Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Congress Uses Unanimous Consent to Hold Leon Black in Contempt (9/17/26)

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Congress Uses Unanimous Consent to Hold Leon Black in Contempt (9/17/26) · 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. The situation with Leon Black and Congress continues
0:09
Speaker 1: to develop. And now, not only did the House panel
0:14
Speaker 1: vote 41 to nothing to hold Leon Black in contempt,
0:17
Speaker 1: and every single member of the House was on board.
0:22
Speaker 1: So now, they're going to the mattresses. And you know
0:25
Speaker 1: that Leon Black is ready to go to war. This
0:28
Speaker 1: is not a man. who is just going to accept
0:30
Speaker 1: his fate. And I think that what happens here is
0:33
Speaker 1: going to be a very good indication of how these
0:38
Speaker 1: other rich and powerful people are going to be dealt with,
0:41
Speaker 1: or how they could be dealt with. But Leon Black
0:44
Speaker 1: is not just going to accept whatever Congress decides to
0:47
Speaker 1: throw at him. And the legal team that he has
0:49
Speaker 1: around him, including Susan Estrich, is a serious legal team.
0:53
Speaker 1: So today we have an article from Business Insider talking
0:57
Speaker 1: a little bit more about what's going on. Headline, Congress
1:01
Speaker 1: is going to war with Jeffrey Epstein patron Leon Black
1:05
Speaker 1: over NDAs. This article was authored by Jacob Shamzian. Congress
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Speaker 1: just opened a new front in its battle with billionaire
1:14
Speaker 1: Leon Black. The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to
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Speaker 1: hold Black the Jeffrey Epstein associate and former CEO of
1:22
Speaker 1: Apollo Global Management in criminal contempt of Congress. Black had
1:26
Speaker 1: refused to comply with the subpoena requiring him to hand
1:29
Speaker 1: over all of his NDAs and any in his possession
1:33
Speaker 1: that reference Epstein or Glenn Maxwell. Now, he might have
1:37
Speaker 1: an argument about the ones that don't reference Jeffrey Epstein
1:41
Speaker 1: or ones that Epstein or Maxwell had nothing to do with.
1:44
Speaker 1: He might be able to keep those out of the
1:46
Speaker 1: hands of Congress. But anything with even a cent of
1:51
Speaker 1: Epstein on it, I don't see the court ruling in
1:54
Speaker 1: his favor. And remember, Congress has extraordinary ability to investigate
1:58
Speaker 1: whatever they want. And when we're talking about a situation
2:02
Speaker 1: like this, that is, you know, front page news, or
2:07
Speaker 1: close to, you better believe that Congress is going to
2:10
Speaker 1: try and do whatever they can possibly do to make
2:13
Speaker 1: the optics look good for them. And every single one
2:17
Speaker 1: of them knows it's a no-brainer to go after a
2:19
Speaker 1: guy like Leon Black. And I think that's because the
2:22
Speaker 1: evidence reflects that a lot longer relationship, a lot stronger relationship,
2:27
Speaker 1: and certainly a whole lot of lies from Leon Black.
2:31
Speaker 1: The same day, the chair of the Congressional Committee, trying
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Speaker 1: to pry nondisclosure agreements from Black for its Epstein investigation,
2:38
Speaker 1: proposed a bill that would allow victims of sexual abuse
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Speaker 1: to break NDAs. Well, that sounds like a good idea.
2:44
Speaker 1: And props to James Comer for trying to put it through.
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Speaker 1: Because I think that the NDAs, they cause a lot
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Speaker 1: of problems. Now, there is a place for them, right?
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Speaker 1: If two people want to enter into an NDA and
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Speaker 1: they don't want to give up information about something and
3:01
Speaker 1: it has to do with consenting adults, hey, great, do
3:04
Speaker 1: whatever you want. But when we're talking about a criminal matter,
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Speaker 1: we're talking about people who say they were assaulted. Yeah,
3:11
Speaker 1: there should be some kind of trap door there. There
3:13
Speaker 1: should be some kind of legal exit. And I think
3:16
Speaker 1: a bill like this would provide that. But like everything else, right,
3:19
Speaker 1: the devil's in the details and we have to see
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Speaker 1: the whole entire thing. James Comer, the chair of the
3:26
Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee, said the proposed bill would ensure that
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Speaker 1: sexual abuse survivors and other people with information about such
3:32
Speaker 1: abuse could speak freely about it. During our investigation, we've
3:37
Speaker 1: learned how powerful men weaponized nondisclosure agreements to silence survivors
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Speaker 1: of sexual abuse, Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a
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Speaker 1: statement Wednesday. You guys just figured that out? That's been
3:50
Speaker 1: the tried and true method for rich people for how long?
