Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Inside the White House Fallout Over the Epstein Files (Part 1) (6/11/26)

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Inside the White House Fallout Over the Epstein Files (Part 1) (6/11/26) · 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. Over at the New York Times, they have
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a new article out discussing the inside freak out as
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they call it, at the White House over the Epstein files,
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and I have no doubt that there was all sorts
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of freaking out, especially considering the way that they handled it.
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Could it have been any worse? Honestly, I don't know
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if anything has ever been handled more poorly by any
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administration in the history of the country. And I'm not
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even kidding when I say that, And then they have
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the audacity to turn around and say to you, were
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the most transparent administration in the history of the United States.
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I mean, come on, they have to be trolling, right,
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I mean, that's what you would think. But unfortunately, this
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is the reality that we're living in and our lives
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are being managed by a bunch of scoundrels that not
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only broke bread with Jeffrey Epstein, but now have the
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audio audacity to cover it all up. So today we're
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going to dive into that New York Times article and
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we're going to see what's up headlined inside the White
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House freak Out over the Epstein Files. This article was
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authored by Maggie Aberman and Jonathan Swan. On July seventeenth,
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twenty twenty five, at around six o'clock in the evening,
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President Trump's top officials filed into the White House Situation Room,
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the secure bunker where classified in high stakes national security
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matters are discussed and decided. This was where President Barack Obama,
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along with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
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and the president's national security team watched the raid that
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ended with the death of Osama bin Laden in twenty eleven. Now, however,
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Trump's most senior advisors had gathered without them to figure
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out how to gain some measure of control over a
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very different kind of crisis threatening to engulf the presidency.
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The Epstein Files. I've never seen an administration fumble so badly.
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They had everything queued up. They were going around during
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the campaign talking about how they're going to release all
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the information, They're going to hold people accountable, They're going
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to do this, They're going to do that. Then they
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get into office, they get a look at the files
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and they realize that their boy, Donald Trump and all
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of his friends are littered throughout the documents. So of
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course that caused Donald Trump to slam on the brakes
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and kill the process before it even got off the ground.
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That was the goal, and if it wasn't for the
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discharge petition, it would have worked. And if you were
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wondering why Trump was so mad at Thomas Massey, that's why.
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Because without Thomas Massey and Roe Conna, and without Lauren Bobert,
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Nancy Mace, without Marjorie Taylor Green, we never get a
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look at this. So look, I'm not a big fan
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of all those people when it comes to all their politics, right,
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but when it comes to this issue, mad respect all
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of them. They all stood up when everybody else was
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sitting down. Where were the rest of the members of
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the GOP. Oh that's right? Too scared to Donald Trump
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to stand up for people who have been victimized. And
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I don't just mean the survivors, I mean all of us.
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These people have been stealing from us hand over fist
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for decades. But I guess that's no big deal either.
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Ten days earlier, the Justice Department in the FBI had
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jointly released a memo that bluntly stated that their review
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had found no client list of powerful men for whom
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the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had allegedly procured underage girls
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and young women. No, I don't think there's a list,
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but I can give you two names right off the
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top of my head that girls were trafficked to, Jean
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lu Brunel and Jess Stay. Jess Stale already admitted that
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he had consensual sex with one of Epstein's assistants, and
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if it's somebody that was also a victim, well there
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you go. And on Fortunately, Jean Luke Brunel and Jeffrey Epstein,
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they had a revolving door of girls that were being
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abused between the two of them. And never mind all
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the other scumbags that got involved. Should we talk about
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George Mitchell or Bill Richardson or Glenn Dubin or a
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Les Wexner, because all of them have been credibly accused,
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no investigation, nobody being brought in, nothing. And so with
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just those two dudes alone, it shows you that Jeffrey
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Epstein traffic girls to other people. How many more people
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do you want? How many other co conspirators would make
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it trafficking? For you? Intended to put to rest years
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of speculation and then a pressure campaign to release the
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voluminous material in the department's possession. The memo instead had
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the opposite effect, setting off a backlash that was notably
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loud among the Magabase. Look, people should be giving credit
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for that. The people that are MAGA, the people that
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were a MEGA who decided that Donald Trump calling them
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a trader was too much, that Donald Trum I'm trying
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to cover this up was too much. Those people should
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be applauded. It's not easy to go against you know,
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all your friends and all your other beliefs and all
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that stuff. So we should give them some credit. Right,
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So get to have a little grace. Not everybody's your enemy.
