Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Mega Edition: The Epstein Survivors And Their Secondary Role In Their Own Story (9/13/26)

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Mega Edition: The Epstein Survivors And Their Secondary Role In Their Own Story (9/13/26) · 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. What we're witnessing right now with the partial
0:07
Speaker 1: release of the Epstein files is not confusion, incompetence, or
0:12
Speaker 1: bureaucratic delay. What it is, is a deliberate act of
0:16
Speaker 1: institutional defiance dressed up as process. Anyone who's followed this
0:20
Speaker 1: case with even a baseline level of seriousness understands that immediately.
0:25
Speaker 1: Survivors are not acting emotionally in a vacuum. They're responding
0:29
Speaker 1: to years of manipulation, delay, and outright deception by powerful
0:33
Speaker 1: institutions that have never been forced to tell the truth.
0:36
Speaker 1: Their disgust is not surprising in the slightest. It's rational, earned,
0:40
Speaker 1: and grounded in lived experience. In fact, it's long overdue.
0:46
Speaker 1: For years, Epstein's survivors were told to be patient and
0:49
Speaker 1: trust the system. They were told to wait, to believe
0:52
Speaker 1: that justice simply takes time. They were promised transparency after
0:56
Speaker 1: Epstein's death. They were promised accountability after Glenn Maxwell's conviction.
1:01
Speaker 1: They were promised reform after congressional hearings and public outrage
1:05
Speaker 1: made inaction politically inconvenient. And yet, here we are again,
1:09
Speaker 1: staring at a half-measure masquerading as compliance. The pattern is
1:14
Speaker 1: unmistakable and impossible to ignore. Delay until exhaustion, release just
1:19
Speaker 1: enough to blunt pressure, then wait for public attention to
1:22
Speaker 1: drift elsewhere. But what makes this moment different And what
1:26
Speaker 1: clearly is terrifying these institutions involved is that Congress passed
1:30
Speaker 1: a law compelling disclosure. It's not a discretionary request or
1:34
Speaker 1: a suggestion. This is not a voluntary act of goodwill
1:37
Speaker 1: or a transparency theater. It is a legal mandate enacted
1:40
Speaker 1: through the democratic process. When the executive branch responds to
1:44
Speaker 1: that mandate with a partial release, it's not merely disappointing,
1:48
Speaker 1: it's defiant. And that distinction matters more than anything else
1:53
Speaker 1: happening right now. Defiance of the law by those tasked
1:56
Speaker 1: with enforcing it is the core issue. If an ordinary
1:59
Speaker 1: citizen ignored a law passed by Congress, consequences would be
2:02
Speaker 1: immediate and severe. Miss a tax filing deadline and see
2:06
Speaker 1: how forgiving the system suddenly becomes. Federal comply with a
2:09
Speaker 1: subpoena and watch how fast enforcement shows up at your door.
2:13
Speaker 1: The rules are enforced swiftly and without mercy when power
2:16
Speaker 1: is absent. But when power is concentrated, the rules suddenly
2:20
Speaker 1: become flexible. They become negotiable. Slow walk. and selectively applied.
2:26
Speaker 1: That disparity is not theoretical, it's visible in real time.
2:30
Speaker 1: This double standard is exactly what survivors are calling out.
2:34
Speaker 1: I promise you that they're not confused about what's happening.
2:38
Speaker 1: They're not misreading intent or jumping to conclusions. They understand
2:41
Speaker 1: the system because they have lived inside its failures for decades.
2:45
Speaker 1: Every delay, every redaction, and every ongoing review excuse fits
2:49
Speaker 1: a pattern they know intimately. That pattern has a name.
2:53
Speaker 1: And it's called a cover-up. And calling it what it is,
2:55
Speaker 1: a cover-up, is not hyperbole or rhetorical excess. It's a
3:00
Speaker 1: factual description of conduct. When information is legally required to
3:03
Speaker 1: be released and is instead withheld, redacted, or selectively disclosed,
3:08
Speaker 1: that is obstruction by another name. When institutions coordinate to
3:12
Speaker 1: minimize exposure rather than maximize the truth, intent becomes clear.
3:17
Speaker 1: You don't need leaked memos to see it.
3:19
Speaker 2: You don't need.
3:19
Speaker 1: Whistleblowers to spell it out. The behavior speaks loudly enough
3:23
Speaker 1: on its own. And what I think enrages survivors most
3:27
Speaker 1: is not just the withholding of documents, it's the insult
3:30
Speaker 1: embedded in the decision to do so. They're being told, implicitly,
3:34
Speaker 1: that they should accept less than the law guarantees them.
3:37
Speaker 1: They're being told that their suffering does not outweigh institutional inconvenience.
3:42
Speaker 1: They're being told that accountability must be rationed carefully to
3:45
Speaker 1: protect powerful interests. That message isn't subtle. It's unmistakable. and
3:51
Speaker 1: it's impossible to accept. The people that are defending this
3:55
Speaker 1: partial release, well, they often hide behind procedural language. They
3:59
Speaker 1: talk about national security or privacy concerns and administrative burden.
4:04
Speaker 1: These arguments collapse under even minimal scrutiny. Epstein was repeatedly
4:08
Speaker 1: described by the government itself as a lone predator with
4:11
Speaker 1: no intelligence role. If that narrative were true, there would
4:15
Speaker 1: be no justification for extraordinary secrecy. You can't have it
4:18
Speaker 1: both ways. The contradiction is glaring, and it's intentional. You
4:24
Speaker 1: can't claim that Epstein was insignificant while treating his records
4:27
Speaker 1: as radioactive. You can't claim the system worked while refusing
4:30
Speaker 1: to show how it worked. You can't demand trust while
4:34
Speaker 1: actively withholding the evidence required to earn it. Survivors see
4:38
Speaker 1: this contradiction clearly. So do journalists that are worth their weight,
4:42
Speaker 1: and advocates, and anyone paying attention in good faith. Denial
4:46
Speaker 1: at this stage is not skepticism, it's complicity. Those who
4:50
Speaker 1: are actively fighting against the cover-up label need to ask
4:53
Speaker 1: themselves why they're doing so. Are they protecting institutions instead
4:57
Speaker 1: of people? Are they protecting reputations rather than the truth?
5:02
Speaker 1: Are they protecting their own proximity to power and access?
5:05
Speaker 1: Because I'll tell you what, it's certainly not about protecting survivors.
5:09
Speaker 1: Survivors are telling us plainly what it feels like and
5:12
Speaker 1: what it represents. Ignoring them is not neutrality at this point.
5:15
Speaker 2: It's a choice.
5:18
Speaker 1: The idea that survivors can be bullied into silence at
5:20
Speaker 1: this stage is not just.
5:21
Speaker 2: Wrong, it's delusional.
