Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Leon Black Sues House Oversight Committee in Escalating Epstein Probe (9/4/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. Yesterday, Leon Black was scheduled to appear before
- 0:08Speaker 1: Congress to renew the discussion about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Well,
- 0:14Speaker 1: that didn't really work out the way that Congress was
- 0:16Speaker 1: hoping it would work out. And not only did Leon
- 0:19Speaker 1: Black decide not to show up, he decided that he
- 0:23Speaker 1: was going to sue Congress instead. Now think about that
- 0:26Speaker 1: for a minute. If Leon Black is willing to sue Congress,
- 0:31Speaker 1: how in the hell do you think any of these
- 0:32Speaker 1: survivors stand a chance coming out against people like Leon Black?
- 0:37Speaker 1: You want to talk about financial ruin? Well, here's a
- 0:41Speaker 1: sure path to it. And that's why the whole entire
- 0:43Speaker 1: BS line by the DOJ about how these women should
- 0:46Speaker 1: be coming forward and talking about this is BS. Because
- 0:51Speaker 1: the DOJ, they know all of this already. Remember, it's
- 0:54Speaker 1: never been a lack of evidence. It's always been a
- 0:57Speaker 1: lack of willpower. And we're seeing that on display when
- 1:00Speaker 1: it comes to Congress. Imagine being a member of this
- 1:03Speaker 1: committee and this dude just dog walking you like this.
- 1:07Speaker 1: How do you go back to your district? I mean,
- 1:09Speaker 1: for real, of all the people you let dog walk you,
- 1:13Speaker 1: it's Leon Black. And as far as Black goes, you
- 1:16Speaker 1: got to ask yourself, what the fuck is this dude
- 1:19Speaker 1: trying to hide? I mean, Bill Gates, Jess Staley. No
- 1:22Speaker 1: problem going up there and talking to Congress, even though
- 1:25Speaker 1: they knew they were going to come out looking stupid.
- 1:27Speaker 1: But Leon Black? Whole ass different story, right? All of
- 1:31Speaker 1: a sudden, Leon Black should be given special treatment? Leon
- 1:34Speaker 1: Black shouldn't answer questions? You see, Congress might be scared
- 1:37Speaker 1: of Leon Black. But I am certainly not. So, in
- 1:41Speaker 1: the next few episodes, we're going to be talking about
- 1:44Speaker 1: bitch-ass Leon Black and his refusal to speak with Congress.
- 1:49Speaker 1: This article was published by the New York Post and
- 1:52Speaker 1: the headline, Billionaire Leon Black sues House Oversight Committee amid
- 1:57Speaker 1: NDA fight in Jeffrey Epstein Probe. This article was authored
- 2:01Speaker 1: by Stephen Nelson. One of America's richest men sued the
- 2:05Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee on Thursday in a desperate bid to
- 2:08Speaker 1: avoid testifying about his connection to the late sex trafficker
- 2:12Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein. Leon Black, the 75-year-old former CEO of Apollo
- 2:17Speaker 1: Global Management, called a subpoena for his testimony invalid and
- 2:21Speaker 1: said the inquiry bears no legitimate connection to a legislative purpose.
- 2:26Speaker 1: Imagine saying that? Bro has paid out, what, $ 200 million
- 2:31Speaker 1: in relation to Jeffrey Epstein, including a lawsuit down in
- 2:34Speaker 1: the Virgin Islands to get his name pulled out of
- 2:37Speaker 1: the records? But all of a sudden, nobody should have
- 2:40Speaker 1: any questions about what he was up to, about his
- 2:42Speaker 1: relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and he's the one suing people
- 2:46Speaker 1: on the next episode of Shit That's Absurd. Black stepped
- 2:51Speaker 1: down from Apollo in 2021 after an independent review commissioned
- 2:55Speaker 1: by the firm found he steered, 158 million to Epstein
- 2:59Speaker 1: in exchange for financial advice and purported charitable work that
- 3:04Speaker 1: we have no record of no receipts about and just
- 3:07Speaker 1: Leon Black's word to go off of now if that's
- 3:10Speaker 1: good enough for you cool for me I need some
- 3:15Speaker 1: evidence the days of trust us bro are long over
- 3:19Speaker 1: and not just when it comes to Epstein with everything
- 3:23Speaker 1: and this is why I've been so vocal about our
- 3:26Speaker 1: institutions crumbling Not because I want to propagate it, not
- 3:30Speaker 1: because I want it to accelerate, and not because I'm
- 3:33Speaker 1: happy about it. It's the complete opposite. Once the institutions
- 3:37Speaker 1: fail and crumble, once people stop losing faith in the institutions,
- 3:42Speaker 1: it's not much longer before the civilization begins to tumble.