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And I've told you a million times you're gonna have
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to work with people that you might not agree with
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politically on a whole host of issues to get something
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done here. But that's how politics works, right, That's what
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Detonte is. You don't have negotiations with people that you
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agree with. You negotiate with people that you might have
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some disagreements with. And the best way to do that
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is to find some middle ground. And if going after
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Jeffrey Epstein and his network is not middle ground, then
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I don't know what is and it was about to
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get worse. The Wall Street Journal was preparing a damaging
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article about Trump's relationship with Epstein. The President's desperate attempts
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to kill the story had filled. His team now had
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to get everyone onto the same page about how to
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count or the growing swarm of attention. They needed a
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gesture of transparency to appease an increasingly angry base, but
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also a way to convey the message that the president
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was sympathetic to a supporter's concerns, which itself was a
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problem because he clearly wasn't. Well, that's true. He called
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ass all traders, he said, anybody who's following along with
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this is his enemy. Basically, imagine the president of the
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United States being mad because people want accountability for a
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human trafficker, Like, have we fallen that far where people
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hear this, look at this and just shrug their shoulders
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and they're like, ah, yeah, you know what, he has
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a point. No, he doesn't have a point. He's trying
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to cover this up. And this is what I've been
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telling you guys. Everybody wants that splashy gatcha moment, but
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in the real world, this sort of shit is messy,
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it's not splashy, and a lot of times it's not salacious.
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You get people like this on financial crimes, you get
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them on covering up for other people. That's how it's
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always worked, and for all these people that have been
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carrying on about Donald Trump now for eight years, with
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all kinds of crazy stuff, Russia, pgate, you name it.
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But what you have here is an actual cover up,
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and instead of focusing on that, you have people focusing
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on other things that are unprovable. Now that doesn't mean
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I don't believe that it happened, but it's not what
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I believe. It's about what we can prove. And I
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don't think you need to be some kind of famous
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investigator to realize that the fix is in and that
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there's a gigantic cover up being run and managed directly
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by the White House. And I thoroughly believe that Vice
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President JD. Vance took a seat at the head of
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the table in the John F. Kennedy conference room of
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the Situation Room complex. This is a huge problem, he
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told the group. A right around him where the White
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House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the White House Council
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David Warrington, the Press Secretary Caroline Levitt, the Deputy Chief
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of Staff Taylor Buddha Witch, the Communications Director Stephen Chung,
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the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Associate Attorney General
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Todd Baby Billy Blanche, and the Deputy Chief of Staff
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James Blair. Attorney General Pound Bondi, and the FBI Director
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Cash Pttel joined on speakerphone. The Vice President appeared panicked
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to others in the room about the way the subject
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of Epstein was already dividing the MAGA coalition. Yo, he
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knows what's up, one hundred percent. He knows. This whole
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entire thing has caused big problems. And I think there's
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a lot of people that are going to be sitting
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out the midterms because of it, and I think it's
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going to have disastrous repercussions for the GOP. Some senior
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officials had the impression that Vance had brought into the
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darkest theories about Epstein and a cabal of predators hidden
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within the country's ruling class. Well, is that wrong. Maybe
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not to the level that some people are trying to
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make it out, but predators. Nonetheless, what being predators in
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a financial sense is okay? I mean, people just don't
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get it, and it drives me crazy. Breaking news. Were
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all slaves, every last one of us. You got debt congratulations.
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You're a slave, and you're a slave to Jeffrey Epstein's people,
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the same people, by the way, that ruined the whole
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entire world in two thousand and eight. So if you
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think this is just about girls being trafficked or kids
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being abused, you have not been paying attention. Wiles would
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tell others that the Vice President had proved himself to
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be a major conspiracy theorist. Another top official said later
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that Vance had been pounding on the Epstein issue since
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the release of the memo. He was privately pressing for
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the administration to release all the Epstein files, everything in
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the Justice Department's possession, even encouraging a congressional investigation. And look,
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he's not wrong for that. I think that President Vance
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is on point. And that was the campaign promise that
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was made by the administration. So I think that Vance
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is just trying to live up to that promise right now. Look,
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don't take it for I think Vance is doing a
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great job or I support him. I don't. But of
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all these robber barons that populate Donald Trump's administration. It
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looks like Vance is the only one that even cared.
