Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Mega Edition: Bill Barr And The Epstein Related Deposition Given To Congress (Part 1-3) (5/19/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:02Epstein Chronicles. So we have the Bill Barr transcript from
- 0:08his deposition that he gave to the committee when he
- 0:12sat down for a talk a few weeks ago. So
- 0:15in this episode, we're going to begin taking a look
- 0:18at that transcript and at what Bill Barr had to
- 0:21say during this interrogation, if you want to call it that.
- 0:26So obviously Bill Barr is going to be the one
- 0:28answering the questions, and we have a lot of redactions here,
- 0:31so if we don't have a name for the person
- 0:34asking the question, I'll say redacted, and then I'll ask
- 0:37the question, and then obviously the answers are from Bill
- 0:41Darth Barr, unless, of course, something changes, and if it does,
- 0:46I'll make sure I let you know as we're going
- 0:48through this. All right, So we're going to start with
- 0:51the examination and we're going to bypass them, swearing them
- 0:54in by redacted. So the person asking the questions is
- 0:59redact question. Very briefly, we want to go through your
- 1:03background and the only two experiences that I think are
- 1:06relevant today. Where did you attend undergrad in what year
- 1:09did you graduate? Barr graduated Columbia College in seventy one.
- 1:15I got my master's from Columbia in seventy three, went
- 1:17to law school at GW here in Washington at night,
- 1:20and graduated in nineteen seventy seven. Question, thank you. Answer?
- 1:25During that time I worked at CIA. Question and then
- 1:29President HW Bush appointed you to be United States Attorney
- 1:32General from ninety one to ninety three? Is that correct? Barr? Yes?
- 1:37I was in the department at the start of his
- 1:39administration and he ultimately appointed me attorney general. Question and
- 1:43then President Trump appointed you attorney general in February of
- 1:47twenty nineteen, and then you left in December of twenty
- 1:50twenty correct answer, right, I was confirmed in February of
- 1:55twenty nineteen. Question were you acting prior to your confirmation? Answer?
- 2:00No question. Moving on to the topic at hand, just
- 2:04some preliminary questions. Have you ever met mister Epstein? Answer?
- 2:08Have I? What? Question? Have you ever met Jeffrey Epstein? Barr?
- 2:14Not to my knowledge. Question I'll pause for a minute,
- 2:17Miss Crockett, do you mind identifying yourself for the record?
- 2:21And now we got Jasmin Crockett asking questions? Yes, Jasmin Crockett,
- 2:25Texas thirty question and then have you ever met Miss
- 2:29Glenn Maxwell? Answer not to my knowledge. Question in general,
- 2:34is the Attorney General aware of every federal criminal investigation
- 2:37that's happening at any given point? Answer no. Question What
- 2:42sort of cases would the Attorney General be made aware of? Answer? Well,
- 2:46generally things would percolate. Generally, people would report into the
- 2:50Deputy Attorney General every morning. I would have a staff
- 2:53meeting where the deputy participated and his principal staff and
- 2:57my own staff, and matters that had come that required
- 3:00my attention would come through that system. Sometimes offices would
- 3:05directly communicate with me, especially when there was a conflict,
- 3:09but matters would either come to my attention if there
- 3:11was a disagreement within the department or if it was
- 3:14a matter of national importance. Question did jur your staff
- 3:19closely monitor high profile cases within the United States? Answer?
- 3:24I think my staff monitored high profile cases and brought
- 3:27things to my attention that they felt I should be
- 3:29aware of. Question and then for pretty much the remainder
- 3:33of the deposition will focus on your time as Attorney
- 3:37General in the first Trump administration. Answer sure, question do
- 3:41you have any conversations about Epstein case while you are
- 3:44attorney general. Answer by bar any conversations. Question Yeah, just
- 3:49broadly answer yes. Question do you recall when the first
- 3:53one was Answer? I became at some point, and this
- 3:57was six years ago, but I became aware that the
- 4:00Southern District was conducting an investigation. I think it was
- 4:04a little bit before his arrest, but I can't be
- 4:06sure that it could have been around the time of
- 4:09his arrest, but I was aware that they were conducting
- 4:12an investigation. Now, I don't recall specific discussion surrounding that.
- 4:16I could tell you what my understanding of what they
- 4:19were investigating, but I don't remember particular conversations. It's just
- 4:23my impression of what came up at the time. Question.
- 4:27Can you describe your general understanding of what they were investigating? Answer? So,
- 4:32my understanding was that they were investigating whether he committed
- 4:36trafficking offenses, particularly focusing on his exploitation of young women,
- 4:41and they were trying to make the case against them.