5:23
Speaker 1: These are individuals who have already survived the worst imaginable
5:27
Speaker 1: abuses of power. They have endured public smearing, legal stonewalling,
5:31
Speaker 1: and institutional betrayal. They have watched their abuser receive protection
5:35
Speaker 1: at every level of the system. They saw his accomplice
5:39
Speaker 1: get moved to a lower-level camp. They didn't come this
5:42
Speaker 1: far to retreat now, and anyone who believes otherwise fundamentally
5:46
Speaker 1: misunderstands who they're dealing with. What has emerged is not
5:50
Speaker 1: a fleeting spike of outrage. It's a hardened, organized movement.
5:54
Speaker 1: Survivors are no longer asking politely for transparency. They're demanding
5:58
Speaker 1: compliance with the law. They're supported by real journalists, advocates,
6:02
Speaker 1: and citizens who have learned to recognize institutional deception when
6:06
Speaker 1: they see it. And I promise you this coalition is
6:09
Speaker 1: not going away. It's built on lived experience, not social
6:13
Speaker 1: media momentum. And I'll tell you what, in my opinion,
6:18
Speaker 1: the Department of Justice has miscalculated badly. By offering a
6:23
Speaker 1: partial release after a legal mandate, it's transformed the political
6:26
Speaker 1: problem into a legal and moral crisis. It's signaled that
6:31
Speaker 1: even congressional authority can be slow-walked when exposure is inconvenient.
6:35
Speaker 1: And my friends, that's not just an Epstein problem, that's
6:38
Speaker 1: a democracy problem. Survivors understand the stakes better than anyone involved.
6:43
Speaker 1: Now historically, the DOJ has relied on process as a shield.
6:46
Speaker 1: It invokes complexity, classification, and process to exhaust critics and
6:51
Speaker 1: outlast scrutiny. But that strategy only works when there is
6:55
Speaker 1: no statutory obligation forcing disclosure. This time that shield is cracked.
7:01
Speaker 1: The law removes plausible deniability. What remains is choice. And
7:05
Speaker 1: the choice being made is visible to everyone watching. And
7:09
Speaker 1: the choice being made right now is unmistakable. Partial disclosure
7:13
Speaker 1: over full transparency. Institutional protection over survivor justice. Damage control
7:19
Speaker 1: over accountability. And these choices are not abstract. They're being observed, documented,
7:25
Speaker 1: and recorded in real time. They're not going to vanish
7:28
Speaker 1: with the news cycle. They're going to follow the institutions
7:30
Speaker 1: that made them. And the pressure is not only justified
7:33
Speaker 1: at this moment, it's necessary. Legal mandates don't enforce themselves immediately.
7:39
Speaker 1: And history shows that institutions only comply fully when resistance
7:43
Speaker 1: becomes more costly than compliance. Survivors understand this instinctively. They
7:49
Speaker 1: know that silence is what allowed Epstein to operate for decades.
7:53
Speaker 1: Noise is the only counterweight that has ever worked. The
7:57
Speaker 1: demand being made is simple and non-negotiable.
7:59
Speaker 2: Release all the files. Not summaries.
8:02
Speaker 1: Not curated selections. Not redacted to the point of meaningless PDFs.
8:07
Speaker 2: Full disclosure.
8:08
Speaker 1: Exactly as required by law. Anything less is an admission
8:11
Speaker 1: that the system is still protecting itself. The survivors are
8:15
Speaker 1: not asking for favors, they're demanding compliance. But the Trump
8:21
Speaker 1: administration and the DOJ know that the blowback will be severe,
8:25
Speaker 1: and that is precisely why resistance is so fierce. There
8:28
Speaker 1: are names, institutions, and failures embedded in those files that
8:33
Speaker 1: powerful people would prefer remain buried. That discomfort is not
8:37
Speaker 1: a reason to withhold the truth. It's the reason the
8:40
Speaker 1: truth must come out. Accountability is not supposed to be comfortable.
8:44
Speaker 2: It never has been. And let's be very clear.
8:47
Speaker 1: Survivors are not asking for revenge. They're asking for reality.
8:51
Speaker 1: They're asking for the full record of what was done,
8:53
Speaker 1: who enabled it, and how it was allowed to continue.
8:56
Speaker 1: That's not radical or unreasonable. That's the minimum standard of
8:59
Speaker 1: justice in a functioning society. Anything less is theater, and
9:04
Speaker 1: I promise you that these survivors are done being props.
9:08
Speaker 1: And look, this moment's going to be remembered as a test.
9:10
Speaker 1: A test of whether the law applies equally or selectively.
9:14
Speaker 1: A test of whether survivor voices matter when they threaten
9:17
Speaker 1: institutional stability. A test of whether transparency is real or
9:21
Speaker 1: merely rhetorical. The DOJ doesn't get to redefine the terms
9:25
Speaker 1: of that test. The law already did that. And look,
9:29
Speaker 1: the gauntlet has been thrown. And it was thrown by
9:31
Speaker 1: the government itself. It was thrown the moment partial compliance
9:34
Speaker 1: was chosen over full obedience to the law. Survivors didn't
9:38
Speaker 1: escalate this confrontation. Institutions did. Now the response is inevitable.
9:43
Speaker 1: This is not going away.
9:45
Speaker 2: It's not fading.
9:46
Speaker 1: And it's not negotiable. There is only one acceptable outcome.
9:50
Speaker 1: Full release of the Epstein files. Full acknowledgement of the
9:54
Speaker 1: institutional failure. Full confrontation with the consequences. Anything else confirms
9:59
Speaker 1: what's revised? have said all along. The cover-up never ended.
10:04
Speaker 1: It simply changed tactics. The time for half-steps, stalling tactics,
10:09
Speaker 1: and bureaucratic sleight of hand is over. There is no
10:12
Speaker 1: procedural off-ramp left that does not end in full disclosure.
10:15
Speaker 1: Every delay from this point forward only sharpens the indictment
10:19
Speaker 1: against the institutions that are involved. The law has spoken,
10:23
Speaker 1: the survivors have spoken, and the public is finally paying attention.
10:28
Speaker 1: This is not a moment the DOJ can out-wait or
10:31
Speaker 1: spin its way through. History has shown that when truth
10:34
Speaker 1: is suppressed long enough, the reckoning is far worse. Choosing
10:38
Speaker 1: transparency now is not an act of courage, but refusing
10:41
Speaker 1: it is an act of cowardice. The consequences of continued
10:45
Speaker 1: obstruction will not be limited to this case alone. They
10:48
Speaker 1: will stain the credibility of the system for generations. So,
10:52
Speaker 1: let this be the line in the sand. The Epstein
10:55
Speaker 1: files must be released in full, without games, without excuses,
10:59
Speaker 1: and without insultingly thin rationalizations. Survivors are no longer asking
11:04
Speaker 1: for justice in theory, they're demanding it in practice. The
11:07
Speaker 1: institutions that failed them once, do not get to fail
11:10
Speaker 1: them again, quietly. This fight is not about politics, personality,
11:14
Speaker 1: or optics. It's about whether the law means what it says.
