Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Leon Botstein Resigns From Bard as Epstein Scrutiny Intensifies (10/8/26)

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Leon Botstein Resigns From Bard as Epstein Scrutiny Intensifies (10/8/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Over the years we've talked about a gentleman
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: named Leon Botstein quite a bit. And it was always
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: confusing how he wasn't let go and removed from his position.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: But now that's all changed. And that's because a new
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: email from the Epstein files has emerged. And not only
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: does it make Botstein look bad, it makes him look
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: like He's a co-conspirator. Whenever you're asking Jeffrey Epstein if
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Jane Doe is for him or you, probably the kind
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of email that's going to raise the suspicion of people
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: who know that Jeffrey Epstein was not working alone and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: that Jeffrey Epstein certainly was distributing these women to people that,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you know, he was looking to get closer to or
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: people that were part of his inner circle. And it
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't widespread, right? It wasn't Heidi Fleiss. But there were
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: certain people that were brought even closer to the monster
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: known as Jeffrey Epstein. And according to the email, it
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: looks like Leon Botstein might have been one of them.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So today we have an article from The Guardian and
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  Speaker 1: the headline, Leon Botstein resigns from barred roles as key
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Democrat demands investigation into Epstein links. This article was authored
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  Speaker 1: by Stephanie Kirchgastner. A powerful Democratic lawmaker has called for
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a criminal investigation into former Bard College president Leon Botstein
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  Speaker 1: after congressional investigators uncovered an email from Botstein to accused
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  Speaker 1: sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in which he says that Botstein
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  Speaker 1: asked if a young woman was for me or are
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  Speaker 1: you keeping her for yourself? And listen, even if you
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: want to be generous to Mr. Botstein, how do you
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: explain that email? How do you explain what he's saying
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: in that email. Oh, is this one for you? Or
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: is this one for me? Sounds to me like somebody
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: who has tasted the poisoned fruit, if you will, right?
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Somebody that's engaged in the abuse with Jeffrey Epstein. And
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the truth is, these sick degenerate people, they don't think
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  Speaker 1: they're doing anything wrong. Like Mr. Botstein probably thought that
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  Speaker 1: he was just getting a girl that wanted to be there.
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  Speaker 1: Getting a woman who That Jeffrey Epstein was, you know,
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  Speaker 1: friendly with or whatever. And he was just enjoying the
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: fruits of Jeffrey Epstein's tree. Now that's what Botstein will say.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't think anybody believes it. Especially considering, well,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: his boy Jeffrey Epstein was already a convicted sex offender.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you square that shit away? You can't
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  Speaker 1: tell me you had no idea what this dude was
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  Speaker 1: when he was already convicted. But that's what they all
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: try to do, isn't it? We had no idea what
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Epstein was, come on. What, you think we have the
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  Speaker 1: internet or something? The latest development appears to have triggered
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the immediate resignation of Botstein from all Bard-affiliated positions, including
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  Speaker 1: his professorship and roles in Bard's music programs. Botstein has
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  Speaker 1: led the college for 50 years and only recently stepped
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  Speaker 1: down as president. And what's crazy is Bard is a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful campus. I mean, absolutely stunning. Right there on Hastings
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  Speaker 1: on the Hudson. Just a great place. And then you
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  Speaker 1: have it fouled up by a dirtbag like this and
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  Speaker 1: his ties to Epstein. And it just brings the whole
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  Speaker 1: entire thing down. But Bard knew exactly the kind of
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  Speaker 1: guy that Epstein was. And they knew that Botstein wasn't
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  Speaker 1: being exactly honest about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And
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  Speaker 1: that's why Botstein's now out. But Bard certainly has some
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  Speaker 1: responsibility here themselves. They let this dude keep these positions
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  Speaker 1: for all these years. even though they knew what was up.
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  Speaker 1: And now finally when this email comes out, oh, now
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  Speaker 1: they're so disturbed by it. Now something has to happen.
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  Speaker 1: And then they wonder why we think it's all performative.
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Weber, the chair of Bard's College Board of Trustees,
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  Speaker 1: said in a statement on Wednesday evening that the college
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  Speaker 1: had received additional communication from Congressman Jamie Raskin, who's the
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  Speaker 1: top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and is leading
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a congressional investigation into Botstein's relationship With Epstein. And I
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: think there's plenty to work on here. Because there's a
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: lot of evidence as far as emails and other forms
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  Speaker 1: of communication that were being engaged in by Epstein and Botstein.