- 3:46Speaker 1: And folks, are you not paying attention yet? That's where
- 3:51Speaker 1: we're at. All this petty bickering, all this fighting, all
- 3:54Speaker 1: this bullshit, it's just accelerating and these institutions crumbling at
- 3:59Speaker 1: an accelerated rate. And then, of course, you have the
- 4:02Speaker 1: institutions themselves who shoulder most of the blame. I can't
- 4:06Speaker 1: blame people for not trusting these institutions when every time
- 4:10Speaker 1: you turn around, there's some bullshit occurring. People getting rich
- 4:13Speaker 1: in Congress, people not facing any kind of blowback for
- 4:17Speaker 1: the shit they do, and basically just a free-for-all. And
- 4:21Speaker 1: when you have institutions that people don't trust, then that
- 4:24Speaker 1: leads to a society without trust. And that's pretty much
- 4:27Speaker 1: where we are. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer accused
- 4:31Speaker 1: Black of hiding behind litigation to avoid providing answers about
- 4:35Speaker 1: his relationship with Epstein, who was found dead in his
- 4:38Speaker 1: Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Well, I like how they
- 4:42Speaker 1: said he was found dead, not that he killed himself,
- 4:45Speaker 1: because I still don't believe that. And again, look, I'm
- 4:48Speaker 1: not some crazy person. Show me the evidence. If you
- 4:52Speaker 1: have evidence that points to Jeffrey Epstein taking his own life,
- 4:55Speaker 1: That's not disputed. I'd love to see it. Because everything
- 4:59Speaker 1: that I've seen is absolutely disputed, whether that's by Dr.
- 5:03Speaker 1: Bodden or by people close to Epstein or by people
- 5:07Speaker 1: from those OIG interviews. How many of those people that
- 5:11Speaker 1: we listened to in those interviews didn't believe that Epstein
- 5:14Speaker 1: killed himself? Several. So I'm certainly not somebody that's going
- 5:19Speaker 1: to say, oh, he definitely didn't kill himself and somebody
- 5:22Speaker 1: murdered him. I think that's what happened. And I think
- 5:26Speaker 1: that there is a very good argument to be made
- 5:28Speaker 1: for that. But if somebody would provide some evidence pointing
- 5:32Speaker 1: the other way, and that offered us real proof that
- 5:34Speaker 1: Epstein did kill himself, then that's what it would be.
- 5:38Speaker 1: But up until this point, we haven't seen real proof.
- 5:41Speaker 1: And if you want to take the word of Bill Barr,
- 5:44Speaker 1: you want to take the word of Kash Patel and
- 5:46Speaker 1: Todd Blanche, that's up to you. Me personally, I don't
- 5:50Speaker 1: believe a word out of any of their mouths. Mr.
- 5:53Speaker 1: Black's testimony is crucial to our investigation as he was
- 5:57Speaker 1: one of Mr. Epstein's fee-paying clients and has several non-disclosure agreements,
- 6:01Speaker 1: said Comer, adding that he believes Black is trying to
- 6:04Speaker 1: run out the clock on the current congressional session, which
- 6:07Speaker 1: ends January 3, 2027, with his suit. After that date,
- 6:12Speaker 1: the subpoena would have to be reissued if Black does
- 6:15Speaker 1: not agree to appear. Well, he's playing with fire. Because
- 6:18Speaker 1: if the Democrats win the House, you know they're going
- 6:21Speaker 1: to go all out. Well, not because they care, but
- 6:24Speaker 1: because they know it's politically expedient. And like I've told
- 6:27Speaker 1: you before, I'm willing to ride that bus. Not that
- 6:31Speaker 1: I agree with them, not that I trust them, but
- 6:33Speaker 1: anything that gets us closer to the goal line, anything
- 6:36Speaker 1: that gets us closer to full transparency, I'm on board for.
- 6:40Speaker 1: I've had enough. And if a new set of Congress
- 6:43Speaker 1: people are going to come in and they're going to
- 6:45Speaker 1: really demand accountability and they're going to hold people accountable,
- 6:48Speaker 1: then I'm all for it. So Leon Black might be
- 6:51Speaker 1: playing with fire here. And him coming in now is
- 6:54Speaker 1: probably the best bet for him, considering he has some
- 6:58Speaker 1: favorable people, if you will, on his side. We all
- 7:02Speaker 1: know that his son is part of the administration. So
- 7:05Speaker 1: how many people have been reached out to on this committee? Again,
- 7:09Speaker 1: I don't know for sure, but it's not that big
- 7:11Speaker 1: of a leap, right? Oh, hey, look, my dad's in
- 7:14Speaker 1: some trouble here. Can you guys help him out? What,
- 7:17Speaker 1: that's not how Washington works? Black is America's 78th richest man,
- 7:22Speaker 1: according to Forbes. with an estimated net worth of $ 13. 8 billion.