11:18
Speaker 1: If the DOJ wants this chapter to end, there is
11:20
Speaker 1: only one way to end it. Compliance is not optional
11:24
Speaker 1: and accountability is not negotiable.
11:26
Speaker 2: Release everything, face.
11:28
Speaker 1: The consequences, and let the truth land where it may.
11:31
Speaker 1: Anything else is confirmation that the cover-up was always the point.
11:36
Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with this episode can
11:39
Speaker 1: be found in the description box. What's up everyone and
11:42
Speaker 1: welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. Now that
11:46
Speaker 1: the Epstein Transparency Act has been passed into law, we're
11:49
Speaker 1: now seeing the trend of the courts falling in line
11:53
Speaker 1: to make sure that they're in compliance with the new law.
11:56
Speaker 1: And while that's certainly a step in the right direction,
11:58
Speaker 1: it's only one part of the issue. Because even though
12:01
Speaker 1: this is law now, do we really think the DOJ
12:04
Speaker 1: is going to do the right thing and release all
12:07
Speaker 1: these files unredacted the way they should? Or are they
12:11
Speaker 1: going to play games? My guess is they're going to
12:13
Speaker 1: play games. And that's why I've been calling for a
12:15
Speaker 1: special investigator or a special counsel to take over and
12:19
Speaker 1: do the investigation. We can't trust the powers that be.
12:23
Speaker 1: The powers that be are the reason we're in the
12:25
Speaker 1: situation that we're in. If we could trust them, we
12:28
Speaker 1: wouldn't have this conversation, right? They would have released all
12:31
Speaker 1: this information a long time ago. But it's never about
12:34
Speaker 1: being transparent because the second they decide to become transparent,
12:38
Speaker 1: they're going to lose the narrative. And they know if
12:40
Speaker 1: they lose the narrative, the whole entire thing is going
12:42
Speaker 1: to blow up in their face. So that's why they're
12:45
Speaker 1: fighting tooth and nail to make sure that this narrative
12:47
Speaker 1: doesn't become something that they can't contain or control. And
12:51
Speaker 1: one of their most effective tools is to designate people
12:54
Speaker 1: as crazy. You know, they'll come out with their push,
12:58
Speaker 1: legacy media, talking heads, whatever, and call things a conspiracy theory,
13:02
Speaker 1: say nothing ever happened. And the whole idea is to
13:06
Speaker 1: make the people talking about it look like they're crazy
13:08
Speaker 1: so nobody believes it. But this time, that's not going
13:11
Speaker 1: to work. And that's because there's too much that has
13:14
Speaker 1: become public already. So when you have that much information
13:17
Speaker 1: that's already in the public domain, it's very difficult for
13:20
Speaker 1: them to put that horse back in the barn. So
13:23
Speaker 1: now it becomes a battle to make sure that they're not,
13:25
Speaker 1: you know, sanitizing things to a point where it's criminal.
13:30
Speaker 2: And I don't say that lightly, right?
13:32
Speaker 1: That's not an allegation to throw around if you don't
13:34
Speaker 1: think it's true. And I most certainly think it's true.
13:37
Speaker 1: Does anyone really trust this DOJ to do the right thing?
13:41
Speaker 1: And I don't just mean under this administration. I'm talking
13:43
Speaker 1: about for years and years now. And this shit here
13:46
Speaker 1: just puts a spotlight on how crooked and how broken
13:48
Speaker 1: things are. So, in my opinion, there needs to be
13:52
Speaker 1: a special investigator or a special counsel or somebody that
13:56
Speaker 1: is neutral from this whole thing that is overseeing it.
14:00
Speaker 1: Because if anyone thinks the Justice Department wants to tell
14:03
Speaker 1: us the truth, they're crazy. Today's article is from CBS
14:08
Speaker 1: News and the headline. Epstein survivors and Senate Democrats asked
14:12
Speaker 1: for an audit to determine if Epstein files have been
14:15
Speaker 1: tampered with. This article was authored by Scott McFarlane. Survivors
14:21
Speaker 1: of Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes and a group of Democratic
14:24
Speaker 1: members of Congress are asking for an independent review of
14:27
Speaker 1: the Epstein case files to determine whether any of the
14:30
Speaker 1: records have been tampered with or concealed ahead of the
14:34
Speaker 1: release of those files by next week. And of course,
14:37
Speaker 1: there'll be pushback, right? Oh, it's a big hoax. It's
14:40
Speaker 1: a democratic plot. And look, I'm not going to sit
14:43
Speaker 1: here and tell you that the Democrats aren't out of
14:45
Speaker 1: pocket with a lot of the shit they do.
14:46
Speaker 2: They are.
14:47
Speaker 1: And a lot of the nonsense they get up to
14:49
Speaker 1: is hurtful to the country and the overall discourse. But
14:52
Speaker 1: when it comes to this, they're right. They're 100% on point.
14:57
Speaker 1: How can we trust anything that's going on? We've had
14:59
Speaker 1: Trump say that the Democrats sanitized the paperwork and now
15:03
Speaker 1: the Democrats are worried that Trump sanitized it. So how
15:08
Speaker 1: do we meet in the middle? We get an independent
15:10
Speaker 1: investigator to take a look at all of it.
15:12
Speaker 2: That's what we do.
15:14
Speaker 1: And that person should have full power to subpoena and
15:18
Speaker 1: refer for criminal charges. Because in my opinion, that's the
15:21
Speaker 1: only way we're going to get a proper look at
15:23
Speaker 1: what's going on here. In a letter Thursday to the
15:28
Speaker 1: Justice Department's Inspector General, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee
15:32
Speaker 1: asked the internal watchdog to undertake a formal review to
15:35
Speaker 1: check for any chain of custody problems with the Epstein files. Well,
15:39
Speaker 1: that's where they screwed up. The inspector general, the same
15:43
Speaker 1: one that ran that shitty report about Epstein's death and
15:47
Speaker 1: about the NPA, that same inspector general's office. See, this
15:51
Speaker 1: is what I'm talking about. It's a circular investigation. If
15:54
Speaker 1: the Democrats meant business, they'd be talking about an independent investigator,
15:59
Speaker 1: not some knucklehead from the inspector general's office who has
16:02
Speaker 1: no power to do shit. Speaking with CBS News, representatives
16:07
Speaker 1: of some of Epstein's survivors have also called for a
16:11
Speaker 1: third-party review to check if any of the record has
16:14
Speaker 1: been scrubbed, softened, or quietly removed before the public sees it.
