It’s been a little weird to see just how many Republicans have, in recent years, forgotten who was president in 2020 — a problem that Joe Biden’s critics make with surprising frequency. Last week, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner went even further, suggesting that the former Democratic president was also in the White House in 2018. (He wasn’t.)
The problem, however, isn’t limited to GOP officials and Biden.
Mullin: "In 2009 there was sweetheart plea deal that was made under the Obama administration with Epstein."Tapper: "No, that's not right. It was 2008. The U.S. Attorney at the time was Alex Acosta. He was a Bush appointee He went on to become President Trump's Secretary of Labor."
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-07-27T13:39:36.409Z
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin routinely appears in the media in order to defend Donald Trump and the incumbent president’s administration, and on Sunday, the Oklahoman did his best to peddle partisan talking points to CNN’s Jake Tapper related to Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Part of his pitch, however, went horribly awry. From his on-air comments:
Remember, there was a plea deal that was struck in 2009, way before I was in office, way before Trump was even considering to be in office, way before Pam Bondi was in office, way before Kash Patel was director — 2009, there was a sweetheart plea deal that was made underneath the Obama administration with Epstein. And that sweetheart [deal] has not been exposed.
It fell to the “State of the Union” host to remind his guest and his viewers, “No, that’s not right.”
Unfortunately for the confused senator, Tapper was correct. Epstein did get a “sweetheart” deal, but it was in 2008; Barack Obama wasn’t president in 2008; and the “sweetheart” deal was exposed years ago. The Oklahoman made some specific points, each of which was plainly false.
Confronted with reality, Mullin nevertheless again said Obama was president when Epstein got his plea deal, indifferent to the fact that he was obviously and demonstrably wrong.
Alas, the GOP lawmaker has plenty of company. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas once blamed Obama for the economic crash that happened in 2008, despite the fact that the Democratic president wasn’t in the White House at the time. Similarly, there was a poll released several years ago that found that nearly a third of Republicans in Louisiana blamed Obama for the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina — a storm that hit in August 2005, nearly four years before Obama’s inauguration. But what made Mullin’s error even more notable was the fact that it offered a fresh opportunity to remind the public that it was Trump who rewarded Alex Acosta — the guy who helped orchestrate Epstein’s deal — with a Cabinet position in the president’s first term. This hasn’t played a prominent role in the public conversation about Trump and Epstein, but the Oklahoma Republican inadvertently reminded everyone about this, while trying and failing to smear Obama with an obvious calendar failure. Oops.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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