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  Speaker 1: And so if you're really going to investigate that, you
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: have to go through it all, right? Start at the
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  Speaker 1: very beginning, build a timeline, build a chronology, and follow through.
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  Speaker 1: And if there's going to be a real investigation, which
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  Speaker 1: I hope there will be, then that's what will happen.
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  Speaker 1: But I just have my doubts. I have my doubts
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  Speaker 1: that the DOJ is going to do the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: And people like Jamie Raskin or James Comer or anyone else,
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  Speaker 1: they can refer people to the DOJ until the cows
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  Speaker 1: come home. That doesn't mean that the DOJ has to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: pick up the investigation and do the right thing. Now,
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  Speaker 1: you would hope they would, but what we've learned from
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  Speaker 1: this DOJ throughout the, what, past couple of years at least,
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  Speaker 1: is that they have no interest in doing the right thing.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein. So even if Congress
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  Speaker 1: refers people to the DOJ, that doesn't mean necessarily that
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  Speaker 1: the DOJ is going to initiate a real investigation. Weber
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  Speaker 1: said that Bard was undertaking a full review of the
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  Speaker 1: allegations that have been made in Raskin's letter and was
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: cooperating with the committee's investigation. Weber also said members of
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  Speaker 1: the executive committee of Bard's board of trustees voted unanimously
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to accept Botstein's resignation. Botstein said in a statement that
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: any assertion that I knew of or was involved in
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's criminal behavior is wrong. Well, what does that email mean?
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  Speaker 1: Is Jane Doe for you or me? Because that sure
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  Speaker 1: sounds like somebody that knows exactly what Jeffrey Epstein's up
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  Speaker 1: to and what Jeffrey Epstein's doing. And it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: somebody who has dipped their toes in that dirty ass
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  Speaker 1: swamp previously. That's what it sounds like to me. But
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  Speaker 1: I do not want to see Even false allegations about
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  Speaker 1: me put the institution I've served for more than half
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  Speaker 1: a century at any risk, he said, saying he submitted
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  Speaker 1: his resignation to protect Bard from any distraction. Aha, what
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  Speaker 1: a hero. What a savior. Here's an idea, Mr. Botstein.
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  Speaker 1: Don't hang out with child molesters and you don't have
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  Speaker 1: to worry about your image or Bard's image coming under assault.
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  Speaker 1: You chose to hang out with Epstein. You chose to
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  Speaker 1: take his money. You chose to lie about that relationship.
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  Speaker 1: And you chose to do God knows what else. Because
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  Speaker 1: if this email is any indication, you are up to
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  Speaker 1: no good, buddy. And I don't mean just enabling Jeffrey Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: I mean up to no good. If somebody is talking about,
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  Speaker 1: is Jane Doe for you or me? I have no
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  Speaker 1: confidence in their defense of them saying, I have no
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  Speaker 1: idea what Epstein was doing. Oh, I have no idea
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  Speaker 1: the type of guy he was. No, you knew. And
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  Speaker 1: not only did you know, you were a fellow traveler.
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  Speaker 1: And the only thing that you're sorry about is that
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  Speaker 1: you're being called out and outed now. That's what you're
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  Speaker 1: sorry about. Botstein has faced intense scrutiny ever since the
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  Speaker 1: release earlier this year of the Epstein files, which revealed
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  Speaker 1: a friendly relationship between the longtime college president and Epstein,
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  Speaker 1: who died in prison in 2019 facing sex trafficking charges.
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  Speaker 1: The revelations include that Botstein had once been on Epstein's
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  Speaker 1: island for a visit contributed to his decision to step
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  Speaker 1: down as president. But look, this isn't new. How long
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  Speaker 1: have we been telling you about this? The only thing
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  Speaker 1: that's new now is that those emails are available and
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  Speaker 1: you can verify it yourself. But my suggestion is go
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: back and listen to everybody that was talking about all
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: these people who are now In the spotlight, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to Epstein. And that'll tell you who's
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  Speaker 1: been over the target over the years. Because none of
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  Speaker 1: these names are new. Now, they might be new to
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  Speaker 1: the general public and to the country and world at large.