- 4:43And in that context, they were also looking at whether
- 4:46any individuals were accomplices or complicit in that activity, either
- 4:51as facilitators. As you know, they ultimately went after and
- 4:55convicted Glenn Maxwell, and I think they were and I
- 4:59know they were all also looking at whether there was
- 5:01evidence to charge anyone with participating in trafficking by having
- 5:05their involvement with the traffic victims. Question, To the best
- 5:09that you can, can you describe the difference between what
- 5:12participating in the trafficking would be and what facilitating that
- 5:15trafficking would be? Answer? Having well, the latter, I mean,
- 5:20I'm sorry, participation as would be having illicit sex with
- 5:25a miner a traffic miner question and facilitating answer or
- 5:29anyone who was trafficking question? Yeah, answer by bar. But
- 5:34certainly what the focus was on was illicit sexual activity
- 5:37with a miner. Question? And then what would facilitating be
- 5:41of I believe miss Maxwell was? And to that bar
- 5:45cuts off the person asking the question. Answer helping conscript
- 5:49young girls into Epstein's network of young girls who primarily
- 5:52were involved in giving the massages and engaged in sexual
- 5:56activity with them. Question. And then you say, you don't
- 6:00correct me if I'm wrong. Don't really recall more than
- 6:03the general conversations at that point in time, answer right, question,
- 6:07do you recall who those conversations were with or kind
- 6:11of surrounding the arrest of Epstein in twenty nineteen. Answer, yeah,
- 6:15it was either before it could have been before the arrest,
- 6:18but certainly by the time of the arrest I was
- 6:21aware of it, and it would have been It would
- 6:23have been the people who normally attend my meeting. It
- 6:26could have been a conversation with the US attorney, but
- 6:29I don't remember if it was. Question do you recall
- 6:32who normally attended those meetings? You might have said earlier,
- 6:35but answer it would have been the deputy and the
- 6:38deputy's principal associate, as well as my chief of staff
- 6:42and sometimes additional members of the staff. And it would
- 6:45also include from time to time, you know, other people,
- 6:48other members of the staff who were directly concerned with
- 6:51the matter. Question do you recall any conversations with the
- 6:54FBI at that point in time, still sticking to surrounding
- 6:57his arrest? Answer no, question, And then you said you
- 7:02might have included the US attorney. Are you referring to
- 7:05the US attorney for the Southern District of New York
- 7:07Answer Jeff Berman. Yes. Answer do you recall any conversations
- 7:12with anyone in the Southern District of Florida that time? Answer?
- 7:15I don't recall. Question and then do you recall any
- 7:18conversations with mister alex Acosta at that time. Answer not
- 7:22not about this case. Question not about Epstein. Answer not
- 7:26about Epstein. Question Okay, he obviously served in the administration
- 7:31bar yes, question with you so in other cases Answer yes,
- 7:37question similar questions, different timeframe and different subject form. Miss Maxwell.
- 7:42Do you recall any conversations about Miss Maxwell or the
- 7:45Maxwell case when you were Attorney General? Answer yes, I
- 7:49can't pinpoint particular discussions. I think once he committed suicide,
- 7:53you know, the office. I remember being told and agreeing
- 7:56that the office had to go full boar ahead on
- 7:58finding other crimes that may have been committed, including looking
- 8:01for people who are accomplices in some way or complicit
- 8:04in some way. And her name came up in that
- 8:07context obviously as a prime person. Question and don't recall
- 8:12just to avoid the same list of people. But don't
- 8:14recall specific conversations with anybody regarding the case. Answer. I
- 8:18may have had some conversations with Berman where he said
- 8:21in the wake of the suicide that he you know
- 8:23that the office was very much committed to continuing the case,
- 8:27getting to the bottom of everything. Question I'm going to
- 8:32and to that she's cut off or he's cut off
- 8:35by bar Answer. I would say she disappeared and there
- 8:39was this embarrassing period where they couldn't locate her, and
- 8:42you know, at some point I became aware that they
- 8:44were prepared to indict her and that they couldn't find her.
