Latest / The Front / Andrew and Fergie are destroyed. Epstein’s next victim: Britain’s PM

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Andrew and Fergie are destroyed. Epstein’s next victim: Britain’s PM · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, February sixth, twenty twenty six. The Prime Ministership
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of Sir Kis Starmer in the United Kingdom is looking
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: terminal and it's all thanks to the Epstein Files, a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: huge release of documents by the US Department of Justice
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: related to the late child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Those files have already cost the former Prince Andrew his
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: titles and family. Now another UK establishment figure looks likely
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to fall. Starmer appointed Lord Peter Mandelsson, a senior British
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: labor figure, to be the UK ambassador in Washington, DC,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: despite knowing Mandalsson was closely connected to Epstein. Now Starmer
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: says Mandlsson lied to him. Although Mandlsson has not been
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: charged with anything, he's under investigation by UK police and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: under pressure to give evidence before the American Congress. Today,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Chief International Correspondent Cameron Stewart is here to discuss the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: fallout for the British Establishment, for Donald Trump, and for
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: our understanding of how sex and power really interact. Remember
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: when this was the most obnoxious thing a Duchess could do,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: but you keep.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Saying, Megan Mirkel, you know him Sussex. Now you have
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: kids and you go no, I share my name with
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: my children. Yes, and that feels so. I didn't know
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: how meaningful it would be to me, but it just
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: means so much to go this.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Poor old Meghan Markle has been the subject of international
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: ridicule for fatting around with pretzels and essential oils, and,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: along with Prince Harry, rocketed to the bottom of the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Royal popularity rankings. Meanwhile, one generation older, the former Duke
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and Duchess of York, Andrew mount Batten Wins and Sarah Ferguson,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: were courting, hosting, and sucking up to a convicted pedophile.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: We've used voice actors to bring you, the words apparently
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: written by the couple to Epstein and his girlfriend and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: co offender, Gilaine Maxwell, according to documents released by the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: United States Department of Justice. Here's Andrew to Epstein.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: We could have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: privacy delighted for you to come here to BP. Come
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: with whom ever, and I'll be here free from sixteen
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: hundred dish.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And here's someone who refers to himself only as a
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: emailing Maxwell.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Look forward to catching up with you before you disappeared
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: to some exotic place, and please don't catch anything nasty
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: on your travels. Masses of love and thanks a kiss, kiss, kiss.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: But Andrew's words are positively frosty compared with his ex
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: wife's effusiveness.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Can you come down to Royal Lodge on Wednesday? I
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: have never been more touched by a friend's kindness than
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: your compliment to me in front of my girls. Thank you,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: Jeffrey for being the brother I always wished for. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: really don't have the words to describe my love gratitude
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: for your generosity and kindness. I am at your service.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Just marry me.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Those communications were after Epstein came out of jail having
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: pleaded guilty to child prostitution offenses. He later died in
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: prison awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: presently in prison serving a two decade sentence for child
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: sex trafficking. The true extent of Andrew and Sarah's communication
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: with Epstein after he was revealed to be a pedophile
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and now becoming clear, even though both said they had
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: cut him dead.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: I said look, because of what has happened, I don't
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: and by mutual agreement, during that walk in the park,
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: we decided that we would part company and I left.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: I think it was the next day, and to this
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: day I never had any contact with him from that
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: day forward.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's chief international correspondent. Donald Trump
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: is projecting something like relief after the final Tranch files
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: were dumped by the Department of Justice. This issue has
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: become part of the split in Trump's Make America Great
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Again movement. Those mega people who were convinced that there
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: was a deep state that was hiding pedophiles at the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: highest level, they began demanding Trump live up to his
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: promise to release these files in full. He did it,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I think, reluctantly, and now he's saying that it's over,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: let's move on. Do you think, given that we've now
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: seen the full extent of these files, that it worked
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: to clear Trump and to damage his enemies, or has
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: it blown up in his face by spreading the mark
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: further than maybe he even imagined.
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: Well, it's certainly been a hugely messy episode. For Donald Trump, because,
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: as you say, he was elected in part on the
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: promise to release all the Epstein files. Then of course
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: he went cold and making people think, well, maybe there's
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: something about him inside those files. As you say, most
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: of them have now been released, the vast majority. However,
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: there still are quite a few that have been redacted
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: on national security grounds. And this is the thing with
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: this sort of accusations of is there a conspiracy involved,
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: shady dealings, hidden documents. You know, until all the documents
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: come out, there will still be people saying that Donald
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: Trump was implicated in some way, and it still hasn't
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: come out, So this will be a debate that continues
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: and on. However, as you say, at this minute, with
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: the majority of the ones we think are going to
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: be released already released, Trump has effectively escaped being caught up.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: And we've had photographs of him and Epstein, but there've
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: only been very early days. There's been no documents that
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: suggest that he's been to Epstein's island or has had
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: incredible communication with him subsequent to be convicted for child
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: sex offenses. So as far as the politics of Donald
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: Trump goes, he is okay at the moment. I mean,
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: he's so far worse. He had the access Hollywood tapes
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: in the first term, he said, Stormy Daniel, occusations of affairs,
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: and many others as well. I mean, this is small
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: beer compared to any of that, given that he hasn't
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: been caught up in the whirlpool as many other people
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: have been. So look, I think on balance, Trump comes
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: out of this okay. America doesn't come out of it
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: so well. It's just such a grubby episode about high
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: echelon favors, et cetera, et cetera. So it hasn't been
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: a nice episode for anyone involved. But Trump, I don't
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: think is politically wounded by this in the way that
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: he feared he might be.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Of course, the Trump camp says that it was Trump
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: who kind of stopped the party that he had Epstein
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: kicked out of his membership at Marra Lago after he
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: realized that he was a creep. But someone who is
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: mentioned throughout the files is Bill Clinton, the former president
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and of course husband of Trump's presidential rival at his
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: first election, Hillary Clinton. His name and photo are all
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: through the files, although there's no evidence he committed any
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: offenses himself or knew about Epstein's offending Trump came to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: power suggesting that the Clintons were criminals and were part
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of a degenerate elite. Is that a win for Trump,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: that the Clintons are damaged?
