Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Top Oversight Dem says billionaire Leon Black still owes answers about Jeffrey Epstein

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Top Oversight Dem says billionaire Leon Black still owes answers about Jeffrey Epstein · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Joining me now is California congress and Robert Garcia. He
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  Speaker 1: is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman
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  Speaker 1: died to see you again. So Block denied any wrongdoing
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  Speaker 1: and said he knew nothing of Epstein's crimes, even though
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  Speaker 1: he remained a primary client after Epstein was convicted in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight of sex crimes. What Mark you
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  Speaker 1: tell us about Black's testimony and what answers do you
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  Speaker 1: want when he testifies under oath?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's really wild that Leon Black gave one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and seventy million dollars to Jeffrey Epstein one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: seventy million dollars for Honestly, we don't know what he says,
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  Speaker 2: tax advice, financial advice.
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  Speaker 3: There's no real accounting of it.
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  Speaker 2: And then, of course we ask very basic questions of
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  Speaker 2: mister Black, including information about these non disclosure agreements, including
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  Speaker 2: information about a real, credible descriptions from survivors about what
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  Speaker 2: may have happened to them as it relates to abuse
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  Speaker 2: and rape, and he was unwilling to answer our questions,
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  Speaker 2: and so what happened instead is he stormed out of
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  Speaker 2: our interview. That just happened last week after the committee
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  Speaker 2: served him with two new subpoenas, one for all of
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  Speaker 2: the NBA so we can actually see those, and the
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  Speaker 2: second for him to actually come back under oath in
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  Speaker 2: a deposition that would then be where he can't essentially
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  Speaker 2: weasel his way out of not answering questions, which he
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  Speaker 2: did this last week. And so those were two positive moves.
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  Speaker 2: They were bipartisan in support. And it's really important that
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  Speaker 2: Leon Black can come and answer questions about the abuse, allegations,
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  Speaker 2: about the money, about the relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. We
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  Speaker 2: also know that Leon Black possibly traveled with President Trump,
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  Speaker 2: and there's a relationship there between Epstein, Black and Trump,
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  Speaker 2: and so all of those questions are going to be important.
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  Speaker 1: So the doo jay has until Thursday to release several
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  Speaker 1: unredacted Epstein files or at least explain why it can't
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  Speaker 1: after a federal judge accused Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
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  Speaker 1: of improperly redacting documents and DOJ maintains that the redactions
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  Speaker 1: protect victim's identities. What are the documents in question and
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  Speaker 1: how significant are they and is this an important development
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  Speaker 1: in compelling the DOJ to release all the files?
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  Speaker 3: It absolutely is important development.
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  Speaker 2: I think, of course, if Katie Fang and so many
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  Speaker 2: others that have been out there putting these lawsuits forward
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  Speaker 2: as it relates to what's happening this upcoming week, the
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  Speaker 2: DJ has to produce the additional documents. There are three
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  Speaker 2: about three million documents that have not been released, and
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  Speaker 2: the DJ won't actually tell us what they are. They say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: some are duplicates, some are privileged, Well, we don't know.
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  Speaker 2: The American public need to understand that half of the
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  Speaker 2: Epstein files have not been released, and Donald Trump and TODDA.
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  Speaker 2: Blant just want to move on like somehow they've released
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  Speaker 2: all the documents. In fact, they haven't released anything, and
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  Speaker 2: of what they've actually put out there, if you know,
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  Speaker 2: oftentimes survivors have been docks, their information has been public,
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  Speaker 2: they've been put in danger. And so look, half the
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  Speaker 2: files have been released, the other half need to be released.
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  Speaker 2: And that judge is doing the absolute right thing, and
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  Speaker 2: we hope that the DOJ and Todder Blanche also.