- 8:47But aside from that general information, I couldn't recall anything
- 8:50specific about that question. I believe they eventually found her
- 8:55in like a cabin in Vermont or something. Answer New
- 8:57Hampshire question, New Hampshire. Do you recall how they ended
- 9:01up finding her? Answer? No, I don't. Question. I'm going
- 9:04to shift ahead in the timeline a little bit to
- 9:07mister Epstein's death while at MCC in Manhattan. So you
- 9:10previously stated that you're personally reviewed the security footage from
- 9:14MCC from August ninth, twenty nineteen, into the morning of
- 9:18August tenth. We'll put up with the department has since
- 9:22released just so you can review it. And I just
- 9:25want to ask you a first question. Does this look
- 9:28like the security footage that you would have reviewed at
- 9:30the time. Answer No, I can't remember specifically the security
- 9:34footage and what the composition of it was. I do
- 9:38recall that it showed the common area and a portion
- 9:40of the stairway up to tyrrel. I think it's tyrrel. Question. Yes,
- 9:44so I'll ask some more specific questions. But this is
- 9:47about eleven hours that the department released this month or
- 9:50so ago. And well, we'll look at it schematically. It's
- 9:55a camera pointed towards the common area of the special
- 9:57housing unit at MCC. The stairway on the left goes
- 10:01to a different tier, and then you can see a
- 10:04very little bit of stairway on the right that goes
- 10:07to Tier L. Answer, uh huh, question, but you do answer.
- 10:12I really can't compare it because I can't really remember question. Yeah,
- 10:16answer exactly what I saw. I remember. What I remember
- 10:21about what I saw is that the resolution was good
- 10:25enough that I could see what the guards were up to,
- 10:27the corrections officers were doing. I mean, not crystal clear,
- 10:30but I could tell that they were looking at computers
- 10:32and working on computers and so forth. So I remember
- 10:36that the resolution was pretty good, and it may have
- 10:38been it could have been an enhanced or enlarge part
- 10:42of this. I just don't remember. Question. And to the
- 10:45best of your recollection, were there any anomalies in the
- 10:48tape that you reviewed any missing minutes or anything like that.
- 10:51Answer not that I'm aware of. I was told that
- 10:54it covered the period from the time he was put
- 10:57in his cell to the time he was discovered. I
- 11:00wasn't told of any missing minute and didn't notice any.
- 11:03Question do you recall viewing other camera angles, like a
- 11:06camera pointed down to your l or a camera in
- 11:10the stairwell or anything. Answer? I do remember other footage
- 11:15looking at other footage as well, but I think some
- 11:18may have been in the hallways or interesces things like that. Question.
- 11:23Did the Inspector General end up reviewing mister Epstein's death
- 11:26investigating Answer? Yeah, question and they found that the camera
- 11:31pointed directly down l block was transmitting in real time
- 11:34but not recording to DVR. Answer yeah. Question does that
- 11:37match your recollection? Answer? That matches my recollection. Let me
- 11:42just say that, you know, that video came to me
- 11:44after but a lot of information started coming to me
- 11:47immediately in the wake of his death, and I was
- 11:49getting a lot of information sort of real time and
- 11:52including from the Bureau, And as I found out things,
- 11:55you know, I started reaching my conclusions and this sort
- 11:58of came later in my process. Question Okay, answer, it
- 12:03wasn't the first thing I looked at. Question. Yeah, answer,
- 12:07I think it took some time of working to get
- 12:09whatever they were getting to me. So question, I'll try
- 12:14to cover as much as I can, but we'll start
- 12:16with the video redacted. I'm going to go ahead and
- 12:19introduce what will be Exhibit three, just because I think
- 12:23it'll help in the discussion. All right, folks, we're gonna
- 12:26wrap up right here, and in the next episode, we're
- 12:28gonna pick up where we left off. All of the
- 12:30information that goes with this episode can be found in
- 12:33the description box. What's up, everyone, and welcome to another
- 12:36episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're picking
- 12:40up where we left off with Bill barr and his
- 12:43Epstein related deposition. So the exhibit that they show is
- 12:49a map of the special housing unit, the top tier
- 12:52of the special housing unit at MCC with the cell
- 12:56and it's produced by CBS Bill Barry. Yeh question, and
- 13:02mister Epstein's cell is the one highlighted in red. And
- 13:05just while we're looking at this and looking at the
- 13:07camera footage, the camera angle that we're looking at is
- 13:10a little alcove and kind of the center of the map.
- 13:14Mister O'Callahan, this is you're representing that redacted about redacted. Yes,
- 13:20I am, mister O'Callahan. Okay, redacted, and I can pull
- 13:24the CBS article, mister O'Callahan. I just want to make
- 13:27sure he's looking at where you're appointing redacted. So the
- 13:30camera positioned right there, mister O'Callahan, see look at what
- 13:35redacted is doing redacted. That camera position right here and
- 13:40pointed towards the common area, mister o callahan, So it's
- 13:43up here, bar okay, I'm glad, yeah, mister O'Callahan. And
- 13:49that's a cell bar right, mister callahan, okay, redacted, all right,
- 13:55I'm going to play thirty ish seconds just so we
- 13:58can get our bearings on what the movings of the
- 14:01jail look like at mister O'Callahan. Is Bill Barr's lawyer question.
