here today. I'm going over to the DOJ today to look at more of the Epstein files. They should be here today working on things like the price of fuel, the price
  13. of groceries. There's things we could be doing. There's a National Defense Authorization Act that's not been done. There's a farm bill that's not been conferenced between the house and the
  14. Senate. There's a the funding bill that runs out in December. There's a lot of stuff they're piling up into the lame duck session. >> Did you see the report that came out on the cost of the war? [clears throat]
  15. This is for >> You know what? I don't need to see that report. I buy fuel for my tractor and I buy gas for my car. That's the That's the real price of the war. It's been
  16. over a hundred billion dollars of cost to consumers. Not Not the cost of the military. People don't see that cuz that's hidden in our debt. But when you
  17. go to fill up your tank, you see it. >> Yeah. Look, we all wish everyone well. But you Senator Mitch McConnell was missing in action for 92 days.
  18. And now he's back. I mean, I look at the pictures, I have to be honest. Doesn't look good. Yesterday the vote, were you present for the vote yesterday with him?
  19. >> Um I mean, they vote separately than us, so >> So he um had a >> I haven't I haven't but to your point >> the video? He had a bunch of people around him and he's supposed to vote I
  20. and he voted nay and then they corrected him and told him and then he voted. >> Yeah, it makes me wonder what Scott Jennings 20-minute conversation with
  21. McConnell was like. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> What do you think? You think he's >> just I wish him the best. Um honestly, they're not going to do much of of anything up here um between
  22. now and January 3rd. There's going to be some nefarious stuff during the lame duck session. That would happen with or without McConnell, with or without a replacement to McConnell. And so at this
  23. point, since since Mike Johnson has canceled the rest of Congress, I don't know which is worse. A senator that doesn't show up or 435 members who can't even be in here doing our job.
  24. >> Who actually show up and don't do anything. >> Yeah, I'm here today. >> Yeah. So but I Is he able to represent the people of his state well in this
  25. >> That's up to the people and the senator and the and the governor. That's not my choice. >> Yeah. How are you feeling about the midterms? Are you concerned Donald Trump is doing
  26. everything he can to try to take over the election, restrict the voting, uh get people not to vote by mail, which he does.
  27. >> No, I'm not worried. >> You're not? >> No. I look, people complain about the integrity of the election or election interference. I just had
  28. $30 million spent against me by a foreign lobby, and nobody cares about that. I mean, that's that's the real problem we have here is the money and
  29. the foreign money that's in our elections, and a lot of it's on social media and not even tracked. >> Yeah. Um yesterday, the vice president said, "Hey, we just need a second
  30. chance. We need 4 more years." I don't know, I guess he's running, I don't know, to get the the country in order. And so, they need to a second term or maybe a third in order to do it.
  31. >> Maybe it's like an abusive husband who asked for a second chance, and the and the constituents want a divorce. >> Uh I said that yesterday on my show.
  32. >> Oh, you did? >> similar. >> I swear I didn't steal your joke. >> he didn't you've already have more time to Yeah. >> already broke my heart. I'm not giving you a second chance.
  33. >> [laughter] >> Is that how you feel? >> Well, >> It's your party, too. >> No, in all seriousness, >> [clears throat] >> who's he asking for a second chance
  34. from? The president, to his credit, created a coalition that's never been created before, gave us a majority in both chambers and the White House, and we
  35. were able able to get on most days a conservative outcome in the Supreme Court. Um and he's alienated the various
  36. factions of that coalition. He's he told the people who wanted transparency that you're no longer a supporter of mine if you want the Epstein files exposed. He
  37. told the people that didn't want another war, there were a lot of us in that category, "Here's your next war." Um and then, he told the the people that the
  38. DOJ, the fiscal conservatives, "You know what? Screw it. We don't care about the debt. We're going to lower taxes and increase spending. We're going to raise
  39. the debt more than it's ever been raised before." So, he's fractured the coalition that he built and it's it's really up to the president. I don't
  40. think you're going to see people in tough districts asking the president to come campaign for him. >> Yeah. Well, speaking of and I know you guys I know you have to go. You your time is very valuable, but do you wish
  41. >> Well, and I and I realize I'm the only member of Congress you could find up here >> [laughter] >> on this day we're supposed to be working. Now, let >> me ask No, no, let me ask you this.
  42. Um >> So, take [clears throat] as much time as you need. It could be It could be 5 hours before you find another congressman here. >> We were scrambling and I said, "Senator or Congressman, thank you." But, um let
  43. let me ask you this. You mentioned people in their districts, right? That you don't think that they're going to be scrambling to to write to to vote for them or to to campaign with.
  44. >> A lot of them are disillusioned. I don't I don't think you're going to see Republicans and independents go vote for socialist. What you will see is they'll stay home. >> Okay. Do you wish because you're getting
  45. a lot of love from both Democrats and Republicans right now, independents for speaking out, for speaking the truth? Do you wish you had been more vocal sooner,
  46. earlier? You think it would have made a difference? >> Most people ask the question differently. They say, "Do you wish you hadn't voted against the big beautiful bill? Do you wish you hadn't been
  47. against this war? Do you wish you'd voted for Mike Johnson?" Look, I've never been a a a shrinking violet, okay? I I'm not coming back because I was too
  48. vocal. And so, I have no regrets. >> Yeah. You got any Who's it going to be? Is it going to be Rubio or is it going to be Vance? >> Neither.
  49. >> [laughter] >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for watching everybody. I appreciate you. Make sure you like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so
  50. you don't miss anything. We're live weekdays at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern with new content at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, sometimes at 8:00 p.m. So,
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