16:18
Speaker 1: Under a federal law signed by President Trump last month,
16:21
Speaker 1: the Trump administration is required to release virtually all files
16:25
Speaker 1: on the government's investigation into Epstein by a December 19th
16:28
Speaker 1: deadline with minimal redactions. Oh, I am sure that that's
16:33
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. I mean, I am just positive
16:36
Speaker 1: that we're going to get this with minimum redactions. Said
16:40
Speaker 1: fucking nobody ever. This is going to be so redacted
16:44
Speaker 1: that it's going to look like just a block of
16:45
Speaker 1: black text. And the things that aren't going to be redacted,
16:49
Speaker 1: my guess is, are things that we've seen already. Three
16:53
Speaker 1: federal judges have also issued rulings this month to unseal
16:57
Speaker 1: grand jury records in the criminal investigation into Epstein and
17:01
Speaker 1: his convicted co-conspirator, Glenn Maxwell. Well, at least they called
17:04
Speaker 1: her the right thing here. At least they said she's
17:07
Speaker 1: a convicted co-conspirator instead of associate or friend or girlfriend.
17:13
Speaker 2: Like what?
17:14
Speaker 1: Tell me you have no idea what you're talking about
17:16
Speaker 1: without telling me. It's like the morons who still refer
17:18
Speaker 1: to her as a socialite. The rulings have opened the
17:21
Speaker 1: door for large batches of investigative material to be publicly
17:25
Speaker 1: released by the administration for the first time. Well, considering
17:29
Speaker 1: we have the great truth seeker Pam Bondi in office
17:32
Speaker 1: and Kash Patel, I'm sure we're going to be fine, right?
17:34
Speaker 1: They're the most transparent people in history. I mean, just
17:37
Speaker 1: ask them.
17:37
Speaker 2: They'll tell you.
17:38
Speaker 1: They are the most transparent people to ever sit in
17:41
Speaker 1: those chairs, to ever hold those offices, to ever walk
17:45
Speaker 1: the earth. And anybody asking for Epstein files and anybody
17:49
Speaker 1: demanding more transparency is just hostile, right? You're just an
17:53
Speaker 1: enemy of the state. Maybe they'll drone strike you next,
17:56
Speaker 1: just like they're doing in the Caribbean. Maybe that's the
17:58
Speaker 1: next step. Ask questions about Epstein at eight. and a
18:02
Speaker 1: Reaper drone's blowing your house up at 9. The impending
18:05
Speaker 1: release follows months of pressure from both parties for the
18:08
Speaker 1: Trump administration to disclose more information on the government's Epstein probes.
18:13
Speaker 1: The financier, pedophile, pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida
18:16
Speaker 1: in the 2000s and was charged with child sex trafficking
18:20
Speaker 1: in 2019, but died by suicide, allegedly, in federal custody
18:25
Speaker 1: while awaiting trial. Yo, CBS News won't believe a thing
18:28
Speaker 1: that the administration says, but they're sure. that Jeffrey Epstein
18:32
Speaker 1: committed suicide. Say what now? Thursday's letter from Senate Democrats,
18:37
Speaker 1: including Senator Adam Schiff of California, pointed to allegations that
18:41
Speaker 1: Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel ordered
18:45
Speaker 1: a massive review of the Epstein-related records, which resulted in
18:49
Speaker 1: around 1,000 FBI personnel working 24-hour shifts and required personnel
18:55
Speaker 1: to identify any mention of President Trump. So that's what
18:59
Speaker 1: my tax dollars are being used for?
19:01
Speaker 2: That's cool.
19:02
Speaker 1: Nothing like making sure we sanitize the documents to protect
19:05
Speaker 1: the president. Nothing says America first like, you know, protecting
19:08
Speaker 1: your own ass. To reassure the American public that any
19:12
Speaker 1: files released have not been tampered with or concealed, the
19:15
Speaker 1: chain of custody forms associated with records and evidence in
19:18
Speaker 1: the Epstein files must be accounted for, analyzed, and released.
19:23
Speaker 1: The request read, The allegations that federal workers looked for
19:27
Speaker 1: mentions of Mr. Trump was initially leveled over the summer.
19:30
Speaker 1: by the Senate Judiciary Committee's Vice Chair Democratic Senator Dick Durbin,
19:35
Speaker 1: who cited information his office had received. Durbin was one
19:39
Speaker 1: of the signatories of Thursday's letter. The New York Times
19:42
Speaker 1: later reported that the FBI looked for references to Mr.
19:45
Speaker 1: Trump and other high-profile people. What that means is people
19:49
Speaker 1: that are paying the bills, donors to Trump, friends of Trump,
19:53
Speaker 1: people that have been big supporters of intelligence, whatever it
19:57
Speaker 1: might be. Those are the people that are going to
19:59
Speaker 1: be protected. They don't care about the survivors. They don't
20:02
Speaker 1: care about anybody but themselves and the institution. And the
20:06
Speaker 1: sooner folks realize that, the better off everyone's going to be.
20:09
Speaker 1: The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
20:13
Speaker 1: The Inspector General's Office did not comment to CBS News,
20:17
Speaker 1: and generally does not speak about its communication with Congress.
20:21
Speaker 1: In other words, no oversight, they get to do whatever
20:23
Speaker 1: they want, and we're supposed to trust them. Sorry, I
20:25
Speaker 1: don't trust them. There's a reason that we spend so
20:28
Speaker 1: much time going through those stupid-ass OIG reports, and the
20:32
Speaker 1: reason is so you all know that you've been bullshitted.
20:36
Speaker 1: Unlike everybody else, I'm not just coming here talking shit.
20:39
Speaker 1: I like to come with receipts. And like I always
20:42
Speaker 1: tell you, I only talk about the shit I can
20:44
Speaker 1: prove or think I can prove, not the shit I know.
20:47
Speaker 1: If I talked about the shit I know, I'd sound
20:49
Speaker 1: like one of these crazies, because that's how crazy this
20:52
Speaker 1: story is. Spencer Coven, a civil attorney who has represented
20:56
Speaker 1: a group of Epstein survivors, has also raised concerns about
21:00
Speaker 1: the trustworthiness of the records that are set to be released.
21:03
Speaker 1: Coven told CBS News, There should absolutely be concern about
21:07
Speaker 1: the chain of custody of the Epstein files. Those records
21:10
Speaker 1: have passed through too many hands, behind too many closed doors,
21:14
Speaker 1: for anyone to simply assume they're intact, unaltered, or complete,
21:18
Speaker 1: Kuvin said. Survivors have endured decades of secrecy, broken promises,
21:23
Speaker 1: and institutional protection of powerful men. They should not now
21:27
Speaker 1: be asked to trust a process with no independent verification.
21:30
Speaker 1: And is he wrong? Is he wrong about any of that?
21:33
Speaker 1: Not in my opinion. I think that all of that's true.
21:37
Speaker 1: How can anyone trust the process? You keep telling people
21:40
Speaker 1: to trust the process and then you keep screwing them.
