Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 4) (5/16/26)

Transcript

Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 4) (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 going to get right
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  back to the Howard Ludnik deposition that he gave to
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  Congress Mister Emmer. We discussed your emails earlier, Sir, is
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  this HWL email yours? Answer? Yeah? Question, and the email
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  chain begins with mister Epstein asking you what do you
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  think the prospects for adfin are. Why would mister Epstein
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  be emailing you directly about prospects for adfin? Answer? I
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  don't know. Adfin was a company that's objective was to
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  become an exchange for Internet ads. So it was pursuing
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  companies that put out ads like banks do a lot
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  of ads, you know, big advertisers and websites. So it
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  was marketing to everyone it could possibly find to use
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  their services to buy their ads cheaper, you know, for
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  the advertiser to not use an ad agency and get
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  the money directly, and you know the advertisers are more efficient,
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  and so it would have been out talking to everybody,
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  So I wouldn't be surprised or it wouldn't surprise me
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  that people knew about it. I was not, but it
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  wouldn't have been unusual. It was out there trying to
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  make to get attention. Question and given your previous testimony,
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  as it relates to the emails that you sent, is
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  it safe to assume that this response was you personally? Answer?
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  This was this was me because it says, hwo question
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  and for the record, can you please read the email
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  that you sent back? Answer? Yeah, but this stems on
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  another note, so it must have stemmed from something else.
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  But it says you just want me to read it?
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  Answer producing revenue. Finally, this is their year next twelve
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  months they need to become economically self sufficient. Question And
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  mister Epstein replied to your email and said, thanks, how
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  long until Sherry's ready? And can I buy my guesthouse?
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  To which you responded probably four years in parentheses Pierre?
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  What is Pierre? Answer? So he made a joke that
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  he would buy my house as his guest house because
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  I had bought the top of the Pierre hotel. It
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  was an apartment. It still is a large again unfinished,
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  unfinished apartment. So he just got the hotel wrong. Question.
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  It wasn't a serious offer by Epstein to purchase your
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  town home? Answer it was sort of a snarky joke
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  or a joke question. The Committee understands, though public reporting
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  and records, that an Epstein affiliated trust had owned that
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  townhome that you moved into prior to you. Did Epstein
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  during your acquisition of the property. Did Epstein have any
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  role in the sale of that property to you? Answer? No,
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  I bought my townhouse from someone named Charles de Gunsberg
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  who owned it, so Epstein did not own the house.
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  So I don't know what that's reference to. Charles de
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  Gunsberg owned the house, and I bought the house from Charles. Now,
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  mister Spector jumps in. You testified earlier about having one
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  distinct four part email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein. Ever, is
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  this that email chain, Lutnik, This is two of it.
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  It may have been like disconnected. Sorry I can I'm
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  holding my hand separate now, Turwilger, the lawyer jumps in,
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  mister Emmer on that point, I do think, for the
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  sake of completeness, I would just profer to the Committee
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  that if we were to look at document EFT Alpha
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  zero one five zero seven one eight, you'll see that
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  there was a prior communication between Secretary Lutnik and Jeffrey
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  Epstein around the building of the Frick expansion. And that's
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  how we go from the subject to another note initiated
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  by mister Epstein. Mister Emmer, Thank you, mister Emmer. At
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  this time, I'd like to introduce what will be marked
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  as majority Exhibit number five. And for the record, it
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  appears that you are not a recipient of this email.
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  And this is an email from Jeffrey Epstein to or
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  adapted dated oct Job nineteenth, two thousand and nine, and
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  it's bates marked EFTA two four three eight eighty six,
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  and it appears to be a message passed along to
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  mister Epstein from Rich Barnett about you wanting to speak
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  to mister Epstein. Secretary Lutnik. Who is Rich Barnett? Answer?
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  He was someone that worked for me at counter Fitzgerald
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  so on my staff question, and we're reviewing an email
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  from October of two thousand and nine. Do you have
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  any recollection of why you would have been trying to
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  get in touch with Epstein? Answer? I don't have any recollection,
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  but Rich Barnett was responsible for my sort of construction
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  and things associated with that, so it may have been
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  that I was doing something at my house, but I
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  shouldn't speculate. I don't know and I did not speak
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  to him. Question. Thank you. At this time, I'd like
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  to introduce what will be marked as majority Exhibit six
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  and seven. Majority Exhibit six is an email dated Monday,
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  April fourth, twenty eleven from Leslie Groff, Jeffrey Epstein's secretary,
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  sent to mister Epstein, saying, Howard Lutnick returned your call
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  and the Bates number EFTA sixty five four five five two.
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  Majority Exhibits seven is a calendar reminder dated the very
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  next day, April fifth, which appears to show a schedule
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  callback between you and mister Epstein. The reminder states Jaye
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  to call Howard Lutnik today call Matthew to organize and
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  that is Bates mart EFTA zero two one nine one
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  two four five. For the record, it appears as though
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  you are not a recipient of either one of these exhibits.
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  Secretary Lutnick, do you know who miss Leslie Groff is? Answer?