- 14:06So just while this is playing, you see what appears
- 14:09to be corrections officers kind of walking around the common
- 14:12area going back to the desk. And then there are
- 14:15specific points I want to point out so that corrections
- 14:18officers came from what appears to be a blind spot
- 14:21on the camera towards the right, and that inmate came
- 14:24from what appears to be a blind spot on the
- 14:26camera to the right. We can pause it. I understand
- 14:30we reviewed fifteen seconds of the footage, but based off
- 14:33that review, do you agree that there is a bit
- 14:35of a blind spot on this camera blocked by the
- 14:38stair landing and that cell answer yes, redacted. I'm going
- 14:43to shift ahead to the nine to twenty mark, so
- 14:45I will preface this with this seven forty nine pm
- 14:48on August ninth, twenty nineteen hit play video shown redacted.
- 14:54So this video shows mister Epstein escorted from escorted by
- 14:58corrections officers from making a phone call back to his
- 15:02cell in L Block. So you can see him kind
- 15:05of go out of the frame and go up those
- 15:07stairs to L Block. Mister O'Callahan again redacted, you're representing
- 15:12that that's Epstein walking through redacted? Yes, and O'Callahan you
- 15:17can't really tell redacted. So is the doj ig and
- 15:21the FBI the witness meaning bar I'm not going to
- 15:25challenge it, redacted, okay, And that was going to be
- 15:30my next is that your recollection of that scene as well,
- 15:33that around seven to forty nine PM, mister Epstein went
- 15:36to his cell for the evening answer, I can't actually
- 15:40say that's my recollection of events that I saw in
- 15:43the video, which is him being taken to the cell
- 15:45that was seven forty nine or whatever. Question and then again,
- 15:50understanding that we watched about ten seconds of that walk
- 15:54from his phone to his cell. But in addition to
- 15:57the blind spot of the camera kind off like to
- 16:01the right, it's also a bit of a blind spot
- 16:03on the staircase up to L Block. Would you agree
- 16:06answer on this video, you know, only a portion of
- 16:09the stairway all the way as reflected, and my recollection
- 16:13was a portion of the stairway was reflected on the video.
- 16:16Question that you reviewed as well? Answer yes, question Okay,
- 16:21do you recall reviewing any video that showed the staircase
- 16:24in its entirety? Answer no question. Do you recall reviewing
- 16:28any video that showed L Block in its entirety? Answer
- 16:32no question. So going back to the diagram and understanding
- 16:36kind of again, we reviewed all of thirty seconds of
- 16:39this footage, but I am representing that it's the thirty
- 16:42seconds that surround his death or surround him. Going back
- 16:46to his cell. The blind spot also includes this door
- 16:49on the kind of center of the schematic, which is
- 16:52an entrance into the special housing unit. And just asking,
- 16:55based off your experience and everything that you've reviewed, looking
- 16:59at this, looking at the video, the only video that's
- 17:02publicly available, is it possible for someone to get up
- 17:05to mister Epstein's cell while evading that camera? Answer? I
- 17:09don't believe so. Question you don't believe so? Answer no,
- 17:14question even though part of the staircase is blocked and
- 17:17the entire doorway would be blocked. Answer yes, I do
- 17:20not think it was physically possible for someone else to
- 17:23go up that stairway. Question and then the question asker
- 17:28is cut off by bar you, but then he's cut off.
- 17:33Question at the time you said you believe no one
- 17:35entered L Block between the time? Answer not just because
- 17:39of the cameras though. Question uh huh, bar yeah. Question
- 17:44so what other evidence did you have to support that
- 17:46statement that no one entered L Block between seven and
- 17:49fifty ish? And answer? Okay, Well, I know we're starting
- 17:53with the video, but for me, the video was the
- 17:55icing on the cake. Okay. Question okay. Answer, So there
- 17:59was a lot of evidence about you know, a state
- 18:01of mind, and other physical evidence pointing to suicide, and
- 18:05also testimonial in records pointing to this. But one aspect
- 18:09of this is that the shoe itself physically isolated from
- 18:13the rest of the facility and that it only has
- 18:15two entrance ways. The primary entrance way has to be
- 18:19opened remotely by central control, so no one would have
- 18:22the key for it, and it was my understanding that
- 18:25that would leave a record of it being opened, so
- 18:28there was no way to come in that door except
- 18:30going through central control having it remotely opened. And the
- 18:34second door the second question, I'm sorry, just the primary
- 18:38door is the door in the center of the schematic
- 18:40that appears open in the picture. Is that the primary one?
