Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Private Hands, Public Questions: Epstein Evidence Removal Sparks Congressional Probe

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Private Hands, Public Questions: Epstein Evidence Removal Sparks Congressional Probe · The Epstein Chronicles

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. A couple of weeks ago, we were talking
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about the private investigators who removed evidence from Epstein's home. Well,
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now we're hearing that the House Oversight Panel is seeking
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testimony from these private investigators about what kind of evidence
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was moved. And the craziest part is the DOJ never
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seized any of this information, never sees any of this evidence,
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never sees any of these desktop computers, never sees any
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of it, just like they never raided Zoro Ranch, just
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like they never raided the houses in Colorado. I guess
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all of that was just an oversight. Maybe they forgot
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that Jeffrey Epstein had other properties to raid, or that
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he had storage units that needed to be searched. I
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remember when Rex Huwerman was first arrested and accused of
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being the Long Island serial killer, they rated what two
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three different storage units that this dude had. Meanwhile, you
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have a guy like Jeffrey Epstein who has houses that
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remain untouched and storage units that the DOJ didn't even
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care about. So now the House Overside Committee is trying
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to get a handle on what might have been in
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those storage units, and in hopes of doing that, they've
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hit the private eyes with subpoenas. So today we have
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an article from ABC News and the headline House overside
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Panel seeks testimony from private investigators who removed evidence from
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Epstein's home. The authors of this article are Lauren Peller,
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Peter Charlembeau, and James Hill. Democrats on the House oversighte
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Committee are seeking testimony from private investigators who are removed
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and stored a trove of evidence from the late sex
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offender Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion before it was searched
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by police in two thousand and five, according to letters
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reviewed by ABC News, So you need to tell me
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that this was an expansive investigation, that no stone was
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left unturned, that everybody was looked at, everybody was talked to,
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everybody was brought in. Well, we know that's not true,
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and it's not just me telling you that anymore. Like
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I always say, you now have that evidence for yourself.
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This whole entire thing down in Florida was nothing more
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than theater. The idea was to get it off the plate.
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The federal government knew how damaging it could be. For them.
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So they wanted the state to take care of it right,
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kick it right back down the state, and wipe our
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hands clean of it. That's what they thought. They never
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thought that this was going to pop back up, that
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people were going to still be interested in what happened
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with Epstein, that Julie K. Brown would kick off her series.
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Yet here we are, and now people want answers. And
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I think that if you really want to get to
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the bottom of what happened, you have to start at
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ground zero. And ground zero, obviously is the first investigation
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in Florida. While the Department of Justice appearing to have
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never obtained the evidence, which included three desktop computers and
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more than two dozen phone directories. Lawmakers want to interview
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the men about the removal of what could have been
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key evidence for police and prosecutors in their probe into
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Epstein's sex trafficking. And I think the big question here
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is how did they know to remove it? Who tipped
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them off? Because somebody tipped Jeffrey Epstein off down in
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Florida without a doubt. Was it Sandy Berger, was it
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somebody else? Who knows, but somebody definitely tipped them off,
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because if you remember, by the time that the authorities
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got there, everything was removed. The hard drives were gone,
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the computers were gone, wires were dangling, nothing left to
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be found. The Committee requests that you make yourself available
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for a transcribed interview to provide insight into the contents, removal, storage,
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and location of the materials removed from mister Epstein's pom
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Beach home. Oversight Committee ranking member, Representative Robert Garcia of
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California wrote in letters that were sent to three private
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investigators who were working for Epstein, I'm sure that's an
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enjoyable email to get or note to get or whatever. Yeah,
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we're gonna need you to come in and talk about
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Jeffrey Epstein and why you hid some information and evidence
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that could have helped the cops see you on such
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and such a date. The next call is directly to
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your lawyer, Right, so and so, I got a big
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problem and it's Epstein related. The committee also seeks information
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regarding the reason for the removal of these materials, the
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potential withholding of these materials from law enforcement, and any
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other information regarding the activities and crimes of Jeffrey Epstein
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and any of his co conspirators, Garcia wrote, ABC News
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last month reported about the removal of potential evidence which
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may have shielded Epstein from legal scrutiny, and can try
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to how he was able to largely evade justice for
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more than a decade. And I think that's a valid
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line of questioning, right, I mean, you have these computers,
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you have this evidence, and it's all in this storage room,
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and according to reports, it was moved right before the
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house was raided, like for real, and the original investigators
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had no questions about that. Alex Acosta, Mariva, Lafauna, nobody
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wanted to kick in the door and get that information.
