Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Who’s Watching the Watchmen? Calls Grow for an IG Probe Into the DOJ’s Epstein File Delay (4/29/26)

Transcript

Who’s Watching the Watchmen? Calls Grow for an IG Probe Into the DOJ’s Epstein File Delay (4/29/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. Since the beginning of this epic screw up
0:07
by the Department of Justice and Pam Bondi, when it
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comes to Jeffrey Epstein, I've been calling for a special prosecutor,
0:14
and that's because obviously we can't trust the DOJ to
0:17
do the right thing, so they obviously need some oversight.
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And now there seems to be a bit of a
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concerted effort to try and get that oversight when it
0:25
comes to the DOJ and the Epstein files. But unfortunately
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what they're calling for isn't going to work, because anybody
0:33
who thinks that the Inspector General is going to sort
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this out is crazy. We've been through the OIG reports
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about Epstein's death and about the NPA, and all it
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was was a gloss over of what went down. Not
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one single person was held responsible, nobody lost a pension,
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nobody went to prison, not even the guards who fell asleep.
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So please spare me the nonsense and the BS calls
1:00
for another internal investigation. This needs to be external, and
1:04
it needs to be conducted by people who are not
1:07
scared or intimidated by the Department of Justice or Donald Trump. Remember,
1:12
the Inspector General still at the end of the day,
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has to answer to the Department of Justice. They can
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recommend charges, they can recommend another investigation or whatever, but
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that's where it ends. They don't have any teeth. They
1:27
can't do anything that's worthwhile, So why waste time. The
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real pathway to victory here is to go after a
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special council. You got a special prosecutor, a special counsel,
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somebody that has subpoena power, somebody that can charge people.
1:43
That's the kind of power you need. We don't need
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another watchdog group with some dumbass internal report that they're
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gonna massage to make the institution look better, because that's
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what they've been doing from the very beginning. How in
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the world can you look at that MPa and not
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know right away that the fix was in. How is
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it that the Inspector General, after their gigantic investigation, didn't
2:08
recommend that the NPA be done away with. Why did
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they blame everything on institutional failure. I'll tell you why,
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because that throws a wide net over everybody and gives
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everybody plausible deniability. Oh, it wasn't us, It was the system.
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And look, there is no doubt that there were systemic
2:25
failures within that jail, and systemic failures when it comes
2:29
to the non prosecution agreement, no doubt about it. But
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the OIG was supposed to rectify those problems, was supposed
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to fix those problems, and instead what did we get?
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Nothing but lip service. So if anybody thinks that the
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OIG is going to step in here and really have
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some teeth and really get things moving, I got some
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bad news for you. Today's article is from CBS and
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the headline the late release of Epstein files triggers calls
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for internal watchdog review. This article was authored by Scott McFarlane.
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Amit an indefinite wait for the full release of the
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case files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Some attention
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is shifting to a lesser known, if not invisible, group
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of federal agents, the US Department of Justice Office of
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Inspector General. The Inspector General's Office serves as an internal
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watchdog for the Justice Department. Its staff operates in obscurity
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in a set of small federal offices, some in communities
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far from Washington, d C. Including Atlanta, Tucson, and Trenton.
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It's agents and investigators monitor for fraud, abuse and weaknesses
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inside the Justice Department. Well, they're doing a bang up job. Huh.
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Considering there is nothing but fraud, coercion and bullshit coming
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out of the DOJ, you'd think that if the OIG
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actually was doing their job, some of these corrupt DOJ
3:55
officials would be getting purplocked. But that's not happening, is it.
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And it's never going to happen. And if anybody thinks
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that the OIG is going to step in and be
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the hero when it comes to Epstein, I really got
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bad news for you. We've been down this road before,
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and we're wasting time, and that of course plays directly
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into their hands, and that certainly helps the cover up. Right.
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Oh well, the OIG took a look in, they didn't
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find anything. Oh okay, great, so we should just move on,
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right like we should have moved on after the first
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OIG report or the report into Jeffrey Epstein's death, because
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that really closed a lot of doors, and that really
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slammed the door shut on the investigation as a whole
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and gave us all the answers we were looking for
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right right in a growing series of formal written requests.