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  Speaker 1: But to those of us who have been, you know,
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  Speaker 1: waist deep in this disgusting sinkhole, this is not new.
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  Speaker 1: What is new is that people are finally calling guys
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  Speaker 1: like Botstein out. Because previously a guy like Botstein was
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  Speaker 1: able to fly under the radar. Aw, come on, that's overblown.
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  Speaker 1: Would they have coffee once? Why are you trying to
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  Speaker 1: ruin Mr. Botstein's reputation? Meanwhile, dude's over here asking Jeffrey
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  Speaker 1: Epstein if he can get himself a Jane Doe. So please,
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  Speaker 1: miss me with the whole bullshit that there's no co-conspirators.
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  Speaker 1: Miss me with all of it. The latest controversy centers
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  Speaker 1: on an email that the Democratic committee members, who have
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  Speaker 1: access to unredacted emails in the Epstein files, said was
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  Speaker 1: sent by Botstein to Epstein in connection to a young
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  Speaker 1: foreign model and aspiring vocalist who they say was being
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  Speaker 1: groomed by Epstein throughout 2014. According to a letter sent
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  Speaker 1: by Democrat Jamie Raskin and Madeline Dean to Attorney General
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  Speaker 1: Todd Blanch and FBI Director Kash Patel, records in the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein files say, indicate that Epstein was offering the young woman,
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  Speaker 1: referred to as Jane Doe, advice and help with her
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  Speaker 1: plans to attend school and develop her career in the US. Well, sure,
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  Speaker 1: I'll do that for you, but you gotta go and
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  Speaker 1: see my buddy, Leon Botstein. Old man fucking river. And
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  Speaker 1: if you don't do what I want you to do,
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  Speaker 1: then I won't help you. Nothing more, nothing less. That's
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  Speaker 1: what Epstein was up to. But instead of helping her
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: pursue her career, the lawmakers said in their letter that
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Epstein pressured her to take sex education and massage courses
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  Speaker 1: and employed her while he was sexually abusing her. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that was the MO. Bring them in under false pretenses
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  Speaker 1: and then abuse them. By all appearances, Epstein was trafficking
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  Speaker 1: this young woman across state and international lines by mid-2014,
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  Speaker 1: the Democrats' letter said. Jane Doe, they said, was sent
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  Speaker 1: to Europe, Canada, and multiple destinations in the U.S. Democrats'
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  Speaker 1: letter further alleges that the files indicate that Epstein used
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  Speaker 1: his relationship with Leon Botstein to convince Jane Doe that
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  Speaker 1: she could have a successful music career after modeling. In
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  Speaker 1: May 2014, Epstein sent Jane Doe to meet Botstein, ostensibly
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  Speaker 1: for him to assess her musical talents. The Democratic lawmakers
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  Speaker 1: say they've reviewed one startling email, which had been redacted
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  Speaker 1: by the Department of Justice, that they said was sent
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  Speaker 1: from Botstein's then-Bard account, president at Bard EDU. It reads,
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  Speaker 1: Is Jane Doe for me? Or are you keeping her
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  Speaker 1: for yourself? Now, how else can you read that? I
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  Speaker 1: would love to hear somebody come out and tell me
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  Speaker 1: I'm wrong for reading into this what I'm reading into it.
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  Speaker 1: Show me a different way. I'd love to see it.
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  Speaker 1: But as far as I'm concerned, this dude was part
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  Speaker 1: of the problem. And if he's talking about Jane Doe
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  Speaker 1: like this, how many other girls might have been sent
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  Speaker 1: to him and been abused? And look, I'm not talking
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  Speaker 1: about a violent assault. I'm not saying that Mr. Botstein
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  Speaker 1: had some kind of, you know, BDSM chamber, and when
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  Speaker 1: the girls came in, he beat the living shit out
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  Speaker 1: of them. What I'm saying is, these girls were being
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  Speaker 1: trafficked by Epstein, sent to Botstein, so Botstein was taking
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  Speaker 1: part in the abuse, knowingly or unknowingly, but he was
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: happy to do so, wasn't he? Didn't ask any questions,
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  Speaker 1: and didn't give a shit that these girls were being
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  Speaker 1: sent to him by a sex offender. So in my opinion, Mr.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Botstein has a lot to answer for. The lawmakers wrote
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: that the evidence meets the federal standard for opening a
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: criminal investigation, yet the DOJ and FBI apparently had it
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: for at least 18 months without investigating Botstein. We're demanding
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: they investigate Botstein and other potential co-conspirators. In a statement,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Botstein denied the Democrats' allegations, including that he had sent
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the email in question. The allegations in this letter are untrue.
