Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Trump’s DFC Chief Ben Black and the Lingering Shadow of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (6/5/26)

Transcript

Trump’s DFC Chief Ben Black and the Lingering Shadow of Jeffrey Epstein (Part 1) (6/5/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Epstein Chronicles. During the twenty twenty four presidential campaign, Donald
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  Trump and his surrogates talked a big game about Jeffrey
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  Epstein and about what they were going to do if
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  they were elected. Well, they got elected, and instead of
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  doing what they said they were going to do, they
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  did the exact opposite. And if you were wondering why,
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  all you have to do is take a look at
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  the administration and see how many people were involved with Epstein,
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  including the person we're about to talk about in this article.
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  And this dude happens to be the son of Leon Black.
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  And if that's not bad enough, this man's part of
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  the Trump administration. Today's article is from The Guardian and
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  the headline Trump appoint leading two hundred and five billion
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  dollar US agency had personal ties to Epstein. This article
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  was authored by Kate Brown. Ben Black, the head of
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  a little known government investment agency funded by billions of
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  dollars from US taxpayers, had personal and business ties to
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  Jeffrey Epstein, according to emails and business filings released by
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  the Department of Justice. Well, yeah, we've known about Ben
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  Black for a long time and The fact that he's
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  even in this administration tells you that this whole thing
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  is not serious when it comes to Ebstein. Leon Black,
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  his father one of the key people when it comes
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  to Ebstein's finances, and his son, Ben Black is part
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  of the administration that's promising us transparency. And Scott Assent
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  wants to talk about Ron Wyden's son, Buddy, go take
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  five looks in the mirror. His father, Leon Black, had
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  once been the disgraced financiers highest paying client, calling on
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  the convicted sex offender for tax advice and the orchestra
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  payments to women. According to The New York Times and Bloomberg, Oh,
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  I'm sure that's all it was. You know, Epstein was
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  just working for him, because Epstein's such a genius in
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  everything he did. Like, who's buying that bullshit these days?
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  All you have to do is take one look at
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  Jeffrey Epstein's emails and you can tell he wasn't some sylvant,
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  wasn't some genius. He was useful, and boy did they
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  use him because, believe me, when we're talking about a
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  parasitic relationship, that's what all these people had with Jeffrey Epstein.
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  A Guardian review of more than five thousand records from
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  Epstein's private correspondence found that Ben Black invested in the
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  same company as the financier Pedophile in twenty eleven, and
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  the two men had a relationship for several years. Afterwards.
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  Epstein told a friend that he attended Ben Black's thirtieth birthday,
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  advised him on the purchase of an eleven and a
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  half million dollar townhouse, and helped one woman compose messages
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  to him. She wrote to Epstein to say that she
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  and Black had kissed the following day. Good old Epstein
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  as the matchmaker. Huh, what is this fiddler on the roof?
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  More like diddler on the roof? And now Black holds
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  the Senate confirmed position overseeing the Development Finance Corporation, the
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  Trump administration's largest overseas investment arm. The agency was previously
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  confined to work in low income countries, but Congress recently
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  cleared it to invest in high income countries and tripled
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  its lending cap to two hundred and five billion, greatly
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  expanding Black's influence over taxpayer funds. The Epstein administration and
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  full effect, nobody could do this job but Leon Black's kid. Okay,
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  I guess I guess he's that talented we're talking about
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  Warren Buffett wrapped up with Michael Berry. Huh okay, I
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  guess that's what Ben Black is. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Epstein himself
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  had some pretty terrible things to say about Leon Black's kids.
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  Donald Trump is appointed at least three other men with
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  known ties to Epstein to federal office. Howard Lutnik, the
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  secret Terry of Commerce, testified recently to the House Oversight
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  Committee after admitting that he had traveled to Ebstein's private island.
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  He has never been accused of any wrongdoing related to
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  Ebstein or otherwise. Lutnick sits on dfc's Board of Directors,
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  where he and Ben Black joined six other presidentially appointed
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  and Senate Conferm members in reviewing and approving the agency's
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  oversees investments. Nothing like one of Jeffrey Epstein's buddies being
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  in charge. I'll of two hundred and five billion of
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  your tax dollars. Right, that's reassuring the scope of Ben
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  Black's personal connection to Abstein has not previously been reported.