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Epstein's survivors, some members of Congress and Washington based watchdog
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groups are asking the Inspector General's Office to investigate if
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the Justice Department is mishandling its legal responsibility to release
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the Epstein files. And look, folks, another thing about the OIG.
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The investigation take forever. We waited over three years for
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any movement on Jeffrey Epstein's death. So what do you
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think the OIG is going to look at this and
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have a report next week? Yeah, we'll have a report
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for you when Trump leaves office. And that's all part
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of the hustle. The idea is to tire you out.
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And that's why I keep saying it over and over
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again because it's so relevant, and I want you to
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understand that the whole entire point is to make you
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not care anymore, to be so overwhelmed that you just
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throw up your hands and say, you know what, We're
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never going to get to the bottom of this. And
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while it's certainly frustrating, also keep in mind that this
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is one of the final tricks. They have nothing left
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in the bag after this, Right, we all know what's coming.
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We all know that there's a lot of damaging information
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in these files, and none of their sleight of hand
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is going to work this time. The Trump administration and
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it's Justice Department are under increasing scrutiny and pressure for
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their handling of the Epstein files. A federal law required
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the department to release it's records on Epstein by December nineteenth,
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but government lawyers told a judge this week that only
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one percent of the files have been reviewed and released
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so far. I mean, I don't want to beat this
6:11
dead horse, but how in the fuck is that even
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acceptable to anybody out there? Oh, there's a lot of files. Well, yeah,
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I got a lot of tax paper work. What if
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it takes me three years to turn that in? How
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do you think that's gonna work out for me? Or
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if I have some kind of court case and I
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just say to the judge, Ah, you know what, I
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need another seventeen years for discovery, how do you think
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that's gonna work out. It's not gonna work. You have
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to meet your deadlines, and if you're not gonna meet
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the deadline, you have to file emotion and ask for
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a waiver. We didn't see that either, did we. They
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just did whatever they wanted like usual, and me personally,
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I've had a belly full of that bullshit. Either we're
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all dancing too the same tune, or I'm not dancing anymore.
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The Justice Department released thousands of records on Epstein in
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several tranches last month, but it says it needs more
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time to pour through millions of additional documents and redact
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survivors' names and other sensitive information. You know, they've had
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these documents since Jesus was young, and they're out here
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crying and hollering and gnashing their teeth and wringing their
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hands that they need more time, Like how much more
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time do you need? Can we get a time frame?
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Can we get an ETA? They think this shit's a joke,
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and they think that all of their other nonsense is
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going to turn attention away from this, and it might,
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but not here. Everybody else can talk about everything else.
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We're going to talk about this topic and how the
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American people, the survivors, and the world as a whole
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continue to have their faces spit in by the DOJ
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And I'll be damned if I'm distracted by any kind
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of shiny object. The Inspector General's Office has a policy
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of not commenting on or confirming requests for investigation. CBS
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News has obtained several copies of requests for the probe.
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In a formal request emitted Wednesday, ethics attorneys with the
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DC based Democracy Defenders Fund asked the Inspector General to
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determine if the Justice Department had violated the law by
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redacting information and properly in the files, failing to justify
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its redactions, or selectively releasing files for what appears to
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be partisan purposes. The Democracy Defender's Fund is represented by
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Norm Eisen, a former Obama administration ethics official who has
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been critical of Trump. Maybe you should have been a
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little bit more critical of Obama when he was president too,
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considering Epstein was abusing girls under Obama's watch, where was
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his Justice Department? Keep in mind that this failure has
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been going on consistently since Clinton's first administration, so there's
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plenty of blame to go around. Congress has directed that
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the Department of Justice provide answers. Instead, the department has
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continued to deny, deflect, and delay. Eisen said, well, he's
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not wrong about that. That's exactly what they're doing. And
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if mister Eisen can get some movement here and get
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the Inspector General involved, great, But I think that he
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is barking up the wrong tree and wasting time and resources,
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because again, the Inspector General is going to dance to
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the tune of the Department of Justice, even if they
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say they don't. And if you've been listening to this
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podcast for any amount of time, then you know how
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I feel about internal reviews. Anyway, nobody's going to rap
9:29
themselves out, and nobody's hiring somebody to rat them out.
