Rep. Blake Moore addresses Epstein files, immigration and Trump's tax bill during Utah visit

OGDEN — Congress is in the midst of its August break, and Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, who is in Utah for the break, answered reporters' questions on Wednesday on a variety of topics from immigration to business tax cuts in the "big, beautiful bill" and the Epstein files.

Moore's comments were made following a business roundtable with multiple chambers of commerce from around the state, including the Salt Lake Chamber and the Ogden-Weber Chamber.

Moore speaks about the impact of Trump's tax bill on social services

The congressman said he supports the work requirements for Medicaid in the "big, beautiful bill," calling it good policy.

"We want to focus that Medicaid funding on the individuals that it's designed to support," Moore said.

He also spoke about the Charitable Act, which he introduced, saying that it encourages people and companies to give more to charities, which will also help to grow the economy.

Moore added that the federal government wants to encourage states to be stewards of social welfare programs. He praised Utah for the way it manages these programs.

Moore criticized Biden on immigration

Moore was asked if he is satisfied with the way the Trump administration is currently handling immigration, and he answered pointing to how the Biden administration handled the issue.

"Letting happen what happened under Biden, it's actually the worst humanitarian thing you could have ever done," he said.

The congressman said that the Biden administration's immigration policy gave people "no options and no hope," and that it let people into the country without any real opportunity.

"It's been really tough to be able to deal with the aftermath of what Biden created," Moore said. "I almost want to make sure that we're doing things as properly as possible — we can always improve."

On the Epstein files, Moore said he supports transparency but wants to protect victims

The congressman also spoke on where he stands when it comes to releasing the Epstein files, related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Moore said he "absolutely" supports transparency.

"But you have to protect potential victims' private information as well. It's not just this easy, like, 'Let's release it all,' when there's going to be a lot of victims that are going to be exposed from this," he said.

Moore also touched on how this has become a political issue.

"I don't remember any of my Democrat colleagues demanding Biden to release this stuff. If they feel like it could affect Trump in some negative way, then they're going to continue to push it," the congressman said.

Moore: People are 'thrilled' with business provisions in Trump's tax bill

Moore said the business community is giving him positive feedback about the Trump tax bill.

"People are thrilled with the business provisions within the tax reconciliation," the congressman said.

He also spoke about the increase in the child tax credit, which he pushed for.

Moore said he isn't concerned that the business provisions in the bill will increase inflation.

"By creating sound tax policy or pro-growth tax policy that won't yield inflation. If we have heavy tariffs, you could eventually see that becoming part of an inflationary period. But I don't believe we're there yet in any way, shape or form."

"When you create pro-growth tax policy, you're actually empowering small businesses, companies, individuals, to kind of control what their expenses are, instead of just a heavy monetary supply," he continued.

On Utah voter information potentially being released to the DOJ

One reporter asked the congressman, "If the DOJ requests voter information from the state of Utah, voter rolls, voter registrations, should the state hand it over?"

The congressman responded by saying that there are privacy concerns with that, but added that "I'm out of my depth, a little bit on the specifics with respect to what's being requested and everything, but I'm going to defer to the Lieutenant Governor's office on what Utah will do."

He also addressed whether there is voter fraud happening in Utah, saying, "Utah has always done a great job, I've been always really impressed with the way Utah manages things and will continue to."

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