21:43
Speaker 1: So why would anyone believe anything that the DOJ has
21:45
Speaker 1: to say about Epstein? The Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are
21:49
Speaker 1: asking for the Inspector General to audit the handling of
21:52
Speaker 1: the case files and publicly release results of the audit
21:55
Speaker 1: by January 19th. Schiff's letter to the Inspector General said
21:59
Speaker 1: the group would like answers to several questions, including how
22:03
Speaker 1: many individuals have obtained custody over the materials ahead of
22:06
Speaker 1: the release. In July, the Justice Department moved to unseal
22:10
Speaker 1: grand jury material in the Epstein-Maxwell investigation, but those initial
22:14
Speaker 1: bids were denied because federal rules required grand jury proceedings
22:18
Speaker 1: and evidence to be kept secret. However, after the passage
22:23
Speaker 1: of the Epstein-Files Transparency Act, the Justice Department argued that
22:27
Speaker 1: the law should override grand jury secrecy rules. Well, yeah,
22:31
Speaker 1: that's the law, right? Not really that difficult. There's a
22:35
Speaker 1: new law on the books. We have to follow the law.
22:37
Speaker 1: And it doesn't mean that every set of grand jury
22:39
Speaker 1: documents from here on out is going to be released.
22:43
Speaker 1: It's these specific documents because there is cause. There is
22:46
Speaker 1: a great public interest in what went down. So when
22:50
Speaker 1: that outweighs the secrecy clause, you're going to get the documents,
22:54
Speaker 1: especially when you have the new law on the books.
22:57
Speaker 1: That certainly gives them the inroads they needed. And that's
23:00
Speaker 1: why we're at the point.
23:01
Speaker 2: Where we're at.
23:02
Speaker 1: But previously, they weren't going to release these files. And
23:05
Speaker 1: the Trump administration knew that. So that's why they were
23:08
Speaker 1: going after the grand jury documents instead of going after
23:11
Speaker 1: regular documents in their own possession already. But what this
23:14
Speaker 1: does is cut down the bullshit, right? Now they can't
23:17
Speaker 1: rely on the courts to gum it up. So we'll
23:19
Speaker 1: see which way it all goes. And like usual, we'll
23:22
Speaker 1: be here every step of the way. All of the
23:25
Speaker 1: information that goes with this episode can be found in
23:28
Speaker 1: the description box.
23:30
Speaker 2: What's up, everyone?
23:31
Speaker 1: And welcome to another episode. of the Epstein Chronicles. Imagine this,
23:37
Speaker 1: the Department of Justice standing at a crossroads with one
23:40
Speaker 1: path leading towards truth and the other towards convenience. If
23:44
Speaker 1: they were serious about justice in the Epstein and Maxwell crimes,
23:48
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have sat Ghislaine Maxwell down for a sanitized,
23:51
Speaker 1: fireside-friendly deposition where the questions were as hollow as the answers. Instead,
23:58
Speaker 1: they would have turned the microphones toward the survivors, the
24:01
Speaker 1: women and girls, who were preyed upon, silenced, and abandoned
24:05
Speaker 1: by the very institutions sworn to protect them. Now these
24:10
Speaker 1: survivors aren't just footnotes in some court record. They're the
24:13
Speaker 1: beating heart of this whole entire story, the living proof
24:17
Speaker 1: of what was allowed to happen in plain sight. Yet
24:19
Speaker 1: once again their pain was pushed aside, their voices drowned
24:23
Speaker 1: out by the hum of deal-making and procedural pageantry. That choice,
24:29
Speaker 1: the choice to elevate the comfort of the accused over
24:32
Speaker 1: the cries of the violated, reveals a justice system more
24:35
Speaker 1: concerned with appearances than with accountability. Survivors shouldn't have to
24:41
Speaker 1: fight for scraps or recognition while the perpetrators of their
24:44
Speaker 1: abuse are granted the dignity of negotiation. Justice doesn't come
24:49
Speaker 1: from whispered conversations behind closed doors. It comes from placing
24:54
Speaker 1: the truth front and center no matter how uncomfortable it
24:57
Speaker 1: makes those in power. Now the DOJ had a chance
25:01
Speaker 1: to show the world that no one is above the law,
25:05
Speaker 1: that the survivors mattered more than the criminals who destroyed them. Instead,
25:10
Speaker 1: they showed us what many already suspected, that the system
25:14
Speaker 1: bends for the powerful even when the powerful are monsters.
25:19
Speaker 1: The truth is, the survivors have already been silenced for
25:23
Speaker 1: years by manipulation and and by institutions that looked the
25:26
Speaker 1: other way. Every time they were dismissed, ignored, or disbelieved,
25:31
Speaker 1: Epstein and Maxwell grew stronger. And when the moment finally
25:34
Speaker 1: came for accountability, what.
25:36
Speaker 2: Did the DOJ do?
25:37
Speaker 1: They sat across from Maxwell like she was some kind
25:40
Speaker 1: of business partner, negotiating terms instead of exposing crimes. They
25:46
Speaker 1: gave her legitimacy when she deserved nothing but condemnation, that image,
25:51
Speaker 1: A convicted trafficker being treated as though her cooperation was
25:55
Speaker 1: more valuable than the testimony of survivors sends a chilling
25:59
Speaker 1: message to every victim who still wonders if speaking up
26:02
Speaker 1: is worth the cost. It tells them the system doesn't
26:07
Speaker 1: really want you. It wants to manage you. It wants
26:10
Speaker 1: your silence when it's inconvenient and your pain only when
26:13
Speaker 1: it's marketable. And that's the sickness at the core of
26:16
Speaker 1: all of this because true justice is inconvenient. It's not polite,
26:21
Speaker 1: and it's not negotiated over conference tables. True justice forces
26:27
Speaker 1: us to face the ugliest parts of who.
26:28
Speaker 2: We are and what we've allowed.
26:31
Speaker 1: It demands that we look the survivors in the eye,
26:33
Speaker 1: hear their stories without flinching, and honor their courage by
26:37
Speaker 1: refusing to let their abusers dictate the terms of accountability.
26:42
Speaker 1: And so, we're left here once again in the familiar
26:45
Speaker 1: shadow of betrayal. Survivors pushed to the background. The accused
26:49
Speaker 1: treated with deference, and the DOJ congratulating itself for going
26:54
Speaker 1: through the motions. But the motions are not enough. Not now,
26:58
Speaker 1: not ever. Because what hangs in the balance isn't just
27:01
Speaker 1: the legacy of Epstein and Maxwell, it's the credibility of
27:04
Speaker 1: the very institutions that claim to protect us. If the
27:09
Speaker 1: Department of Justice cannot or will not center the survivors,
27:13
Speaker 1: then it's failing at its most basic duty, to pursue
27:16
Speaker 1: justice without.
27:17
Speaker 2: Fear or favor.