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Vance told the group that he believed that all files
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should be released as soon as possible. He argued that
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Congress was going to force the release of the files eventually.
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It was already clear that a bipartisan coalition in favor
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of subch action was forming on Capitol Hill, and the
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momentum was going in one direction. If the administration got
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out ahead of this and released everything voluntarily, including whatever
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material existed about the president, it would at least get
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credit for transparency. The alternative was to let the story
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drag on for months, as information dripped out, each new revelation,
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renewing a cycle of suspicion and fury. Better to rip
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the bandage off and move on, yo. They would have
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been so much better served to listen to jd Vance.
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He had the right of it here. Get out ahead
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of it. Look, it might be embarrassing, and it might
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cause you some grief, But the more you hide it,
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the more you act like nothing's going on, the worse
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it gets when people figure out that they've been bullshitted.
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And I think Jay d Vance was hip to that.
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But Unfortunately, the rest of the administration is dancing to
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Donald Trump's tune. Vance even floated to colleagues an extraordinary
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pr gambit that the White House and list Tucker Carlson
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to interview Epstein's longtime girlfriend and co conspirator Glenn Maxwell
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in prison. It might help the president if Maxwell was
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willing to state that Trump had not been part of
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any wrongdoing with Epstein. Well, that's a bad idea. That
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was stupid, because nobody believes Glenn Maxwell. Only the people
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that want to believe what Trump's saying, Right, It's all
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about confirmation bias with a lot of people. Me. I'm
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following the evidence wherever it goes, and the evidence certainly
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looks like Donald Trump is engaging in a cover up.
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That's what the evidence is telling me. And the more
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we hear from insiders, the more we hear about what
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was going on on the ground, the more convinced of
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it I am. Even unsubstantiated allegations and anecdotes about Trump
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should go out. Vans argued they were going to surface regardless,
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and if the administration published them first, it would demonstrate
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good faith and take the oxygen out of the conspiracy theories.
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His arguments fell on skeptical ears, but some advisers thought
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it would be good to have Justice Department officials call
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a news conference to explain their position on the Epstein affair,
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going beyond the memo that precipitated the crisis. At this
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point in the meeting, Blair spoke up. With all due respect,
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he said, the communication strategy of this group got us here.
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I don't know what's going to get us out. And
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if you're going to go in front of the press,
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you've got had a lot of work to do. He
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began to ask pointed mock questions, demonstrating how difficult a
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news conference might be. As the president's former defense attorney,
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Blanche had a unique vantage point in the discussions. He
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was better equipped than anybody else in the room the
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way the idea is being discussed against Trump's personal and
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political interests. Blanche laid out what he saw as their
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best option. And here's how the cover up works. Donald
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Trump gives Blanche the orders, and then Blanche puts him
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into action. And then later on down the road, if
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anybody says, hey, Trump told him to do that, he
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has plausible deniability. And to also say that our conversations
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were privileged. So it gives Trump that armor, but it
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sets Todd Blanche up to take the fall, and I
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think that that might occur at some point. I think
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that if there's a real investigation into this cover up,
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I think that Todd Blanche is going to be the
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one that's holding the hot potato. Option one was to
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petition federal district courts in Florida and New York to
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unseal grand jury testimony the secret transcripts of prosecutors, presentational witnesses,
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and evidence in their efforts to obtain indictments in past
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Epstein related cases, as those were almost certain to contain
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no significant new information. Everyone agreed that this option was
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a good idea, and not only because the release was
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unlikely to damage the president. And look, there's no doubt
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that that was the goal. We talked about it at
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the time, and I told you that the whole entire
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point of what they were looking to do was to
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slow things down and then of course get some information
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out there that is recycled. Then they can say, look,
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we're working hard to get you all this information. We're
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doing everything in our power every single day to be transparent. Meanwhile,
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behind the scenes they're doing everything, but under the federal
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rules of criminal procedure, the secrecy of grand jury material
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is regarded by most federal judges as almost always inviolate,
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and the bar for any release is exceptionally I if
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the court refused to unseal them, as Blanche predicted, they
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could shift blame for withholding the Epstein material away from
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the Trump administration and onto the judges. Exactly what they
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tried to do, and exactly what I pointed out at
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the time, and all the better if the judges had
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been appointed by Democratic presidents. Blant's suggestion would make it
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appear that the White House wanted the materials released when
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it was almost certain not to happen. We call that
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a cover up where I'm from. Option number two was
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to have Justice Department lawyers questioned Maxwell and publicly release
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the transcript. A twist on the idea proposed earlier by Vance.