- 18:43Mister O'Callahan, he's saying, this one bar the one up
- 18:48here redacted? Yes, O'Callahan. Are you pointing to the black
- 18:52rectangular section. Yes, O'Callahan, he's saying, it's that question, which
- 18:59one is the primary end entrance into the sachu Answer? Well,
- 19:03I don't recognize the schematic, but from my recollection is
- 19:06the primary The primary exit is over on the right
- 19:10hand side. Question okay, answer, and if it's over here,
- 19:14then I would have to see the schematic. But my
- 19:17recollection is that you have to come up an elevator
- 19:19and then you get into a room where you have
- 19:22to get through the control door that can only be
- 19:24opened centrally, and then once you get through that, you
- 19:27come through the door that immediately enters onto the sahu
- 19:32and that requires a key, and my understanding was that
- 19:35the key to that was held by the officers inside
- 19:38the shoe and they would have to come and let
- 19:40the person in. That's my understanding. So I think that
- 19:44it was not physically possible in the first instance, well
- 19:46in my opinion, for someone to come through there. But
- 19:49otherwise it was also my judgment that the video corroborated
- 19:53that because number one, it showed the two officers who
- 19:56were in the shoe, the only ones in the shoe
- 19:59at the time, did not leave their desk, so they
- 20:01didn't go to let anyone in question uh huh answer.
- 20:06And second it was my judgment from what I saw
- 20:08on the camera and what I looked at, I didn't
- 20:10think it was possible for someone to get up to
- 20:12the tier and open the door without being picked up
- 20:15on cameras. So question opening the door would also potentially
- 20:19make noise. Answer, Oh, clearly, it's a big, heavy still door.
- 20:23Question yeah answer, yeah, question, thank you. And then you
- 20:28said that in the central command had to open one
- 20:31of the doors, and then a key answer yes, question
- 20:35located at the guard desk had to open another set
- 20:38of doors. Right. Question. Did you review the command logs? Answer? No,
- 20:45I didn't. Question nobody entered. Answer I didn't review them.
- 20:48No question, Oh, you didn't review the command logs? Are
- 20:52you aware of the to that the person asking the
- 20:55question is cut off? Answer? I didn't personally review them.
- 21:00I was aware that they had judged that it was
- 21:03not possible for someone to come in. Question are you
- 21:06aware if anyone reviewed whether or not an entrance or
- 21:09exit was logged? Answer? I believe the Bureau was looking
- 21:12at that intensively, the whole issue of whether this could
- 21:15have been anything other than a suicide. Question Are you
- 21:19referring to the Bureau of Prisons or the FBI? Answer?
- 21:22I'm sorry, the FBI question, thank you answer, and the
- 21:26IG question and they did an almost four year investigation
- 21:30into this, I think answer the IG did question yeah.
- 21:35Answer the Bureau was much quicker. Question. Now we're going
- 21:39to go back back in time based on the evidence
- 21:41that you reviewed, around six thirty am on August tenth.
- 21:46I'm not sure they're title, but the individual delivering breakfast
- 21:49to the inmates attempted deliver breakfast to mister Epstein. He
- 21:53did not answer his door. He called the guards, and
- 21:56they found the body and began providing medical care. Does
- 21:59it sound correct to you to the best of your recollection?
- 22:02Answer yes, question, and then about an hour later, he
- 22:06was pronounced dead at a hospital at New York Presbyterian.
- 22:09I believe in New York. Answer, I know he was
- 22:13pronounced dead at the hospital. Yeah. Question When were you
- 22:16first informed of mister Epstein's death? Answer it was Sunday morning.
- 22:21I was in my study at home, and I got
- 22:22a call from my chief of staff saying that Epstein
- 22:25died from an apparent suicide. Question. Do you recall about
- 22:29how close in time it was to the pronouncement of death. Answer?
- 22:34I don't recall. It was in the morning, I believe.
- 22:37Question and it's still your opinion today that mister Epstein
- 22:40died by suicide. Answer absolutely. Question, Before getting into what
- 22:45kind of the investigation looked like after that, what information
- 22:49was flowing to you? Do you know, to the best
- 22:52of your knowledge, what are the policies and procedures in
- 22:55place that were in place to ensure that mister Epstein
- 22:58didn't commit suicide. Answer, well, there had been, as you know,
- 23:02there had been an attempt at suicide in July, and
- 23:04based on that they put them under suicide Watch, which
- 23:07is the most intensive form of monitoring. And when he
- 23:11was taken off suicide Watch, based on the psychologists at
- 23:14the MCC making the determination that he could be taken
- 23:18off that kind of intensive watch, I found out afterward,
- 23:21you know, his lawyers had been pressing hard for him
- 23:24to be let out of suicide Watch, and in any event,
- 23:28he was put on the next level down, which was
- 23:30I forget exactly the term used for it, but required
- 23:34that he have a cell mate and that he was
- 23:35checked on every thirty minutes, in addition to you know,
- 23:39the other general security systems in place. Those were the
- 23:42two that applied directly to him that were supposed to
- 23:44prevent this question. And on understanding suicide watch is very intensive,
- 23:49requires a lot of staff power. And on suicide watch,
- 23:52are they provided with clothes that don't tear, the sheets
- 23:55that don't tear? Answer? I believe that's the case. Question
- 24:00when you were first provided with a more formal briefing
- 24:03regarding mister Epstein's death. Answer, I think it came virtually
- 24:07every day. I found out more information. You know, I
- 24:10was obviously covering it very quickly and wanted to rule
- 24:12out anything other than suicide, and so pertinent information was
- 24:16flowing to me pretty consistently. Question and it was answer.