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Oh that's right. The operation was being run by Matt Mentchell,
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and Matt Mentchell well, he had other ideas, and unfortunately
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none of those ideas had anything to do with Jeffrey
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Epstein really being held accountable. There was good reason to
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believe the computers contained relevant and potentially critical information, and
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it was clear Epstein did not want the contents of
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his computers disclosed. The OPR report said, well, I wonder
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why you really think Jeffrey Epstein wants anyone rifling around
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on his computer, considering the nonsense he was up to
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highly doubt that. But again, my question is who the
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hell tip this guy off, Who let him know that
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the cops were coming and that he had to get
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rid of all this evidence before they got there. I
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think that's a pretty big question, and I think it
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really goes to the heart of the real problem down
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here in Florida. The fix was in from the very beginning,
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before the guy was even arrested. The fix was in,
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and I think at this point it's indisputable. In letters
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first obtained by ABC News, Garcia formally requested that private
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investigator Paul Lavery, Stephen Kira Lee, and William Riley appears
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separately for voluntary transcribed interviews. The deadline for the investigators
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to respond is April ninth. According to the letters, Epstein's
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longtime attorney, Darren Endyke, who sat for a deposition before
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the oversight panel last week, told lawmakers that the evidence
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was likely never turned over to law enforcement. Like, how's
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that even possible if you got in trouble. Believe me,
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the FEDS they're getting all of it, whatever information is available,
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whatever information exists, they're getting that shit and they're going
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to use it against you. But Jeffrey Epstein. Ah, come on,
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nothing to see here, folks. Just a guy that was
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soliciting a girl for some sex. No big deal. Ah,
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she wasn't even a minor, she was about to be eighteen.
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That's the kind of bullshit they're pulling on us, and
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I find it wholly unacceptable. After Epstein's conviction, after he
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served jail time, through conversations with defense counsel, I became
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aware that there were computer hard drives in the possession
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of private investigators, and Dyke said in his deposition, I
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just don't know how they came into possession, but I
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knew of the existence of hard drives. Again, he had
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no idea. Nobody knew anything, folks. Nobody had any idea
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what was going on, and they were all just winging it.
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Everybody was just you know, going on vibes. Look, the
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truth is, every single person who's come up and given
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a deposition so far has lied. They've all perjured themselves,
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and nothing's going to happen. This would have to be
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a real investigation for something to happen, and it most
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certainly is not. Documents released earlier this year by the
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Department of Justice shed new light on the removal of
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the potential evidence. According to a two thousand and five
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memo from private investigator William Riley Till, one of Epstein's
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criminal defense lawyers, Lavery visited Epstein's pom Beach home to
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remove items of potential evidentiary value less than two weeks
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before police raided the mansion in October of two thousand
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and five. Obviously tipped off what He just had a vision.
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He was sitting around and he called the psychic hotline
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and Miss Cleo picked up and she was like, oh yeah, man,
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you're going to be raided in two weeks because short
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of that, somebody tipped them off. So the question is who.
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Lavery removed more than one hundred pieces of potential evidence,
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according to an index released by the DOJ, including the
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three computers, twenty nine bound telephone directories, and a listing
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of nearby messuses, as well as the trove of sexually
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explicit materials. Among the removed material was a photo with
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a handwritten message saying you better never forget about me
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from an unknown woman who signed her name. Class of
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two thousand and five. When the Palm Beach Police Department
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searched Epstein's home two weeks later, investigators noted that multiple
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computers from the property were conspicuously absent from the home,
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including one linked to Epstein's surveillance system. Oh, I wonder why.
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I'm sure was all just a coincidence, right, Just like
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the video from the jail, or the fact that Jeffrey
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Epstein was logged in as an African American person in jail,
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or the fact that he was put in a cell
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with Tartaglione. All this stuff is just a coincidence. And
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if you don't think so, you're a conspiracy theorist. That's
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the narrative. But the truth is a long way from
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their narrative, isn't it. And the truth is we've been
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bullshitted from the very beginning. While federal prosecutors attempted to
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recover the evidence while investigating Epstein in the lay two
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thousands include including a subpoena for Riley for testimony, law
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enforcement agreed to abandon the effort when Epstein agreed to
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the two thousand and eight plead deal that allowed him
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to avoid a lengthy jail sentence. Documents released by the
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Department of Justice indicate Epstein's attorneys continue to keep tabs
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on the evidence to ensure the material were not disclosed
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to attorneys for Epstein's victims and civil litigation. Can you
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imagine what was on those computers and how much evidence
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the DOJ just let walk away. In two thousand and nine,
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Riley confirmed that he would cantinue to store the material
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in a safe and secure location, though the evidence location
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in the following decade remains unclear. If at any time
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you're unable to maintain possession of those materials, or have
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any concern whatsoever that mister Epstein's possessions may be compromised
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in any manner, please advise me immediately such that we
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can take the necessary actions to protect and preserve those
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materials as is required in the non prosecution agreement. An
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attorney for Epstein wrote in a letter memorializing the conversation
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about the evidence. So let's get rid of the NPA,
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which is illegal anyway, which has already been shit on
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by the court, and then let's get down to business.