3:53
Speaker 1: That's what they've been doing. Just pay people off. And unfortunately,
3:57
Speaker 1: that's how the whole system's set up. If you have
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Speaker 1: enough money, you can buy your way out of anything.
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Speaker 1: Whether it's sexual abuse, murder, you name it. Business Insider
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Speaker 1: reported earlier this year that some Epstein accusers have signed
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Speaker 1: confidential settlements with friends of Epstein, who they have also
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Speaker 1: accused of misconduct, according to three people with direct knowledge
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Speaker 1: of such settlements. The settlements include NDAs, the people said.
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Speaker 1: One person, Paul Business Insider, they had direct knowledge of
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Speaker 1: settlements with four of Epstein's friends who were accused of
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Speaker 1: sexual misconduct by more than 20 women between them. Yeah,
4:34
Speaker 1: but Epstein had nothing to do with other people being
4:37
Speaker 1: hooked up with women, right? Is that going to go
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Speaker 1: down as the biggest bunch of bullshit maybe in history?
4:45
Speaker 1: I think it might. I really think it might. Because
4:49
Speaker 1: anybody that thinks that Jeffrey Epstein was just, you know,
4:52
Speaker 1: some lone dude sitting around, tugging his nerd, watching disgusting videos.
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Speaker 1: They have not been paying attention. The House Oversight Committee
5:01
Speaker 1: in June issued two subpoenas to Black when he refused
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Speaker 1: to answer questions about NDAs in a closed-door interview about
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Speaker 1: his interactions with Epstein. Black, who gave over $ 150 million
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Speaker 1: to Epstein for what he said were financial services, walked
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Speaker 1: out of the voluntary interview, and that's why it shouldn't
5:19
Speaker 1: have been voluntary. None of these interviews should have been voluntary.
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Speaker 1: Every single one of them should have been in pure
5:28
Speaker 1: deposition form. And the committee, they should have never made
5:31
Speaker 1: any trips to anybody's private residence, Les Wexner, the Clintons, anybody.
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Speaker 1: All these people should have had to come to Congress,
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Speaker 1: and they all should have had to sit for a
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Speaker 1: public deposition, where the whole entire country could see what's
5:43
Speaker 1: going on. And when it comes to that portion of it,
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Speaker 1: I agree with Hillary Clinton. I think that this should
5:50
Speaker 1: have been something that everybody was able to see. And
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Speaker 1: the fact that they still don't have the transcripts out,
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Speaker 1: meaning the congressional committee, is just another black eye. Because
6:02
Speaker 1: let's be real, who has the time to sit through
6:05
Speaker 1: a five-hour video? Not very many people. This month, blacks
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Speaker 1: sued the committee rather than comply with the subpoenas. One
6:12
Speaker 1: subpoena demanded NDAs. The other required him to testify under
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Speaker 1: oath in a deposition. Black has said he wasn't aware
6:20
Speaker 1: of Epstein's sexual abuse of women. His lawsuit says the
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Speaker 1: committee didn't have a valid legislative purpose for such a
6:27
Speaker 1: sweeping and intrusive subpoena served upon a private citizen. Oh,
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Speaker 1: they most certainly do. Especially when that private citizen is
6:36
Speaker 1: buddies with Epstein. And again, this is another reason why
6:40
Speaker 1: the Rico charges that never came are such a big deal.
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Speaker 1: Because if this was Rico and Epstein was charged with
6:47
Speaker 1: Rico like he should have been, when he was first arrested,
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Speaker 1: then all these people like Leon Black, they would have
6:52
Speaker 1: been investigated then too. Because you would have had to
6:57
Speaker 1: follow the money and follow it wherever it went. Whereas
7:02
Speaker 1: you had a targeted prosecution of somebody like Ghislaine Maxwell,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't sweeping, it wasn't large, and the whole idea
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Speaker 1: was to keep it focused on Ghislaine Maxwell. But this
7:14
Speaker 1: was always bigger than just Ghislaine Maxwell or Jeffrey Epstein.