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  Black has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection to
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  Epstein or any other matter. The DFC did not respond
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  to a request for comment. Lawyers for Leon Black responded
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  to questions on behalf of both Leon and his son,
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  and the White House spokesperson sent The Guardian an unsolicited
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  defense of Black's fitness for his job. Look, I'm not
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  saying that he's not fit for the gig. I'm Surery's intelligent,
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  and I'm sure he knows what he's doing. The fact is,
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  why do we have all these Epstein adjacent people holding
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  positions of power? Especially considering everything that's come out, you
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  would think that that would be you know the line
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  in the sand, Ack, buddy, I can't have you in
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  this administration. You're name five thousand times in the files.
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  But then how can you have that standard when the
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  President himself was named what thirty eight thousand times? And
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  when I tell you that the fish stinks from the head,
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  this is what I mean. A personal spokesperson for Ben
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  Black said Ben Black had no personal or a professional
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  relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. I guess it was just Ron
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  wyden Son. But sent wants to go after widen Son.
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  Has he said anything about Ben Black? And look, again,
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  I'm not saying that he shouldn't go after Ron WHD
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  and son. He should, but he should have the same
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  kind of vigor when it comes to Leon Black's kid.
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  And that's the problem with everything that's going on right now.
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  Nobody wants to hold their own side accountable. Everybody wants
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  to have that gotcha moment for the other side without
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  cleaning their own house. And if you have a disgusting
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  ass yard, don't you dare pop your head over the
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  wall and tell me to pull my weeds, because I
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  promise you you're not going to get the reaction that
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  you're hoping for. And I think the same holds true here.
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  You have one side saying, well, what about Ron Wyden's kid?
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  Then you have Leon Black over here, and the other
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  side wants to point that out. Meanwhile the rest of
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  us are like, all of you are corrupt and none
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  of you are helping. Trump created the DFC with bipartisan
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  support during his first term and appointed Jared Kushner's former
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  college roommate Adam Bohler to transform the lending agency into
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  a tool to counter China and pursue more direct private investment.
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  And look, the concept of it's great. The problem is
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  the guy that's leading the department. Well, one of Jeffrey
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  Epstein's buddy sons. And not only that, but allegedly had
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  his own relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. So it's not even
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  like a sinse of the father type of deal. This
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  dude had his own ties to Epstein, at least according
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  to the emails. It's not clear exactly what led Trump
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  to appoint Ben Black to the DFC post, particularly given
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  that public record suggests an experience in international development and finance.
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  Oh White House spokesperson told The Guardian Black had a
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  lead experience for the role. And again, just remember that
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  Jeffrey Epstein called Leon Black's kids retarded, and I know
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  people don't like that word, but that's what he said.
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  So that's the guy we want in charge of international
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  finance for US. I'm going to need to see his
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  whole ass resume. In January twenty twenty five, then Black
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  called The Pallanteer co founder Joe Lonsdell co authored an
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  essay calling for a pro market approach the foreign aid.
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  They specifically cited the missteps of the Biden administration and
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  the promise of investing in Greenland, a Danish outpost that
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  Trump has said he would like to control Oh yeah,
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  we're gonna get that. We're gonna have Cuba Venezuela, Canada
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  fifty first state. How can anyone take this dude serious?
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  Like at this point, with all the nonsense, how could
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  you take anything that that man says seriously? Where those
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  Amelia Earhart files? How about all those alien files? How
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  about the JFK files? Oh what about the Epstein files.
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  I don't know about you, folks, but I can't take
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  all this transparency. I'm going to overdose on it. Three
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  weeks after its publication, the President appointed Black now forty one,
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  to take charge of the US largest overseas investing arm.
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  Now age doesn't really matter. If the guy's qualified. He's qualified, right,
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  I don't care. But my problem is I doubt he's qualified.
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  You want to talk about nepotism. Here it is. Ben
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  Black grew up amid the upper echelons of New York financiers,
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  real estate moguls, and artificionados. His mother, Deborah Black, worked
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  as a Broadway producer, garnering Tentoni awards for her work.