- 7:27Speaker 1: He claimed in June that he was oblivious to Epstein's
- 7:29Speaker 1: abuse of women and girls, insisting, I knew Jekyll. I
- 7:33Speaker 1: didn't know Hyde. Yes, you did. And you knew him well.
- 7:38Speaker 1: The whole entire narrative that this man is pitching is
- 7:41Speaker 1: just ridiculous. If you didn't have anything to hide, why
- 7:46Speaker 1: in the hell did you pay out $ 62. 5 million down
- 7:48Speaker 1: in the USVI? Does that sound like somebody who's innocent?
- 7:54Speaker 1: Or does that sound like somebody that wants this shit
- 7:56Speaker 1: to go away? As usual, I'll let you be the judge.
- 8:00Speaker 1: Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, claimed Thursday that Oversight Committee is
- 8:04Speaker 1: on a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and that
- 8:08Speaker 1: its members are trying to destroy Mr. Black. You notice
- 8:11Speaker 1: how they just flip the script? Oh, they're trying to
- 8:13Speaker 1: destroy Mr. Black. Nah, bitch. His lame-ass fucking behavior is
- 8:18Speaker 1: destroying him. His relationship with Jeffrey Epstein... is destroying him.
- 8:23Speaker 1: Nobody else. It's always somebody else's fault, right? These motherfuckers
- 8:28Speaker 1: need to take a good hard look in the mirror.
- 8:30Speaker 1: And a lot of them need to find a moral anchor.
- 8:33Speaker 1: And if you don't know what I mean by that,
- 8:34Speaker 1: it's when you have somebody in your life that when
- 8:37Speaker 1: you're making a decision, you ask yourself, would that person
- 8:41Speaker 1: be proud of me for making this decision? And people
- 8:45Speaker 1: that don't have a moral anchor, well, a lot of times,
- 8:49Speaker 1: they don't have a moral compass. And when we're talking
- 8:51Speaker 1: about people like Leon Black, forget it. You know he
- 8:53Speaker 1: has no moral anchor. Because for people like Leon Black,
- 8:56Speaker 1: he's the center of every universe, yours included. The outcome
- 9:01Speaker 1: of the November 3rd election is unlikely to change the
- 9:04Speaker 1: panel's attempt to force Black's testimony and even could heighten
- 9:07Speaker 1: the stakes for the businessman. And I think that's a
- 9:10Speaker 1: legitimate fear because the next Congress might not be so happy,
- 9:15Speaker 1: might not be so willing to go along with the bullshit.
- 9:18Speaker 1: And they might pass the second part of the Epstein
- 9:21Speaker 1: Files Transparency Act. And if they do that, then there's
- 9:25Speaker 1: going to be teeth. And then, of course, this is
- 9:28Speaker 1: a different conversation. By refusing to testify today, Leon Black
- 9:32Speaker 1: is now defying two congressional subpoenas, said Oversight Committee Ranking
- 9:36Speaker 1: Member Robert Garcia. We must hold him in contempt immediately. Yeah,
- 9:41Speaker 1: I agree with that. Why wouldn't we hold him in contempt? Like,
- 9:45Speaker 1: what are we even doing here? You would think that
- 9:48Speaker 1: somebody like Leon Black who is telling Congress to go
- 9:51Speaker 1: get stuffed, would be the first person you're looking to
- 9:54Speaker 1: hold in contempt. You want to pass a message on?
- 9:57Speaker 1: You want to show the rest of the country, the
- 9:58Speaker 1: rest of the world? that there's an even playing field
- 10:01Speaker 1: for everybody? Then Leon Black has to be held accountable.
- 10:04Speaker 1: Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of
- 10:08Speaker 1: soliciting prostitution, including from a minor, but managed to maintain
- 10:12Speaker 1: an impressive roster of powerful friends until his 2019 arrest
- 10:16Speaker 1: on federal sex trafficking charges. And that's why the whole
- 10:20Speaker 1: entire plea deal was negotiated and put on the books
- 10:24Speaker 1: the way it was. So that Epstein can keep his shine, right?
- 10:28Speaker 1: So he'd still be useful to the people who needed him.