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And the same goes for the OIG and the Department
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of Justice. There is zero chance that the OIG is
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going to step in and give us anything meaningful that's
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going to lead to people being held accountable. Instead, my
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guess is they'll come in and they'll have another massage session,
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no pun intended, and they'll try and defend the institutions. Oh,
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it was systemic, Oh there were failures, but it was
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just a mistake. Nobody did it on purpose. These things happen. Meanwhile,
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every single coincidence, every single break breaks in the favor
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and direction of Jeffrey Epstein. But sure, I guess everything's
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just a gigantic coincidence. A group of Senate Democrats and
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Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have also asked for
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a review. In a letter submitted to Tuesday, the group
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said a neutral assessment of its compliance with the statutory
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disclosure requirements is essential. One of the senators, Michigan Democratic
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Senator Gary Peters, told CBS News, we want to make
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sure that all the documents are actually being presented following
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the law. Is always important to have checks on that.
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Before the Department of Justice began releasing the files last month,
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a handful of Senate Democrats also requested a review to
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determine whether any of the records had been tampered with
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or concealed. The Office of the Inspector General has a
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history of working on high profile investigations involving the Justice
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Department's handling of sex crime allegations. In twenty twenty one,
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the office made headlines when its review of the FBI's
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probe into convicted sex offender Larry Nasser, a former US
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gymnastics doctor, found that the Bureau learned Nasser had been
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accused of molesting gymnasts in twenty fifteen, but fell to
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act leaving him free to continue to target victims for months.
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Wait until they get a load of Epstein. The Office
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has also waded into the Epstein issue, carrying out a
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twenty twenty three investigation into Epstein's twenty nineteen death by
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suicide allegedly while in federal custody. The probe found negligence, misconduct,
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and outright job performance failures by Federal Bureau of Prison staff. Yeah,
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how did that work out? Who went to prison, who
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went to jail? Who ended up suffering any kind of
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ramifications for their behavior? Oh, that's right, nobody like usual.
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A twenty twenty five semi annual report by the Inspector
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General said the office received more than eight thousand tips
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and allegations in a six months span in late twenty
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twenty four. Approximately one hundred of those allegations led to
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formal investigations by the office. A spokesperson declined to comment
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to CBS News about the letters submitted seeking new investigations
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about the Epstein files. In a series of interviews with
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CBS News, attorneys for survivors of Epstein's sex offenses have
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said that they have also sought or supported an Inspector
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General review of how the Justice Department is handling its
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responsibilities to manage the files. The partial initial release of
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Epstein case files last month revealed that an early nineteen
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ninety six tip to the FBI by Epstein's survivor, Maria Farmer,
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was not sufficiently pursued. Jennifer Freeman, an attorney who represents Farmer,
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told CBS News the Inspector General's Office should look into
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how this significant failure took place. Well, we know how
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it took place. They ignored it because Epstein was one
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of their assets. Pretty simple. Men have to reinvent the
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wheel here. She said that the office should examine whether
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all Epstein related files have been produced and are properly redacted,
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making sure victim identifying information is not disclosed, and those
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federal employees who fail to address Maria's ninety six report
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are held accountable. Well, I'm sure they're all retired at
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this point, so what are you gonna do? Take their pensions?
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The problem is when the can gets kicked down the road,
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it's hard to enforce anything that's already happened. Statute of limitations,
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whole bunch of things. Florida based civil attorney Spencer Couvin
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who represents Epstein's survivors, told CBS News victims of Epstein's
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offenses want full transparency and an opportunity to talk with
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the federal government about what they want and do not
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want released. As for what is released, true transparency would
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allow independent review of redaction decisions, so the public can
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be confident nothing is being hidden unnecessarily, Couvin said. Without
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third party review, the public will I'll never be able
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to have certainty that the government's being honest and complying
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with the letter of the law. Well, the Inspector General
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is not going to do it. We need a special prosecutor,
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somebody that actually has some power to send people to prison.
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A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests
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for comment from CBS News. So what do you folks think?
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Do you think that the OIG is going to initiate
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an investigation? And if they do, will anyone be held accountable? Well?
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I have my doubts, but I'd certainly love to be wrong.
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But unfortunately history has shown us, especially when it comes
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to Jeffrey Epstein, that for the vast majority, these internal
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reviews are worthless. So will this time be any different?
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I hope, but I certainly have my doubts. All of
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the information that goes with this episode can be found
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in the description box.