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  I do not. Question. According to the email you returned
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  Epstein's call, we are early April twenty eleven. Do you
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  have any recollection of why you'd be returning a call
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  from mister Epstein. Answer, as I think I said my
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  opening statement, he had something to tell me, or so
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  I was told, is the best of my recollection from
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  fifteen years ago. So I must my office must have
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  suggested that I call him back to hear what he
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  had to say, and we were unable to connect by phone,
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  and that led to my second encounter with him, with
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  my best recollection being I rang his bell, walked into
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  his foyer with my dog. My wife waited outside with
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  my other dog, the one that one wouldn't be good
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  to bring into someone's house. I waited for him to
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  come down. He told me what he had to say,
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  and I remember this is a long time ago, but
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  my best recollection was it had to do with scaffolding.
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  Mister spector question, when you say scaffolding, are you talking
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  about the construction on your property or his answer yes, question.
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  So it was a discussion between neighbors about work that
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  might affect one another answer. I think my best recollection
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  is he was planning on doing scaffolding, which would sort
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  of be annoying to my property. So he was sort
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  of telling me he was something. This is my best
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  recollection of an inconsequential and meaningless conversation fifteen years ago.
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  So I'm not I'm just saying that's my best recollection.
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  Was it the topic of scaffolding? I can't give you more.
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  Something else I'll tell you would just be speculating as
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  to what it was about. So generally, when you say
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  in consequential and meaningless, in this case, you mean it
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  was just kind of a mundane conversation that would be
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  normal between neighbors of any sort. Answer write, and then
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  he had some sort of plan that he in his house,
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  and he was letting me know that it would be annoying. Question.
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  Thank you, mister Emmer. And this meeting that you referenced
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  during your hearing with the Senate Appropriations Committee last year,
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  you discussed your interaction with Jeffrey Epstein and mentioned an
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  hour long meeting at Epstein's home in twenty eleven. Is
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  this the same interaction that you just described related to scaffolding?
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  Lut Nick. Yeah, his documents, the documents in these files
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  had set aside an hour, which is what I was
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  referring to. The only interaction I recall was the one
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  I just articulated. I didn't have another interaction his schedule
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  said other things that was wrong. The only interaction that
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  I've ever had. I'm here describing to you accurately what
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  my best recollection, literally to my recollection could be. Specter.
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  Did the topic of massages ever come up again besides
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  that first interaction that you had with Epstein? Answer by Lutnick, No,
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  mister Emmer. At this time, I would like to introduce
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  what will be marked as majority Exhibit eight. While we're waiting,
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  I understand another member is joined. Can you please identify
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  yourself for the record, mister James Walkinshaw, Virginia eleven and ROCNNA, California, seventeen. Emmer,
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  this is Bates marked EFTA four to seven five seven,
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  four to two. This is an email chain from May
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  of twenty eighteen. Mister Lutnik or Secretary Lutnick, do you
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  recall sending this email? Secretary Lutnick knows I've told you
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  if it's say, this is Howard Lutnik. It was sent
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  by Matthew Gilbert, and he's the one who sees them,
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  meaning I don't I don't see them. They're not literally
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  on my computer screen, they're on his spector. I'm sorry
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  if you said this earlier, but just for the record,
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  who is Gilbert to you? Answer by Lutnick. Mister Gilbert
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  is my longtime assistant in my office. He's worked for
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  me for like twenty years, Spector, so this would be
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  the normal way that he would handle emails from all
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  sorts of people, not just Jeffrey Epstein. Lutnick correct. The
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  point was if you email that email it was to
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  Matthew Gilbert. Everyone learned that he would respond to them.
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  Sometimes he would do it on his own, sometimes he
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  would do it in mind, but it was always just him.
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  I didn't even read them. I didn't see them, Spector.
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  Thank you, Emmer. Question and this relates to the blocking
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  of the views of the park from your town home.
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  Is that right? Answer? Yeah. The Frick is an architecturally
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  important structure built around the turn of the century or
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  something like that, and it was beautiful and they the
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  museum had wanted to knock down parts of it and
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  build a high rise, which we found unusual and Bothersome
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  question and you may have discussed this in your opening statement,
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  but why did you reach out to Epstein related to
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  the Frick? Answer? So, the way the block works is
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  there's a multi unit co op. That is the first
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  building inside the number one or number three, and then
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  there is Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse and then mine on the
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  other side. And on the other side there was a
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  group of owners, tenants, people who lived in that building
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  who were fighting the frick building it. They contacted me
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  after a while, and then at some point they asked
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  me if I could contact Epstein to have him be involved,
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  but it was just neighbor. They contacted me, asked me
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  to contact them. But by asking me, they asked effectively
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  Matthew Gilbert, who then contacted him. Question Secretary Lutnik, the
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  majority's hour is coming to an end. I want to
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  ask you some general questions as it relates to mister
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  Epstein's crimes. For the record, did you ever witness me,
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  mister Epstein have sexual contact of any kind with any
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  young woman or girl? Answer no question. Did you ever
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  witness mister Epstein receive a massage from a young woman
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  or a girl? Answer no. Question during your interaction with
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  mister Epstein, did mister Epstein ever discuss sexual acts of
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  any kind with you? Answer no, other than which he
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  said the right kind of massage. Question did you ever
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  see or meet any young women or girl at mister
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  Epstein's office or residence, Answer no question. Did you ever
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  have any sexual contact with any young woman or a
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  girl in the presence of Epstein, Answer no question. Did
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  you ever receive a massage from any young woman brought
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  to you by or introduced to you by mister Epstein
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  or Miss Maxwell, Answer no. Mister Emmer, we will go
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  off the record. All right, folks, We're going to wrap
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  up right here, and in the next episode we'll pick
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  up where we left off. All the information that goes
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  with this episode can be found in the description box.