27:19
Speaker 1: Until that changes, all we're left with is theater masquerading
27:23
Speaker 1: as accountability, while the real voices, the voices of the broken,
27:27
Speaker 1: the silenced, the forgotten, are forced.
27:30
Speaker 2: To keep screaming into the void.
27:33
Speaker 1: Today's article is from The Guardian and the headline, No
27:37
Speaker 1: Outreach to Epstein Victims Despite Trump's Vow to Investigate, Lawyers Say.
27:42
Speaker 1: This article was authored by Victoria Bacampus. For more than
27:51
Speaker 1: six months, Donald Trump and his Justice Department have insisted
27:54
Speaker 1: they would get to the bottom of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes,
27:57
Speaker 1: but nine attorneys, who have represented approximately 50 Epstein survivors,
28:02
Speaker 1: told The Guardian they have not been recently contacted by
28:06
Speaker 1: the Justice Department. Now, if you were really doing an investigation, right,
28:11
Speaker 1: wouldn't you be contacting the people that are making the claims?
28:14
Speaker 1: We all know, no victim, no crime, right? So, it's
28:19
Speaker 1: very important, obviously, to speak with the victims who are
28:23
Speaker 1: claiming that they were wronged. But instead, we have a
28:26
Speaker 1: fireside chat with Ghislaine Maxwell?
28:29
Speaker 2: For what purpose?
28:30
Speaker 1: Now look, I'm all ears if you have some good
28:33
Speaker 1: reasons as to why anyone should be sitting down with
28:37
Speaker 1: Ghislaine Maxwell. Never mind the Deputy Attorney General. There is
28:41
Speaker 1: literally no logical explanation for it. Unless, of course, you're
28:45
Speaker 1: looking at it through the lens of a cover-up. Then yeah,
28:48
Speaker 1: it looks like a logical thing to do, right? Keep
28:52
Speaker 1: Ghislaine Maxwell happy, make sure she's not making any waves,
28:55
Speaker 1: and tell her to just bide your time. When my
28:58
Speaker 1: term's up, I'm a lame duck, and I'll give you
29:01
Speaker 1: that pardon. Now look, I don't know if that's a
29:03
Speaker 1: conversation that's been had. But it's the optics, right? And
29:06
Speaker 1: that's all we have to go off of. And that's because,
29:09
Speaker 1: once again, we're not getting any transparency from the administration.
29:14
Speaker 1: The revelation cast out on the effort by the Trump
29:17
Speaker 1: administration to fully investigate Epstein's crimes and activities and reveal
29:22
Speaker 1: everything that the government knows about him. It comes as
29:25
Speaker 1: Trump faces intense political pressure, including from his own base,
29:30
Speaker 1: over his social ties to Epstein, who was famed for
29:34
Speaker 1: courting rich and powerful figures into his circle. There has
29:38
Speaker 1: still been no outreach from the DOJ. or members of
29:41
Speaker 1: Congress to me seeking to interview my clients, said top
29:44
Speaker 1: civil attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented 27 Epstein survivors.
29:51
Speaker 1: And I saw some talk on social media from people
29:54
Speaker 1: talking about Gloria Allred, and look, I've been very public
29:57
Speaker 1: with how I feel about Gloria Allred, and her daughter,
30:00
Speaker 1: Lisa Bloom.
30:01
Speaker 2: I do not like them.
30:02
Speaker 1: But does that mean that the people who are claiming
30:05
Speaker 1: that they were abused are lying?
30:08
Speaker 2: I mean, come on.
30:09
Speaker 1: What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? You have to
30:12
Speaker 1: look at each story for what it is and take
30:14
Speaker 1: the merits of that story for what they are.
30:17
Speaker 2: Each one of these claims is unique.
30:20
Speaker 1: This isn't just a gigantic monolith where one claim means
30:24
Speaker 1: everyone's telling the truth. Or one claim means everyone's lying.
30:27
Speaker 1: So like I've told you folks from the very beginning,
30:30
Speaker 1: don't trust this one. Don't trust that one. Follow the
30:33
Speaker 1: evidence wherever the evidence goes. Lisa Bloom, who has represented
30:37
Speaker 1: 11 Epstein survivors, said, no, I haven't heard anything. As usual,
30:42
Speaker 1: the survivors are being ignored in the political battle. And
30:46
Speaker 1: that's really what it comes down to. That's what this
30:49
Speaker 1: is now. It's a political football, and it's getting kicked
30:53
Speaker 1: back and forth. Meanwhile, nothing's being accomplished, right? No movement,
30:57
Speaker 1: no real investigations. We have names out there already, and
31:01
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about people that are just accused of enabling.
31:04
Speaker 1: What about the people that have been accused of abuse itself?
31:08
Speaker 1: We're talking about Glenn Dubin. We're talking about Les Wexner.
31:11
Speaker 1: We're talking about George Mitchell. We're talking about Bill Richardson.
31:15
Speaker 1: We're talking about Marvin Minsky. I mean, come on, folks.
31:19
Speaker 1: Everybody talks about they want a list, they want this,
31:21
Speaker 1: they want that, they want the other thing, but the
31:23
Speaker 1: names that are already out there, nobody has any desire
31:27
Speaker 1: to do anything about that. So is it that you
31:30
Speaker 1: want names, or is it that you want names of
31:32
Speaker 1: people that you think you can use this as a
31:34
Speaker 1: political cudgel against? And obviously there's a whole lot of
31:37
Speaker 1: that going on right now, and the more that this
31:40
Speaker 1: is politicized, the less it humanizes the people who are
31:43
Speaker 1: affected the most. Spencer Coven, the chief legal officer of Goldlaw, Similarly, said,
31:50
Speaker 1: there had not been outreach by law enforcement officials or Congress.
31:54
Speaker 1: The House Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas regarding Epstein and
31:57
Speaker 1: met with some victims earlier this week. The panel did
32:00
Speaker 1: release a tranche of documents the Justice Department provided pursuant
32:05
Speaker 1: a subpoena, but virtually none contained new information. And that's
32:09
Speaker 1: certainly a roadblock that we have faced time and time again.
32:13
Speaker 1: Recycled information being dropped and then them telling us that
32:16
Speaker 1: it's new. I have heard nothing from the DOJ and
32:19
Speaker 1: they have provided me no updates to give to my clients.
32:23
Speaker 1: I have even sent letters to the committee chair volunteering
32:26
Speaker 1: to speak with them about the original investigation and litigation.