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Oh wait, Pam Bondi's in charge. She's not going to
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do that. That would out all of Donald Trump's friends,
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and we can't have that, can we? Billing records of
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the private Detective Agency owned by Riley and Curley, both
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former Miami police officers, show that the firms invoices for
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Epstein and his attorneys span several years and included recurring
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charges for a storage facility. According to records included in
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the DOJ's release of the Epstein files, the dj knew
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exactly where this stuff was and they didn't want to
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touch it. Was it that radioactive? I don't know. Maybe
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we'll find out, but I doubt it. Riley and Lavery
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did not respond to requests for comment last month. Reached
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by phone, cure Lee said he would not discuss anything
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related to Jeffrey Epstein. Garcia told ABC News, it's incredibly
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troubling that Epstein's computers and hard drives were in possession
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of private investigators and may have never been seen by
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any law enforcement agency. Are we not even going to
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mention the fact that he was tipped off? That might
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be important, because what does that matter if the law
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enforcement agency sees the information that's on the computer or
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the evidence that's inside of those documents, if they're not
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going to act on it, and if somebody from law
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enforcement tipped them off, we got a bigger problem here.
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And as you know, I believe we have a bigger
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problem here. The idea that now these private investigators have
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this enormous amount of information that has not been accessible
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to us on the Committee or in Congress or the
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American public is pretty significant. Garcia said, they are an
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important part of our investigation. House Democrats in the letters
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requested that the investigators preserve all relevant material in their possession,
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including hard drives, storage devices, backup archived data, cloud based storage, accounts,
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financial records, videos, photos, audio recordings, and all communications. The
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committee also requested any records reflecting the transfer, custody, or
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handling of the above materials and any physical items that
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were taken from Jeffrey Epstein's home. They're not going to
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get that. You can ask for it, but I don't recall.
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I forgot, oh that was placed. I expect a whole
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lot of that. Yo. Can we be real any evidence
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that was in those files or anything that was on
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those hard drives is long gone. What it's all preserved?
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Give me a break. While Garcia's invitation for a voluntary testimony,
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if the men do not cooperate, the committee could vote
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to subpoena them or the Republican chairman of the committee,
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Representative James Comer of Kentucky could also unilaterally compel them
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to testify. Oh, we're relying on Comer again. Huh. It's
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like relying on a blind guide to get you up
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Mount Everest. Not really going to work out the way
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you think. We're bringing in anyone that has information that
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could be helpful to our investigation, and hopefully we'll be
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able to get to the truth to the American people
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and provide some type of justice for the victims. Comer
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said after a recent deposition with Epstein's accountant, Richard Kahn,
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I really wish that Comber cared. He doesn't, and it's
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his actions that show us at this whole entire thing
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is nothing more than a way to help Donald Trump.
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That's what he's trying to do. Marie Villafana, the former
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assistant US attorney who pushed to indict Epstein during the
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investigation in Florida, previously said if the evidence on the
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missing computers had been what we suspected it was, it
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would have put this case completely to bed. According to
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the OPR report, Yeah, Villafana is not a hero here.
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And I have an email from Villa Fauna where she's
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working with Epstein's lawyers to try and find statutes to
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charge them with a lesser crime, and over the weekend,
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I'll be sharing that with you. Acosta said he had
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no recollection of the efforts to obtain the computers and
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objected to the report's conclusion that he should have given
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greater consideration to pursuing the evidence before entering the deal
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with Epstein. The report said, look, Acosta was just window dressing.
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The decision came down from Justice, from Maine Justice, and
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that was a Philippe and Mukasey. And remember it was
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Menchel who really designed this plea deal, you know, the
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guy that ended up being Jeffrey Epstein's buddy. Yeah, that guy.
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And as far as the evidence inside of that storage room,
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who the hell knows what was in there or what's
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in there now? And maybe Congress should stop being nice
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and stop asking if this guy wants to come in
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or these guys want to come in to talk and
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order them to do so. And will that happen? Who knows.
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We'll have to see what goes on and if these
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investigators try to fight this invitation to speak to Congress,
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And like usual, we'll keep an eye on this one,
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and we'll see where it all ends up. All the
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information that goes with this episode can be found in
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the description box.