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  Speaker 3: Do the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: I got to say, with those reductions, you have to
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  Speaker 1: wonder if it was just a shoddy job or if
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  Speaker 1: it was intentional, because it's just everywhere the mistakes quote
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  Speaker 1: unquote anyway, I do want to ask you about what
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  Speaker 1: you're demanding, which is the answers from two companies awarded
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  Speaker 1: no bid contracts to renovate the Lincoln Memorial reflecting Pool
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  Speaker 1: at a cost of over sixteen million. Soon after being refilled,
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  Speaker 1: this pool has developed severe maintenance issues, including that bright
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  Speaker 1: green algae bloom. It's peeling of its newly applied American
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  Speaker 1: flag blue waterproof coating. So if incompetence is to blame,
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  Speaker 1: will there be a congressional investigation into how these contracts
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  Speaker 1: were awarded.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, we've started investigation already.
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  Speaker 2: It's so sad that on the birthday, huge celebration, huge
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  Speaker 2: university for this country, people can't even visit the reflecting
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  Speaker 2: pool in the district in Watchington, DC because of this
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  Speaker 2: just huge botching of this job that Donald Trump and
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  Speaker 2: these contractors have put in place.
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  Speaker 3: Look, this has been a total disaster.
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump's has spent now what fourteen fifteen sixteen million
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  Speaker 2: dollars to essentially put the pool in worse shape than
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  Speaker 2: it was before this started.
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  Speaker 3: And all of the stories.
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  Speaker 2: That Donald Trump is telling about some sort of box
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  Speaker 2: cutter cutting the bottom of the pool they're just lies.
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  Speaker 2: They did a terrible job. The folks that got the
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  Speaker 2: job were Donald Trump donors. What admitted that you've never
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  Speaker 2: even worked on a federal project. There's possibly one other project,
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  Speaker 2: no real experience in doing a project of this magnitude.
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  Speaker 3: And this is what happens when you have no bid contracts.
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump tried to use some loophole in the law
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  Speaker 2: to just hand out contracts to buddies or folks that
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  Speaker 2: he thought could do the job. But we know, we
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  Speaker 2: know that these things always go through a large public
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  Speaker 2: review and public bidding process. And so now we're going
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  Speaker 2: to have to spend god knows how much more money
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  Speaker 2: to get the pool back to where it was before
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump created this mess and oversight Democrats have reached
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  Speaker 2: out to both of the companies involved and asked a
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  Speaker 2: series of questions about how the Trump administration got engaged
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  Speaker 2: at what they plan to do about to fix the pool.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of what Trump says, calling it all vandalism,
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  Speaker 1: the like six people arrested. Government documents that were obtained
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  Speaker 1: by The New York Times that undercuts his claims. Have
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  Speaker 1: you seen any evidence of vandalism.
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  Speaker 3: There's been no evidence of vandalism.
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  Speaker 2: I mean with what's crazy is that Donald Trump is
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  Speaker 2: the biggest liar in the history of American politics. He's
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  Speaker 2: out there just has no problem lying directly to the
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  Speaker 2: American public saying there's all this vandalism and that's why
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  Speaker 2: the pool is closed. He knows that's not true. It's
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  Speaker 2: because the contractors they ruined the pool. It's covered in allergay.
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  Speaker 2: The paint is shipping paints being essentially comes back up
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  Speaker 2: to the top. It's not the color they intended. The
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  Speaker 2: pumps are not working. And now Donald Trump has sent
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  Speaker 2: the National Guard to arrest people, arrest people and charge
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  Speaker 2: them that are out there visiting the pool.
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  Speaker 3: So again, this is all part of Donald Trump's corruption.
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  Speaker 2: It's sadly that he's now choosing to damage and ruin
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  Speaker 2: America's monument, whether it's the White House in the ballroom,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's this Archie's building, whether it's of course the
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  Speaker 2: Kennedy Center, the Reflecting Pool. Everything he touches turns into
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  Speaker 2: a disaster. And we've got to investigate every single one
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  Speaker 2: of these decisions, and I'm sure they don't happen again.
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  Speaker 1: It is a relentless job for you, that's for sure,
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  Speaker 1: our Congressman Robert Garcia, thank you, my friend.
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  Speaker 2: Good