32:30
Speaker 1: This letter was completely ignored, Coven said. It's appalling that
32:34
Speaker 1: the federal government is again failing to keep the victims
32:37
Speaker 1: at the center of this investigation. Instead, it appears that
32:41
Speaker 1: all the government is interested in is attempting to whitewash
32:44
Speaker 1: the prior investigation. And that's really what it comes down to,
32:47
Speaker 1: to me. They know how embarrassing this is all going
32:50
Speaker 1: to be, and they just can't have it. So they're
32:53
Speaker 1: going to fight tooth and nail to make sure you
32:55
Speaker 1: never know what really happened. And if that doesn't enrage you,
32:59
Speaker 1: I don't know what will. Jennifer Freeman, special counsel at
33:02
Speaker 1: Marsh Law Firm, who represents the Epstein survivor Maria Farmer
33:07
Speaker 1: and her suit against the federal government, condemned this apparent
33:10
Speaker 1: lack of outreach, noting the lengthy talk between the Deputy
33:13
Speaker 1: Attorney General Todd Blanche and the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
33:19
Speaker 1: It's atrocious that the DOJ ignored or dismissed the survivors
33:23
Speaker 1: of Epstein and Maxwell for decades, and that recently the
33:26
Speaker 1: second-in-command spent two days coddling unknown sex abuser Ghislaine Maxwell
33:31
Speaker 1: and asking her soft, powder-puff questions instead of conducting a
33:35
Speaker 1: true and proper investigation, Freeman said. And look, there's no
33:38
Speaker 1: doubt about that. I don't know how you could look
33:41
Speaker 1: at those transcripts, read through them, and not come away
33:44
Speaker 1: thinking that the fix is in. And I said it
33:47
Speaker 1: from the start with Ghislaine Maxwell and the DOJ. They're
33:51
Speaker 1: doing themselves a disservice by involving her in any capacity.
33:55
Speaker 1: And once we got a look at those transcripts, that
33:57
Speaker 1: was certainly the case. Not only has the DOJ refused
34:03
Speaker 1: to engage survivors, but they obstructed routine and valid requests
34:07
Speaker 1: for information. In January of 2025, in response to a
34:12
Speaker 1: basic Freedom of Information Act request, the government informed us
34:16
Speaker 1: that they would respond by November 2027, nearly three years later.
34:21
Speaker 1: That's abysmal and completely unacceptable.
34:25
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it sure is. I mean, can you imagine?
34:29
Speaker 1: The government trying to kick the can down the road
34:31
Speaker 1: like this time and time again? Anything they can do
34:34
Speaker 1: to run out the clock. Attorney Jack Scarola said, My
34:38
Speaker 1: last contact with the DOJ was during the Maxwell trial
34:42
Speaker 1: while I was representing Carolyn Andreano in her capacity as
34:46
Speaker 1: a principal DOJ witness. Andreano died of a drug overdose
34:50
Speaker 1: in May of 2023. Another attorney simply said, Not a
34:54
Speaker 1: word from the DOJ. The lack of outreach is... flies
34:59
Speaker 1: in the face of numerous public commitments by Trump and
35:02
Speaker 1: others in his administration to fully and transparently investigate Epstein.
35:07
Speaker 1: This Department of Justice is following through on President Trump's
35:11
Speaker 1: commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on disgusting actions
35:15
Speaker 1: of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators, the U.S. Attorney General
35:20
Speaker 1: Pamela Bondi said in February as it released some of
35:22
Speaker 1: the Epstein documents. The first phase of files released today
35:27
Speaker 1: sheds light on Epstein's extensive network and begins to provide
35:30
Speaker 1: the public with long overdue accountability. And then that just
35:35
Speaker 1: all stops, right? And we're supposed to accept the narrative
35:37
Speaker 1: that they give us?
35:39
Speaker 2: Stop it.
35:40
Speaker 1: Would you accept it if it was the Biden administration
35:43
Speaker 1: pumping that shit to you?
35:45
Speaker 2: You know you wouldn't.
35:46
Speaker 1: So demand the same ass accountability here. As it turned out,
35:51
Speaker 1: this February dissemination of files set the stage for a
35:54
Speaker 1: controversy that continues to royal Trump's presidency. These Epstein documents
35:59
Speaker 1: largely contained information that had already been in the public domain.
36:04
Speaker 1: The disclosure did not include purported Epstein client list that
36:08
Speaker 1: has long proved the white whale of right-wing conspiracy theorists
36:13
Speaker 1: who believe it would show that Epstein plotted with high-profile
36:16
Speaker 1: individuals to traffic teen girls. Now think about that for
36:20
Speaker 1: a minute. What kind of moron actually believes that? Do
36:24
Speaker 1: you really think that there's some list here that they
36:27
Speaker 1: kept about their operation and all the people involved? If
36:31
Speaker 1: you were really serious about finding that out, you'd be
36:34
Speaker 1: demanding bank transfers. You'd be demanding all the information from
36:38
Speaker 1: the NPA. But instead, we just continue to go around
36:41
Speaker 1: circles here like a dog chasing its tail. Now that
36:45
Speaker 1: might be fun for some people. Hint, hint, DOJ, but
36:48
Speaker 1: for the rest of us, it's time-consuming, it's disgusting, and
36:52
Speaker 1: it needs to end. In July, Bondi announced that her
36:56
Speaker 1: department and the FBI would not be releasing more files
37:00
Speaker 1: and claimed that a client list did not exist, stoking
37:04
Speaker 1: still more uproar. Then came the reporting that Bondi informed
37:07
Speaker 1: Trump that his name had appeared multiple times in the
37:11
Speaker 1: Epstein files dealing yet another political blow to the U.S.
37:15
Speaker 2: President. None of that's new.
37:17
Speaker 1: We all knew that he was one of the John
37:19
Speaker 1: Does in the Epstein files. I believe it was John
37:22
Speaker 1: Doe 174. So this is nothing new. Donald Trump knew
37:26
Speaker 1: this too. So the question is, what happened between then
37:30
Speaker 1: and now that changed things that made Donald Trump bash
37:33
Speaker 1: his own base? Has to be something pretty serious, right?
37:38
Speaker 1: Not the kind of mistake that you would expect Donald
37:40
Speaker 1: Trump to make. Say what you will about the guy,
37:42
Speaker 1: but he's a political animal. Guy knows what he's doing,
37:45
Speaker 1: politically speaking. So this is a gigantic gaffe. And one
37:50
Speaker 1: of his own making, for sure. The Justice Department's apparent
37:54
Speaker 1: damage control efforts were extensive. They requested the release of
37:57
Speaker 1: grand jury transcripts in Epstein's criminal cases, as well as
38:01
Speaker 1: Maxwell's proceeding. Legal experts said the grand jury transcripts would
38:05
Speaker 1: contain little revelatory information. The requests were ultimately denied. Well, yeah,
38:10
Speaker 1: they wouldn't give you anything. Just another waste of time.
