The “Last Word” host began, however, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who said he had hoped the Senate would amend the bill.

O’Donnell argued Johnson shouldn’t have been surprised that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked for the unanimous consent vote, which did not allow for amendments, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) himself had “told every Republican member of the Senate” that it was coming hours before.

“Mike Johnson claimed that because he was at dinner with Donald Trump and the dictator of Saudi Arabia when Chuck Schumer led the Senate vote at 5:20 p.m., that he didn’t know what was happening,” O’Donnell said Tuesday. “And that is a lie.”

He further argued that Johnson knew what was coming because Schumer had already announced at 3:15 p.m. his plan to ask for a unanimous consent vote — in a Senate floor moment O’Donnell said Johnson would have seen “on television in his office” at the time.

“The entire Congress knew that, as soon as Chuck Schumer said it,” explained O’Donnell. “But now Mike Johnson has decided he has to lie his way out of his humiliation of having told his members that the Republican leader of the Senate would absolutely amend the bill after they voted for it. Here is the pathetically humiliated, lying speaker of the House.”

O’Donnell went on to play a clip of Johnson later telling reporters he was “deeply disappointed” in his Republican colleagues for not demanding said amendments, and that both he and Trump “have concerns” with the Epstein bill.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the Epstein bill’s co-sponsors, has argued the reversal could be a “smokescreen,” as Trump told Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to investigate ties between Epstein and prominent Democrats, and classified files can’t be released if they’re part of an ongoing investigation.

O’Donnell on Tuesday cherished the vote as a victory, however, arguing: “Donald Trump’s dictatorship over Republicans in Congress is coming apart. The Epstein files have finally broken Donald Trump’s dictatorial grip on the House and on the Senate.”

“What happens next to the dictator’s grip is unknown,” he added. “But remember, just a week ago, it was unimaginable that there would be a unanimous vote in the United States Senate against Donald Trump to release the Epstein files — but that is where we are tonight.”

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