- 24:22The FBI conducting an investigation, and the Southern District was
- 24:25involved in that. I within an hour or minutes of
- 24:30finding out about it, I directed the IG to have
- 24:33people in New York go to the scene and conduct
- 24:35an investigation. Start an investigation. Question and you've already said that,
- 24:40you know, you reviewed security camera footage. Obviously there was
- 24:43a previous suicide attempt that probably had psychologist notes and
- 24:47things that were available to the FBI and BOP to
- 24:50review and the IG to review. Were there any other
- 24:53things that you reviewed specifically? Answer? I would review photographs
- 24:58when people were discussing that were pertinent. I may have seen.
- 25:02I think I may have been shown logs that were apparently,
- 25:04you know, erroneously filled out by the corrections officers, things
- 25:08like that the systems were explained to me. From time
- 25:10to time, the BOP was also conducting their own investigation,
- 25:15so there was sort of three investigations going on at once.
- 25:18Question and it was kind of the culmination of all
- 25:21this information that was provided to you that led you
- 25:24to the judgment that it was suicide. Answer? Yes, well,
- 25:28over time it became clearer and clearer to me that
- 25:31it was undoubtedly suicide. As I say, the video was
- 25:35probably the last thing I looked at or you know,
- 25:37in reaching that conclusion. Question do you recall reviewing any
- 25:41specific documents during that time period, like the coroner's report? Answer?
- 25:46I did review the coroner's report. Question I asked this,
- 25:50but did you review like entry and exit logs from
- 25:53the SHU Answer? I may have. I saw some records.
- 25:57I can't remember what they are. To wrap up right here,
- 26:01and in the next episode, we're going to pick up
- 26:03where we left off. All of the information that goes
- 26:05with this episode can be found in the description box.
- 26:09What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 26:11Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up
- 26:14where we left off with Bill Barr and his deposition
- 26:18before Congress. Question do you recall reviewing any specific documents
- 26:25during that time period, like the coroner's report. Answer. I
- 26:28did review the coroner's report. Question did you? I asked this,
- 26:33but did you review like entry and exit logs for
- 26:36the shoe Answer? I may have. I saw some records.
- 26:39I can't remember what they were. Question Okay. The chief
- 26:42medical examiner at the time stated after examination that Epstein
- 26:47died by I believe it was described as kneeling hanging,
- 26:50so not jumping off the top punk, but using leverage
- 26:53to kind of lean forward. Does that fit your recollection, Barr?
- 26:58I remember discussing of a kneeling hanging, but I can't
- 27:01remember what posture he was in at the end question
- 27:04and answer. They found him with his buttocks facing the
- 27:08question ground answer ground, So I'm not sure if he
- 27:12was on his knees at that point. Question but you
- 27:14hadn't do your recall seeing any evidence that he jumped
- 27:17off the bunk or otherwise fell. Answer. I think question
- 27:23versus just kind of and bar cuts her off. No.
- 27:26I think the evidence was that he hung himself, and
- 27:28it was essentially close to the modus operandi that he
- 27:31had used before being put on watch. You know the
- 27:34same nowses and coming off the top and landing. In
- 27:38that case, he landed on his knees. Apparently it didn't work.
- 27:41I just have to interject here, which I hate to
- 27:43do when we're doing these kinds of episodes, but man,
- 27:47the whole entire narrative around the first supposed suicide is
- 27:50bunk absolute bs. Question were you being kept apprized of
- 27:56the autopsy and its results in sort of real time? Answer? No.
- 28:00Question do you recall when bar that was conducted by
- 28:04New York? Question? Do you recall when you first got
- 28:07briefed on the autopsy? Answer? Well, I heard about it
- 28:10pretty soon after it came out. Question and at that
- 28:14point it kind of confirmed to you that the medical
- 28:17examiner ruled it a suicide. Answer by bar Yes, and
- 28:20the fact that there were I mean, I think not
- 28:23only that ruling, but the fact that there was no
- 28:25sign of a struggle. I mean, he was a fairly
- 28:27large guy, and the idea that people would go in
- 28:30there and hang them in that way, with numerous newses
- 28:32being tied and so forth, without any sign of scuffle
- 28:35was not plausible. Question. Yeah, I think I remember. I
- 28:40don't remember which investigation it was in, but I remember
- 28:43reading like, no, you know skin or fibers under his fingernails?