38:15
Speaker 1: Blanche interviewed Maxwell. who had helped Epstein commit his crimes
38:19
Speaker 1: in late July. Maxwell was then moved to a low-security
38:22
Speaker 1: prison camp shortly thereafter, infuriating victims and the rest of
38:27
Speaker 1: the world who has a brain in their head. The
38:29
Speaker 1: Justice Department released transcripts of Maxwell's interview on August 22,
38:34
Speaker 1: but the Minutes refused to quell demand for information, as
38:38
Speaker 1: Blanche questions didn't seem probing on key issues, especially as
38:43
Speaker 1: it related to Trump or those close to him. Well,
38:46
Speaker 1: that's ridiculous. It should have been about co-conspirators, really, right?
38:50
Speaker 1: It should have been about, you know, Sarah Kellan Vickers.
38:53
Speaker 1: It should have been about Leslie Groff. It should have
38:55
Speaker 1: been about Jean-Luc Brunel, all the movers and shakers. That
38:59
Speaker 1: should have been the core of it because there are
39:01
Speaker 1: still people out there that were hands-on involved that have
39:05
Speaker 1: gotten away with this. So isn't that what the meeting
39:08
Speaker 1: should have been about? Hey, Ghislaine, what about the people
39:11
Speaker 1: working under you? He didn't ask her once about Sarah
39:14
Speaker 1: Kellen Vickers. He didn't ask her once about, you know,
39:17
Speaker 1: Leslie Groff.
39:17
Speaker 2: None of them.
39:18
Speaker 1: Now, the name was brought up, but there was no probing.
39:21
Speaker 1: There was no digging for deeper answers. Instead, what we
39:26
Speaker 1: had was a whitewash. But still, there was a lack
39:29
Speaker 1: of outsourcing. to victims that appears to stand in contrast
39:32
Speaker 1: with traditional investigatory methods attorneys said that engaging with survivors
39:38
Speaker 1: was integral to criminal investigations of sexual offenders and those
39:42
Speaker 1: who commit other serious crimes well yeah if somebody's saying
39:46
Speaker 1: that there was a crime committed probably a good idea
39:48
Speaker 1: to talk to them right I know, call me crazy,
39:51
Speaker 1: but I think it's a better idea to talk to
39:53
Speaker 1: the people who were actually wronged than to sit down
39:56
Speaker 1: for a fireside chat with their abuser. If law enforcement
40:01
Speaker 1: was seriously investigating some criminal activity, it seems like the
40:04
Speaker 1: first call that they should make is to the victims
40:07
Speaker 1: and or the victims' attorneys, said Eric Faddis, a trial
40:11
Speaker 1: attorney and founder of the Denver firm, Varner Faddis, who
40:14
Speaker 1: previously worked as a prosecutor. You're getting information from the source,
40:19
Speaker 1: from someone who was present and has first-hand knowledge and
40:22
Speaker 1: probably has a wealth of information, most of which is
40:26
Speaker 1: likely not public, and some of which may not have
40:29
Speaker 1: been disclosed to anyone at all yet. Speaking with survivors,
40:33
Speaker 1: rather than limiting inquiries to an accomplice or accomplices, helps
40:37
Speaker 1: better fact-finding, he said. I mean, really, we need to
40:40
Speaker 1: be told that? If you don't know that, I don't
40:42
Speaker 1: know what to tell you. An accomplice can talk about
40:46
Speaker 1: statements that the alleged culprit made to which a victim
40:49
Speaker 1: may not have been privy, but I think the reciprocal
40:52
Speaker 1: is true. That a victim can talk about first-hand knowledge,
40:55
Speaker 1: whereas sometimes when an accomplice relays information, that information can
40:59
Speaker 1: be colored or biased or conveyed within pure motivations. Like
41:04
Speaker 1: to help out the accomplices themselves, Fadis said. The victims,
41:09
Speaker 1: they likely don't have any incentive to fabricate information to
41:12
Speaker 1: their benefit, at least not in the way that an
41:14
Speaker 1: accomplice who's sitting in a prison cell does.
41:16
Speaker 2: Well, that's true too.
41:19
Speaker 1: Now, of course, you can talk about financial motivation, and
41:22
Speaker 1: there are people out there that try and benefit from
41:25
Speaker 1: shit like this all the time. I'm not naive, I
41:27
Speaker 1: know that. And that's why I say we have to
41:30
Speaker 1: look at each allegation on its own merits. This is
41:33
Speaker 1: not a monolithic type of deal.
41:39
Speaker 2: Lindsey M.
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Speaker 1: Goldbrun, a partner at New York City firm Goddard Law,
41:43
Speaker 1: said that a survivor-centered approach was key. As an attorney
41:47
Speaker 1: for survivors in other high-profile cases, proactive, trauma-informed outreach from
41:52
Speaker 1: law enforcement is critical. When survivors and their counsel aren't contacted,
41:57
Speaker 1: it can chill participation and undermine confidence in the process,
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Speaker 1: Goldbrun said. I can't speak to the specifics of the
42:04
Speaker 1: Epstein-Maxwell investigation, but as a matter of practice, engagement matters.
42:10
Speaker 1: The Justice Department said no comment in an email when
42:13
Speaker 1: asked about victim outreach.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they call it a hoax. What do they care?
42:17
Speaker 2: They're not going to investigate a hoax, right? Why should they?
42:22
Speaker 1: Epstein survivors have continued to push for transparency and justice
42:26
Speaker 1: outside the Justice Department. Several survivors on Wednesday voiced support
42:30
Speaker 1: of a bipartisan resolution to release all Epstein files. Survivors
42:36
Speaker 1: have also taken legal action against the U.S. government for
42:39
Speaker 1: federal law enforcement agencies' failure to take action against Epstein
42:43
Speaker 1: 20 years ago. Jennifer Plotkin and Jordan Merson of Merson Law,
42:48
Speaker 1: which represents 33 survivors, are pursuing a civil suit over
42:52
Speaker 1: federal law enforcement authorities' inaction toward allegations against Epstein when
42:57
Speaker 1: survivors started coming forward 20 years ago. Trump's Department of
43:01
Speaker 1: Justice is pushed to dismiss the lawsuit. The FBI refuses
43:05
Speaker 1: to accept accountability and continues to fight the dozens of
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Speaker 1: Epstein victims that we represent. Why is the FBI fighting
43:13
Speaker 1: these women when it acknowledged responsibility to the Larry Nassar victims,
43:17
Speaker 1: Plotkin said. The government says it wants to move on
43:20
Speaker 1: and forward, yet it continues to be adversarial instead of sympathetic.
43:24
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, I don't see that changing too much. That's
43:28
Speaker 1: just how it goes. They have no desire in true
43:31
Speaker 1: justice because if they did, this whole entire song and
43:34
Speaker 1: dance wouldn't be a song and dance and instead it
43:37
Speaker 1: would be an investigation. But instead, once again, we're left
43:41
Speaker 1: with political theater. All right, folks, that's going to do
43:44
Speaker 1: it for this one. All of the information that goes
43:47
Speaker 1: with this episode can be found in the description box.