Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 5) (5/16/26)

Transcript

Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 5) (5/16/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're getting right back to
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  the Howard Lutnik transcript from his meeting with Congress redacted.
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  All right, we can go back on the record. Good afternoon,
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  Secretary Lutnik. My name is redacted. I'll be conducting most
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  of the questioning for the Minority today. Before we begin questioning,
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  I'd like to know for the record that this transcribed
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  interview is not being videotaped. The Majority has decided that
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  the American people don't deserve to watch the testimony that
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  you will provide today. They've decided instead that the American
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  people can find and read the transcript of your testimony
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  if it's released at some date in the future. Today's
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  transcribed interview, originally announced on March third, appears designed to
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  preempt a motion to subpoenas Secretary Lutnick's testimony by Congresswoman
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  Nancy Mace, but that does not justify keeping these proceedings
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  off of camera. Committee Republicans have claimed that the investigations
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  being conducted in the interest to transparency for the public
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  and for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. To that end,
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  the Committee has videotaped multiple prominent witnesses who have appeared
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  for testimony in the Epstein investigation, and the majority has
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  released those videos shortly after the testimony was complete. The
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  Committee was videoed and released the testimony of Glenn Maxwell,
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  Darren Endyke, Richard Kahn, and Les Wexner. Oversight Republicans videotape
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  the testimony of President Bill Clinton and former Secretary Hillary Clinton,
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  and those videos were released to the public three days
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  after the conclusion of their depositions. The American people and
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  the survivors of Epstein's crimes deserve the same of today's testimony.
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  The fact that Secretary Lutnik is present for a transcribed
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  interview rather than a deposition does not change our obligation
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  to transparency. Earlier this Congress, overt Site Republicans investigated the
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  now dupunk theory that the previous administration used an auto
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  pen to take action without President Biden's knowledge. As part
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  of that investigation, over Site Republicans interviewed fourteen former Democratic
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  White House officials. The overwhelming majority, eleven of the fourteen
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  were conducted as transcribed interviews. Yet every single interview, including
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  the transcribed interviews was videotaped, and every single video was
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  released to the public. Committee Republicans have set one standard
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  for officials in a democratic administration and a separate and
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  less transparent standard for officials in the Republican administration. That
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  is a political distinction, not a principled one. To be clear,
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  the Minority welcomes Secretary Lutni's appearance and testimony, but we
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  believe the American people should be able to watch today's
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  interview and reach their own conclusions about today's testimony. And
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  with that, I will move on to substantative questions. Good afternoon,
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  Secretary Lutnik. As I said, my name is redacted, and
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  as you know, today's conversation is going to focus on
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  your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. I would like to start
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  with the interview that you gave to The New York
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  Post in October of last year. I know you discussed
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  it a little bit in the previous round. Some of
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  these questions might be repetitive to some degree. I'll try
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  to minimize that to the extent possible, but there's going
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  to be some overlap. In that interview last year, you
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  describe your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in detail. Substantial parts
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  of that interview have since been called into question, so
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  we will go over the interview one piece out of
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  time and establish which parts are accurate. So I'll introduce,
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  as minority exhibit a written transcript of the portion of
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  the interview that related to mister Epstein. I'll give you
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  a moment to look it over if you'd like to.
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  Secretary Lutnik, can I have a copy of that for
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  my lawyer redacted? Yeah? There were I think there were
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  three in there redacted. Yeah, And they'll always hand you
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  three or four of the council to look at. Mister
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  Mayron who prepared the transcript redacted. It was prepared by us.
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  We can confirm to you the accuracy of it. If
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  you have some specific reason to believe that part of
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  it's not accurate, of course, we're happy to discuss that. Mayron.
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  The first line says, I would be remised, is that
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  what was said? Redacted? Yeah? That was our best interpretation.
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  I think you could reasonably interpret it as likely being
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  remiss question. We're going to go over it one by
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  one as well. Lutnick, that's all right, I'm just going
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  to read it quickly. Question of course? Answer okay. Question.
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  I'm going to break it up in pieces. The only
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  thing I will do is skip the parts where the
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  interviewer interrupted you with the words like right or interesting.