- 28:47Answer there was none. Question no like scratch marks anything?
- 28:51Answer no contusions, any kind of defensive marks? Answer none.
- 28:57Question is that similar to your bar yes question recollection
- 29:02bar yes? Question I believe mister Epstein's brother hired a
- 29:07medical witness to review the autopsy. Answer right. Question the
- 29:12examiner report named doctor Michael Boden. Answer yes, I see
- 29:16him occasionally on TV. I've seen him. He frequently comes
- 29:19into these kinds of situations. Question. I believe he was
- 29:23described as an expert medical witness in high profile cases.
- 29:26So answer uh huh. Question take with that what you
- 29:30will answer? Yes, question, but do you recall doctor Boden
- 29:33being involved at the time? Answer I remember just reading
- 29:36news coverage. Well, he came in after I believe, after
- 29:39the autopsy reached his conclusions and he offered another view
- 29:43of it. And I remember press reports to that effect.
- 29:46Question his view which is contrary to the medical examiners,
- 29:50And again I will say that he is an expert
- 29:52medical witness, not a medical examiner. Yes he is. Yes,
- 29:56he is. In fact, Michael Boden has more experience than
- 29:59any anybody that they had on their team at the time,
- 30:02So do with that what you will. He's a medical witness,
- 30:07not a medical examiner. But that Epstein had fractures to
- 30:10his larnix, and I believe it was three fact fractures,
- 30:13three different fractures to his hyoid bone in his neck,
- 30:16and that was described as extremely unusual in suicidal hangings
- 30:20and more consistent with homicidal strangulation. Do you recall any
- 30:24conversations about mister Boden's report within the department or with
- 30:28the FBI? Answer by Barr, I remember conversations about it,
- 30:33commenting on it. Question did anyone agree with mister Boden's finding?
- 30:37Answer Bar No, I mean no one expressed agreement during
- 30:40any of my conversations. Question no one expressed disagreement to you.
- 30:45Did you understanding the evidence and what it was and
- 30:48information was flowing really quickly, did you ever see any
- 30:51evidence it suggested mister Epstein's death was a homicide? Answer No.
- 30:56On the contrary, I think when you look at the
- 30:59cumulation of the evidence, including the testimony of individuals, his
- 31:03state of mind, you know, the whole thing, the process.
- 31:06You know. One of the things that impressed me was
- 31:09that it would have required, It would have required people.
- 31:12It wasn't known until eight o'clock that morning, I believe
- 31:14that his cellmate was gone, and it wasn't even clearer
- 31:17during the day whether he'd get a replacement, So there
- 31:20wasn't much time for people to understand that he was
- 31:23going to be by himself, very very little time, and
- 31:26this would have required coordination from probably two dozen people
- 31:30maybe within the prison. Okay, full stop. Why was Nicholas
- 31:34Tartaglioni in the cell with Jeffrey Epstein the first time around,
- 31:37after Nicholas Tartaglioni was already found with contraband in his
- 31:41cell while he was facing four homicides. Furthermore, we have
- 31:46no idea who was in that gel cell or in
- 31:48those cells that were next to Jeffrey Epstein in the shoe.
- 31:51Nobody's ever come out and said anything, so could somebody
- 31:54have been planted in there previously to do this? We
- 31:57got a whole ass rabbit hole still to jump down.
- 32:00But it's always surface level shit with these people, right,
- 32:02They never want to get to the actual story. And
- 32:08all these people were in different groups, you know, the
- 32:10people who were repairing the cameras, the people who you
- 32:13know were responsible for opening and closing the door, the
- 32:16people who are responsible for putting in a new cell,
- 32:18made things like that. For all that to be coordinated,
- 32:22it would have required I think, as I say, maybe
- 32:24two dozen people. Question uh huh so kind of and
- 32:27I'm not I don't mean to be testifying, but like
- 32:30in summary, kind of between a state of mind, previous
- 32:33suicide attempt, and the process in place, in addition to
- 32:36the coordination it would take to override those processes all
- 32:40pointed towards the suicide answer by Bar absolutely, even before
- 32:45you go to the physical possibility of getting into the
- 32:48shoe and getting up in his cell. Question all right, Bar?