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  And keep in mind that Leon Black was cheating on
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  her with Guzelle Ganieva at least and probably other women
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  for years, even when his wife was sick. What kind
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  of scumbag does that. Leon partnered with Deborah's brother to
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  found Apollo Global Management nineteen ninety, and the CEO led
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  it to become one of the five largest private equity
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  and credit managers in the world, with near lee one
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  trillion under management. And I'm sure they got that far
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  and square. I'm sure nobody got stepped on, nobody was destroyed,
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  nobody had their life ruined. Leon Black and Trump were
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  fellow travelers in the wild world of the nineties finance.
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  The two vulture capitalists once vied for this real estate
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  contracts in Boca Rautan and traveled to Moscow on business
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  in ninety six, where Leon Black later told senate investigators
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  that he and the president might have been in a
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  strip club together. Oh well, might have been. Huh they were,
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  And look, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not gonna
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  sit here and play mister amish. If you want to
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  go to the strip club, go to the strip club,
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  but don't try and present yourself as some kind of
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  god fearing great guy, because we know that's not true.
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  And I'm so sick of it. The main stop on
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  Trump's ninety six tour was Ducot Place, according to the
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  Moscow Times, where Trump once hoped to build Europe's first
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  Trump Tower. Leon Black went on the fund the development
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  of the luxury office complex after the trip. Now, no
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  connections here. Leon Black's not somebody that Donald Trump is
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  trying to cover up for, not at all. They didn't
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  even know each other. Stop it. Don't you know that
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  this is a hoax and that you should move on.
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  Lawyers for Leon Black said in illegal letter that Black
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  had no current ties to Russia, never did any business
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  with Trump. That they have known each other socially, mostly
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  as co residents of New York City, and the fact
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  that they were in Moscow at the same time thirty
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  years ago has no news value in the year twenty
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  twenty six. But it does, especially when you look at
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  this through the lens of a cover up. Is Leon
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  Black one of the people that Trump's trying to cover
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  up for? In my opinion probably Black was also Epstein's
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  top paying client by a wide margin for years. He
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  paid Epstein to advise him on tax having strategy, and
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  purchasing art, and acted as an intermediary in his affairs
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  with women and how the hell does Leon Black expect
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  anybody to take him serious when he says he has
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  no ties to Russia? We already know you do. We
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  know that Jeffrey Epstein reached out to somebody and grew
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  or connected to grew to try and get people pressed,
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  to try to get people intimidated. But sure, Leon Black
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  has no idea what's going on over in Russia. Well,
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  he can't even find it on a map. A Senate
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  Finance Committee investigation found that Black paid the convicted sex
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  offender one hundred and seventy million, which Black said was
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  for legitimate estate and tax planning services. Epstein helped them
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  send about twenty million to women, The New York Times found,
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  but Epstein had nothing to do with anything like that.
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  Just a lone wolf, just a guy that wanted to
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  diddle some people, right, mister President, isn't that what you
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  told us? I guess all of this is just made up.
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  Three women have sued Lyon Black for alleged sexual abuse.
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  Two of the suits have been dismissed and one remains pending.
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  Lawyers for Leon Black said in a statement to the
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  Guardian that misconduct allegations raised against Black were false, and
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  that subsequent events have established with certainty that mister Black's
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  account was truthful and his accusers' claims were not. Well,
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  that's not true. We still have a case pending, So
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  what are you even talking about. I think it would
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  be a good idea to see what happens with that
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  case before anybody is out here trying to exonerate Leon Black.
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  Leon Black has never been charged with any crime in
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  relation to the allegations. A separate independent inquiry commissioned by
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  Apollo Management to investigate its founder alleged ties to Epstein's
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  sex trafficking network in twenty twenty one found no evidence
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  that Epstein ever introduced Black or offered to introduce Black
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  to any underage women. Well, that investigation was a bunch
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  of bs, absolute nonsense, nothing more than a whitewash, just
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  like the rest of these internal investigations we always hear about.
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  Have any of these internal investigations ever found anything that
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  was damning, anything that sent people to prison? You all
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  know the answer to that. All right, folks, We're gonna
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  wrap up episode one right here, and in the next
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  episode we're gonna pick up where we left off. All
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  the information that goes with this episode can be found
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  in the description box