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  Just starting at the outset, you were asked how well
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  you Jeffrey Epstein, and you started by saying, quote, all right,
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  so we are in number eleven and he lives at
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  number nine. So is it correct that you did and
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  maybe still do. I'm Machur live at eleven East seventy
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  first Street in New York City. Answer yeah, I have
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  a townhouse at eleven East seventy first Street. Question and
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  is that what you were referring to here when you
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  said number eleven? Answer yeah. Question and as far as
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  you know, is it correct that mister Epstein lived at
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  nine East seventy first Street. Answer yeah, that was his residence.
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  Question and is that what you were referring to when
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  you said number nine? Answer yeah. Question Is it correct
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  that those two homes are adjacent to each other? Answer yes,
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  question they share a wall. Answer yes. Question. And then
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  you said, quote, so we renovate, we buy our house,
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  and our house is pigeons and mice. Okay, that's it.
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  It was derelict. Right, so we build, we rebuild our house,
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  we move in two thousand and five, and I'll stop there.
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  So I heard you say in a previous round you
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  bought your home I think in nineteen ninety seven. Is
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  that correct answer? That's correct? Question? And did you know
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  at the time you purchased the home that you the
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  home had been previously owned by both Jeffrey and Less
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  Wexner answer, I don't know. I know I bought it
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  from Charles de Gunzburg, so that I remember, I don't
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  know if I knew anything else. Question is it that
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  you were not sure whether that you knew at the
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  time that the home had previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein
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  unless Wexner answer, when I bought the house, I didn't know.
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  I don't recall knowing. Question you don't recall whether or
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  not you knew at the time. Is that right? Answer? Right? Question? Okay?
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  Is it possible that you knew? Is it possible that
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  you did not know? Am I interpreting that correctly? Answer? No,
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  I don't recall knowing. I recall what I did know
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  was I bought the house from Charles de Gunzburg. That
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  I know, I don't know if I knew who owned
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  it previously. I can't say, as I sit here today,
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  from whatever, almost thirty years ago, what I knew or
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  didn't know, But I certainly didn't know when I bought it. Question.
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  I'm sorry, there is just a little contradiction between those
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  two parts. You're not sure today whether or not you
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  know at the time that the home was owned by
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  Jeffrey Epstein. Is that fair answer? No, I bought my
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  house from Charles de Gunsberg, and I do not recall
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  knowing when I bought the house who owned it previously. Question. So,
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  sitting here today, you cannot be certain as to whether
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  you know or not or knew at the time who
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  the previous owners were. Is that what I hear you saying? Answer, Well,
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  I'm trying to be clear. I remember clearly I bought
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  the house from Charles de Gunsberg. He was the owner
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  of the house. I can't remember, as I sit here today,
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  almost thirty years later, whether I ever knew subsequently that
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  I learned who owned the house previously. I just don't
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  remember as I sit here. Question. But the narrow question
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  is just at the time you bought the home, did
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  you know whether the home was previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein,
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  and I think I think you're saying you're just not
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  sure either way, it was a long time ago. Answer,
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  I don't think so. Question. I'm sorry, No, I don't
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  think so. Is unclear for us? For me, No, you
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  don't think you knew or you're just not sure whether
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  you knew or not. Answer, I know I bought the
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  house from Charles de Gunsberg that I knew. Question. I'm
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  crystal clear on that part, no doubt about it. The
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  narrow question is just at the time of purchase, did
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  you know that the home had previously been owned by
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  Jeffrey Epstein. Answer, before Charles de Gunsberg owned it, I
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  don't remember whether I ever learned that at the time,
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  meaning at the time I purchased it, I didn't learn that.
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  I don't know. I don't recall. I don't know. Question
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  you don't recall whether or not you knew at the
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  time you purchased it. Right answer, when I agreed to
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  buy the house, I surely didn't know. How was that
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  is that helpful? Question? Well, it is, but it's not
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  quite the same thing as the earlier statement. I'm not
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  suggesting that you did or did not know. It's just
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  I think you heard you say it was thirty years ago.
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  I don't recall whether or not I knew, but there
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  have been a few statements that suggest no, I did
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  not know that it was previously owned by Epstein. So
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  I just want to pin that down and which one
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  of those it is. Answer? I don't know, and I
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  don't think I ever knew that Jeffrey Epstein owned the
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  house that I bought. Is that helpful? Question? Yeah? Is
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  that new information for you here today? Answer that? What
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  question that Jeffrey Epstein previously owned your house? Answer? Yes,
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  question okay, answer, I don't know that to be true.