- 10:31Speaker 1: And that's why when you hear people talking now about
- 10:33Speaker 1: how the one girl was 17 about to turn 18,
- 10:36Speaker 1: they're disingenuous. And it's either because they're ignorant of what
- 10:41Speaker 1: went on or they're just nefarious, one or the other.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Because anybody who knows the story knows that Epstein was
- 10:50Speaker 1: molesting little girls that were 14 years old. Some reports
- 10:54Speaker 1: say 11. So, you can save the whole, oh, it
- 10:58Speaker 1: was one 17-year-old girl who was about to turn 18
- 11:01Speaker 1: for somebody else. Because I'm not buying that shit. And
- 11:05Speaker 1: keep in mind, anybody who says that is enabling Jeffrey Epstein.
- 11:09Speaker 1: The perverted financier circle included former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft
- 11:14Speaker 1: founder Bill Gates, Victoria's Secret Titan Les Wexner, and former
- 11:18Speaker 1: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, spawning theories that he blackmailed
- 11:22Speaker 1: rich patrons and possibly worked with spy agencies. Well, that's
- 11:27Speaker 1: the only reason, huh? Because he had those relationships? How
- 11:30Speaker 1: about what he did with the relationships? That's what makes
- 11:33Speaker 1: people believe that he was working with intelligence, not that
- 11:37Speaker 1: he just had relationships. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Epstein's former
- 11:43Speaker 1: Upper East Side neighbor, claimed to the Post last year
- 11:46Speaker 1: that he believed the sex offender was the greatest blackmailer ever.
- 11:49Speaker 1: That's how he had money. Well, no shit, Mr. Lutnick.
- 11:54Speaker 1: And of all the things Lutnick has said about Epstein,
- 11:57Speaker 1: that's the truest statement that he's made. President Trump was
- 12:00Speaker 1: friendly with Epstein in the 90s, but broke off ties
- 12:03Speaker 1: in the early 2000s, with the president saying the falling
- 12:06Speaker 1: out occurred after Epstein poached Mar-a-Lago spa staffers, including Virginia Roberts,
- 12:12Speaker 1: who said she was later trafficked to Epstein's close friend,
- 12:15Speaker 1: Prince Andrew. Is that really what happened? Or was it
- 12:19Speaker 1: a business deal? Or was it one of the other
- 12:21Speaker 1: scenarios that were put forward? Which one is it? Can
- 12:25Speaker 1: we get the real story from the Serpico of Mar-a-Lago?
- 12:28Speaker 1: Or no? I know, I know. It's just a big hoax.
- 12:31Speaker 1: Last July, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo refusing
- 12:35Speaker 1: to release federal files on the Epstein case, writing that
- 12:38Speaker 1: no client list exists and that we did not uncover
- 12:41Speaker 1: evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.
- 12:46Speaker 1: despite assessing there were over 1,000 victims of the pedophile.
- 12:51Speaker 1: No further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted, wrote Bondi,
- 12:55Speaker 1: drawing bipartisan backlash. And remember, this is after she told us,
- 13:00Speaker 1: It's on my desk. Oh yeah, the list is on
- 13:02Speaker 1: my desk. I have truckloads of documentation coming on over.
- 13:06Speaker 1: And have you checked the DAO? Congress then mandated the
- 13:09Speaker 1: release of thousands of files held by the DOJ, leading
- 13:12Speaker 1: to a wave of corporate, and political resignations, including those
- 13:16Speaker 1: of then-British ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, Goldman Sachs
- 13:20Speaker 1: chief legal officer Kathy Rumler, and Harvard University professor Larry Summers.
- 13:27Speaker 1: Should I care about any of that? Because I don't.
- 13:31Speaker 1: All of them deserved everything they got, and more. They
- 13:34Speaker 1: were all adjacent to Epstein, they all enabled them, and
- 13:38Speaker 1: then they all lied about that relationship for years afterwards.
- 13:42Speaker 1: So now that they've been caught, Now that they've been outed.
- 13:44Speaker 1: I don't give a damn. And I hope the shame
- 13:47Speaker 1: follows them. And they have to wear that shit like
- 13:49Speaker 1: a scarlet letter. Because guess what? Nobody told them they
- 13:53Speaker 1: should associate with Epstein. Nobody told them that they should
- 13:56Speaker 1: be friends with Jeffrey Epstein. They chose to do that.
- 14:00Speaker 1: So don't come crying to me about their reputations. Because
- 14:02Speaker 1: I don't give a fuck. And as far as Leon
- 14:05Speaker 1: Black goes. I have a few episodes coming up. And
- 14:08Speaker 1: we're going to talk more about him. But I just
- 14:11Speaker 1: wanted to set the tone. and get the story going.
- 14:14Speaker 1: And now, we're going to go a little bit deeper.
- 14:16Speaker 1: But until then, that's going to do it for this one.
- 14:20Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
- 14:23Speaker 1: found in the description box.