- 32:53And the fact that there are eyewitnesses on that very
- 32:55tier of other prisoners, including two right across the way,
- 32:58who saw no one go in that night. Okay, so
- 33:01let's hear from them, bring them in front of Congress.
- 33:04We're just gonna take Bill Barr's word for it. You see,
- 33:06here's my big problem, folks. I don't trust any of
- 33:09these people. So them telling me something is not gonna
- 33:13cut it. Let's see the evidence. Question and they said
- 33:17they never heard the door open. Answer, right, question and
- 33:20things like that. To your knowledge, did the FBI ever
- 33:23investigate Epstein's death as a homicide? Answer? To my knowledge,
- 33:27no question. Do you know if anyone investigated? Answer? I
- 33:31think they investigated to determine whether it was a homicide,
- 33:34but I don't think they ever got to the point
- 33:37of feeling that this was a homicide. Question they never
- 33:41the evidence bar cuts her off. I mean it was
- 33:44a homicide or I mean a suicide? Question? Yeah, answer, yeah, question,
- 33:49the kind of evidence never swung to more probable answer,
- 33:53no question. Do you recall anyone investigating it as a
- 33:57homicide that you were aware of? Answer No, I don't
- 34:01think anyone got to the point of feeling that it
- 34:03was a murder. Well, that's a problem right there, because
- 34:06any death that happens inside of a jail is considered
- 34:09a homicide until an investigation cracks off. They don't know
- 34:12what happened, so they can't rule it out as a homicide,
- 34:14So it's a homicide investigation, right. Question. Going back to
- 34:20doctor Boden, just very briefly, I know that you said
- 34:22you recalled generally, you recalled conversations regarding his contrary findings.
- 34:27Do you recall having any conversations about mister Epstein's broken
- 34:30learnix and hyoid bones outside of doctor Boden's findings. Answer.
- 34:35I think I heard it discussed within the department. Question
- 34:39and to the best of your recollection, the discussions or
- 34:41that it was still consistent with suicidal hanging. Answer right
- 34:46that they said they believe the medical examiner was correct.
- 34:49Question and then you already said this, but I want
- 34:51to ask it explicitly. You instructed the IG to open
- 34:55the investigation? Answer? Yes, answer, as soon as I got
- 34:59off the phone with my chief of staff, I believe
- 35:01he contacted I asked him to contact the IG immediately.
- 35:04I know that they're very familiar with Bureau of Prisons
- 35:07and its processes, and I was told that he had
- 35:10people up in New York who could get to the
- 35:12prison right away. Question and then we've talked about mister
- 35:16Epstein's state of mind an awful lot. And you said
- 35:18that you or someone reviewed kind of the psychologist notes
- 35:21from the previous suicide attempt, the reports that are associated
- 35:25with taking an individual off suicide watch. Do you recall
- 35:29any other evidence regarding what you were reviewed regarding his
- 35:32state of mind? Mister Epstein's state of mind. Answer, Well,
- 35:35you know I was aware of that. You know, he
- 35:37had tried suicide, which I viewed as an attempt at suicide.
- 35:40He had done his last will and testament right before.
- 35:43Question when did you become aware of that one? Answer?
- 35:46Sometime during the period where I was absorbing information. I
- 35:50can't pinpoint it, but there was a period of time
- 35:52where things were being learned and I was finding out
- 35:55about them if they were pertinent, and he his efforts
- 35:59to get bail had failed, So he was looking at
- 36:01a period of time of incarceration in that place, which
- 36:04I think for him was very difficult. Just to point
- 36:08out Epstein's lawyers tell us something completely different. And I
- 36:12do remember the buzz that was caused that Friday, I
- 36:14believe by the release of documents by the court that
- 36:17had a lot of salacious material in there about prominent
- 36:20individuals and so forth, and that caused quite a stir.
- 36:23And so I think that my judgment was that this
- 36:26sort of set the stage for and was and he
- 36:29made the call to his girlfriend. Apparently I found out
- 36:32early that he that procedures were not followed and that
- 36:36he was allowed to make an unmonitored call to a
- 36:38woman who I believe in Belarussia, and who was his
- 36:43I understood to be or believed to be his girlfriend
- 36:45at the time, and he made a call to her
- 36:47at that point. So it seemed important for him to
- 36:50make a call to her that evening. So let's bring
- 36:52her in and let's talk to her, let's talk to
- 36:55doctor Boden. But no, they won't do it, will they.
- 36:59And so put these together, I think it was consistent
- 37:02with suicide question. And then during answer he cuts her
- 37:06off just as to just as to a state of mind.
- 37:09All right, folks, we're gonna wrap up right here, and
- 37:11in the next episode, we're gonna pick up where we
- 37:13left off. All of the information that goes with this
- 37:16episode can be found in the description box.