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  Question has it ever been suggested to you or have
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  you ever heard that Epstein previously owned your home? Answer?
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  I don't think that's true, So I guess, as I
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  sit here today, I don't think that's true. Question I
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  got that, but that's not quite the question I asked.
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  Has it ever been suggested to you or have you
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  ever heard somebody say that Epstein previously owned your home? Answer?
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  I can't recall as I sit here today. Question is
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  it correct that you did some kind of large scale
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  renovation project on the home? Answer in my home. Yes,
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  of course. Question and is it correct? I think I
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  heard you say in the previous round that you moved
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  in in two thousand and five. Answer yeah, question okay,
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  So the next part is quote, Okay, Jeffrey Epstein's arrested
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  and like, oh wait, I think or something like that.
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  So knock on the door his assistant on like a
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  Saturday says mister Epstein's your neighbor, and he'd like to
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  invite you over for some coffee, so I can come over.
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  The first part of that, which is that mister Epstein
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  was arrested in six but he did not plead guilty
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  to solicitation of a minor in two thousand and eight.
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  A question for you is, and I think you described
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  it in some detail previously. Is it correct that mister
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  Epstein's assistant did knock on your door on a Saturday
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  morning because mister Epstein wanted to invite you over for coffee.
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  Answer say that again, question is it correct? That is,
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  as far as you can recall, mister Epstein's assistant knocked
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  on your door, to the best of your recollection on
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  a Saturday morning because Epstein wanted to invite you over
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  for coffee. Answer. I don't know if it was Saturday
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  or not, but I do recall that someone who will
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  worked for him knocked on our door and invited us
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  for coffee. Question was it framed as mister Epstein would
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  like to invite you over for coffee? Answer? I wasn't.
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  The person didn't tell me. They told me someone who
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  worked for me. It was an assistant. Someone who worked
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  for Epstein knocked on the door and spoke to someone
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  who worked for me and said, your neighbor would like
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  to invite you over for coffee. But it's not a
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  conversation I participated in. So I'm trying to just give
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  you the context. Question I understand you are not directly
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  a party to that conversation. Answer, I was not. Question
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  The next part is quote, so my wife and I
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  go next door. You know, we walk the seven steps
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  right to the next door next house for coffee. We
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  share a wall, right so it's New York City. So
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  he invites us in. We have coffee in this and
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  he says, do you want a tour? We said great,
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  I'll stop there. So is it correct that you and
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  your wife did go over to Epstein's house that day? Answer? Now,
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  I don't know if it was that day. Question, it
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  might have been a later date. Answer correct. Question. Is
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  it correct that mister Epstein did offer you a tour?
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  Answer yeah, question, and is it correct that you and
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  your wife did agree to that tour? Answer yeah. Question.
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  Prior to this interaction, did you have any knowledge of
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  who Jeffrey Epstein was? Answer not that I can think
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  of now, no question. I think in the interview you
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  then said that he, meaning Epstein, has got a really
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  big house. I think we all at this point understand
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  that that is an accurate statement. And then you were
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  asked whether you visited every room of Epstein's house, and
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  you said, quote, he's got well, I'll tell you, so,
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  his house is like super big, really wide, and so
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  he gives me a tour of the living room, big
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  living room, and then across from it double doors. I
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  assume it's a dining room, and he opens the doors
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  and there's a massage table in the middle of the
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  room and candles all around and stuff, and I'll stop there.
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  So is it correct that he did give you a
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  tour and that you recall the tour as you described
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  it here. Answer? Yes, we were in the living room
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  for coffee, and my recollection is we went across the
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  hall to the next room, which he opened the door.
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  I assumed it was a dining room, and that's the
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  massage table as I described there. Question is the part
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  about the candles accurate to your recollection? Answer? Yes, question
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  where the candles lit? Answer? I don't recall. All right, folks,
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  we're gonna wrap up right here, and in the next
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  episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna pick up where
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  we left off. All the information that goes with this
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  episode can be found in the description box.