7:18
Speaker 1: Or hell, their organization. And you see it here with
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Speaker 1: Leon Black. There are so many people with so much
7:25
Speaker 1: power that were close to the center of what was
7:27
Speaker 1: going on that I find it hard to believe that
7:29
Speaker 1: none of them ever saw anything and none of them
7:32
Speaker 1: know anything. And when it comes to a guy like
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Speaker 1: Leon Black, I have a lot of questions about what
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Speaker 1: he was up to. Epstein died in 2019 while awaiting
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Speaker 1: trial for federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was sentenced to
7:45
Speaker 1: 20 years in prison. after a Manhattan jury found her
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Speaker 1: guilty in 2021 of trafficking girls to Epstein for sex.
7:54
Speaker 1: If passed into law, Comer's proposed bill, called the Survivors
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Speaker 1: Voice Protection Act, would void nondisclosure clauses if they prohibit
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Speaker 1: victims of sexual abuse from speaking about those experiences or
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Speaker 1: if they bar any other person from disclosing facts related
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Speaker 1: to such abuse. The law would also create a fiduciary
8:13
Speaker 1: duty to inform law enforcement about suspected sexual grooming of minors.
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Speaker 1: And for as much shit as I give James Comer,
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Speaker 1: I can get down with a bill like this because
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Speaker 1: I don't think that there's any kind of NDA that
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Speaker 1: should ever protect anybody when it comes to a criminal case.
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Speaker 1: And the vast majority of times, it has to do
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Speaker 1: with a power imbalance anyway. But providing an escape hatch
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Speaker 1: is a very good idea. Democrats on the House Oversight
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Speaker 1: Committee have not yet said whether they would support the
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Speaker 1: NDA law. Wednesday's House vote, by unanimous consent, to hold
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Speaker 1: Black in contempt, allows House Speaker Mike Johnson to send
8:52
Speaker 1: a criminal referral to the Justice Department. And they need
8:56
Speaker 1: to do that, like yesterday. Because if anybody needs to
9:01
Speaker 1: be investigated, it's certainly Leon Black. I mean, look at
9:04
Speaker 1: the way he's pushing back against the committee. Look at
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Speaker 1: the way he's conducting himself instead of just answering the
9:11
Speaker 1: questions that are put before them. So when you protest
9:15
Speaker 1: that much, you better believe that people are going to
9:17
Speaker 1: have a lot of questions about what you're up to,
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Speaker 1: what you know, and what you were doing with Jeffrey Epstein.
9:22
Speaker 1: And hopefully when all of this is said and done,
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Speaker 1: we're closer to that answer. Black's lawyers criticized the vote
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Speaker 1: and said the committee's subpoenas unfairly targeted him. The committee
9:34
Speaker 1: has continued to insist on looking for information that does
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Speaker 1: not exist. Attorney Susan Estridge and Aaron Cutler said in
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Speaker 1: a statement on Wednesday, they said the committee sought to
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Speaker 1: ask questions about every NDA Black had ever signed, including
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Speaker 1: with business partners and individuals whom he had never met.
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Speaker 1: So look, again, I think anything that has to do
9:55
Speaker 1: with Epstein is on the table. Anything else, they might
9:58
Speaker 1: have a more difficult time prying that loose. So we'll
10:02
Speaker 1: just have to see what the ruling ends up being.
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Speaker 1: People with nondisclosure agreements can be legally compelled to speak
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Speaker 1: about their experiences with a subpoena, but not in a
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Speaker 1: voluntary interview with Congress. Some of Epstein's other associates, including
10:17
Speaker 1: Bill Gates, said in voluntary interviews that they didn't sign
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Speaker 1: any nondisclosure agreements with Epstein or Maxwell victims. Meanwhile, you
10:26
Speaker 1: have Leon Black over here signing these agreements and paying
10:30
Speaker 1: out how much money? But sure, we shouldn't ask any
10:33
Speaker 1: more questions about Leon Black, huh? Many states banned NDAs
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Speaker 1: related to sexual abuse during the MeToo movement following reporting
10:43
Speaker 1: about Harvey Weinstein, but no such ban exists on a
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Speaker 1: federal level. And that, of course, is what this bill
10:49
Speaker 1: is looking to change. So, we'll have to see what
10:52
Speaker 1: ends up happening with Comer's bill. Because I think that
10:56
Speaker 1: it's going to be a good idea to get that
10:59
Speaker 1: shit into law. And as far as Leon Black goes,
11:02
Speaker 1: we already know that this dude loves a backyard brawl.
11:07
Speaker 1: And when it comes to this situation with Congress, that's
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Speaker 1: exactly what he's about to get. All the information that
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Speaker 1: goes with this episode can be found... in the description box.