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Blanche offered to interview Maxwell himself. What if we get
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her to talk to Congress, Vance suggested. Blanche raised the
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possibility that Maxwell's lawyer might expect something in return for
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her candor Oh she got it, didn't she? Nice little
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move down the club fed everything's all good for Glaine Warrington.
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The White House Council responded by laying out the available
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choices without advocating any of them. Maxwell could be given
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a pardon, he said, or she could have her sentence reduced.
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At that several around the table spoke up to register
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they're strong disapproval. Pardoning Maxwell a trafficker of young girls
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would create a huge pr problem. Cheng said. He predicted
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that in the wake of a pardon, the Epstein accusers
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would be fanning out on TV telling their stories have
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rippen the administration to shreds. Blair was also adamantly opposed
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to a pardon. We can't offer Glenn Maxwell anything, he said.
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I don't know why we would, and be if we
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give Glenn Maxwell any sort of break whatsoever, and then
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she turns around and says nice things about us, or
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says nice things about us and we give her a break,
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it'll undermine the entire point of her saying good things.
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That'll feed the conspiracy theory. Period. If there's nothing for
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her to say that hurts us, we shouldn't have to
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offer her anything. That's a pretty fair assessment. No, The
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consensus was that calling for the release of the grand
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jury material was the best course of action. Wyles told
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the group she would discuss the matter with Trump and
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ask if you would send a truth social post calling
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for the release of the sealed grand jury documents. Just then,
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the Wall Street Journal article they had been trying to
17:21
kill was published online. Cell phones are forbidden in the
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situation room, so a staff member brought in printed copies
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of the explosive report, which detailed how Trump and many
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others had created birthday cards and letters to be assembled
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by Maxwell into a special birthday book for Epstein in
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two thousand and three. The birthday card attributed to Trump
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depicted a nude woman, hand drawn and inscribed with an
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imagined dialogue between the two men about a wonderful secret.
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Imagine a wonderful secret? Is it? The drawing was signed
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with what appeared to be Trump's distinctive jagged sharpie signature
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in a place of the woman. Subicare another part of
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the cover up that looks to be provable. If this
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was something that was forged, why is there no investigation?
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You would think, like I've said a million times, that
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if the President of the United States is being impersonated
18:15
by someone, we should probably know, and there should be
18:18
a gigantic investigation into who and why. We haven't seen
18:22
that though, have we? Well that's weird considering Donald Trump
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likes to use the FBI to go after everybody, but
18:29
not the people that allegedly forged this letter, seems a
18:32
bit suspect to me. In the days before publication, Trump,
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in the effort to quash the story, called News Corp
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Executive Robert Thompson, News Corp Owner Rubert Murdoch, the Journal's
18:44
editor in chief Emma Tucker, practically shouting. The President told Tucker,
18:48
who was British, that she must hate America. He told
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her he would file a lawsuit. But none of his
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bullying has worked, and now the group sat quietly reading
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the full story in the situation room, whiles ready to
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public denial for the President, which he soon posted on
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social media. Shortly after this, the President posted again he
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was going along with the plan his advisers had hashed
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out in the situation Room, though it was clear he
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didn't like having to do it. Based on the ridiculous
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amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I've asked Attorney
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General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand
19:24
jury testimony subject to court approval. This scam perpetuated by
19:28
the Democrats should end right now. Scam. Imagine calling this
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a scam. No, mister President, the only scam that's being
19:36
run is the one you're running on the American people.
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In response to a request for comment, a White House
19:43
spokeswoman Abigail Jackson repeated Trump's claim that he was innocent
19:47
in all Epstein related matters, adding that by releasing thousands
19:50
of pages of documents, cooperating with the House Oversight Committee
19:54
subpoena request, signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and calling
19:59
for more investigation into Epstein's Democrat friends, President Trump has
20:03
done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him. Why
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don't you ask the survivors how they feel about that comment,
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because I assure you they do not agree. All right, folks,
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we're gonna wrap up episode one right here, and in
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the next episode dealing with the topic, We're gonna pick
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up where we left off. All the information that goes
20:20
with this episode can be found in the description box.