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  Speaker 1: including an email that I did not author or send,
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  Speaker 1: he said, so he's calling them liars. Well, there's one
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  Speaker 1: way to settle this. Bring Mr. Botstein up before Congress.
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  Speaker 1: Let's see what he has to say. The lawmakers said
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  Speaker 1: that they have also heard from more than a dozen
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  Speaker 1: whistleblowers who have provided the committee with allegations of decades
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: of unpunished sexual misconduct at Bard. In his statement, the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Bard Board of Trustees chairman said, when a formal complaint
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: alleging sexual harassment or assault is filed, An independent external
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: investigator conducts the review and submits a report to an
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: impartial hearing chair. The college president has not had unilateral
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: decision-making authority over Title IX investigations or adjudications since the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: 2015-16 school year. The Guardian reported in April before Botstein's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: resignation that the then president told staff that there was
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: no way he could have known that Epstein, who was
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: a convicted sex offender during their interactions, was actually reprehensible.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: At the time he predicted he would be cleared of
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: any hint of impropriety. Talk about being high on your
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: own hubris. Nobody's clearing you of anything. You and your
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: boy Jeffrey Epstein were a lot closer than you ever
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: let on. And now that the bill has come in due,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: like I always say, they don't want to pay it.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: So instead he's trying to do a dine and dash, right?
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  Speaker 1: Eat that food, but not pay the bill. Well, my friend,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: bad news for you. You're going to pay the bill.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: The Guardian asked Bard at the time about the May
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: 2014 email, which appeared in the redacted Epstein files as
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: an email that Epstein appeared to have forwarded to himself
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and was originally sent by an email address that only
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: contained the name President. A spokesperson for Bard College told
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: The Guardian at the time that the May 2014 message
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  Speaker 1: has absolutely nothing to do with Bard College. or President Botstein.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Botstein announced he was stepping down as president in May
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: after an independent review of his contacts with Epstein found
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the college president frequent interactions with Epstein could have alerted
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: him to the possibility that he and Bard would be
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: facilitating Epstein's abuse of women. Anybody that was around this
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: dude and was intimately, you know, involved with him, I
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: don't mean relationship-wise, I'm talking about friendship. They knew. Maybe
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: not the complete depths of what was going on, but
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: they knew that Jeffrey Epstein was a degenerate derelict. An
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: investigation by WilmerHale Law Firm, which had been commissioned by
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Bard's Board of Trustees earlier this year to review Botstein's
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: interactions with Epstein, found the Bard president, who had previously
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: claimed he was not friends with Epstein, made about 25
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: visits to Epstein's townhouse, a two-day visit to Epstein's Little St.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: James Island, and that there were two visits by Epstein
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: to Bard. These visits, Wilmer Hale reported, included multiple women
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: who have since been identified as victims of Epstein. Botstein
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: has not been charged with wrongdoing in connection with his
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: relationship with the accused sex trafficker. They were in contact
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: from 2012 to 2019. The Times Union first reported Raskin's letter.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: So look, this is just one of the dominoes that's
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: going to fall. Now, Do I think it's going to
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: accelerate to the point where it's going to be a
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: big investigation? I doubt it, considering the DOJ is what
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: it is, but it should. Now, again, look, let's be clear.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that we should show up with pitchforks
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and torches and have our own kind of ceremony for Mr. Botstein.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: What I'm saying is there should be a real robust
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: investigation into his behavior and follow every single lead and
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: every single thread wherever it goes. And if he's found
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: to have taken part in the abuse, well, we accelerate
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: it from there. But in my opinion, from the evidence
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: we do have available, there's certainly enough to initiate that investigation.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: The question is, will they do it? All the information
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: description box.