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: Look, I mean it's a small win in the sense
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: that definitely are damaged to the extent that we've seen,
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: you know, photographs at Bill Clinton in a spa with
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: the young lady sitting on his lap. We don't know
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: any more than that. The emails haven't suggested any more
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: than that, but you know, it's not a good look
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: for the Clintons obviously, and you know there's a Democrat
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: royalty to that degree. I saw Donald Trump, but really
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: it's a fairly mine. I think it's sort of something
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: that I think Trump wanted to see happen. But I
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: don't think it picular the advantages trumping anyway. I'm in
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: the Clintons Yesterday's story. As far as politics are concerned, the.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Most real political impact seems to be at the moment
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: in the UK. We have heard the things that Prince
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Andrew and Sarah, the former Duchess of York were saying
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to Epstein, including after he was convicted and it's now
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: clear that they were not telling the truth when they
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: said that they had disavowed him completely after they realized
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: that he was an offender. What does it tell us
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: about King Charles's instinct last year to dump Andrew from
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the royal family and kick him out of Royal Lodge camp.
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: You do wonder whether Charles knew a little more than
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: he let on at the time as far as this
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: situation and then these emails, the photographs, et cetera. Obviously,
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: I mean Prince Andrew or Andrew and Matt Battens is
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: now known really is probably the person who's most center
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: of this whole scandal, and it's a pretty ugly look
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: what's happened with him and Fergie. You think that King
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: Charles has known a little bit more about this, Maybe
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: even Andrew Todd Will warned him that something's becoming, but
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: he's pretty much cut him off from the royal family
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: with all these titles, etc. I also wonder whether Prince William,
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: as the heir apparent, is said to have been quite
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: active in getting his uncle's sidelined from the royal family,
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: knowing that it would be a stench that would follow
• 9:23
  Speaker 6: the family unless they cut him clean.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Coming up the sordid story of Lord Peter Mandelssohn. One
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: of the most stark photographs in the Epstein files is
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: a middle aged man standing with a young woman. She's
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: wearing a bathrobe, He's wearing a top and some white underpants.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: That is Peter Mandelsson, a senior figure in the British
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Labor Party, a member of the House of Lords, a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: former minister, and someone who sa Kiirs Starmer, the Prime
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Minister appointed to be ambassador to Washington, d C. To
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the Court of Donald Trump after Starmer knew that Mandalsshon
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: had had dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. Although again there's no
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: suggestion that Stalmer knew of any offending all that Mandalson's
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: guilty of anything. What does this mean for Kir Starmer?
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: Kirs Starmer is in trouble in relation to this scandal.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: One of two outcomes, One is very bad and one
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: could be terminal. It's as simple as that Starmer really
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: has had an epic misjudgment in appointing Madelson as Ambassador
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: to Washington, of course, Britain's most important diplomatic post. What's
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: now clear as a result of the latest revelations Claire
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: is that he did know before he appointed Mandelsson that
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: Mandelsson stayed in Epstein's New York apartment when Epstein was
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: in jail. That is not a good look, and that
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: he had a nine going relationship with Epstein. Again, that's
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: not a good look. Now Starmer says, look, I didn't
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: know the extent of that relationship. If I did know,
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: I would never have appointed him, etc. Etc. But even
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: if he's right, the fact of what he did know
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: about staying in the apartment and the relationship would surely
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: be a red warning light. But it seems that any
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: investigation into the question of the relationship between Madelson and
• 11:24
  Speaker 6: Epstein was very, very thin and almost a joke really,
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: and so they took a massive risk to send him
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: in that circumstance, and guess what, it's blown up in
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: their face. And it's a real problem for Starman now
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: because he's got very little reserves left as far as
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: his support within the Labor Party. He's in free fall
• 11:44
  Speaker 6: in the polls. This could not have come at a
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: worse time, and it's not going to go away quickly
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: because Mandelson is now being criminally investigated. So you can
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: imagine this is a story that's going to drag off
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: and haunt Starma for quite a long time.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: You were living in the United States cam As Washington,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: DC correspondent, traveling all over the country while this sort
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: of conspiracy movement was rising QAnon, which convinced.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: A lot of people that there were dark.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Things going on involving sexual offenses against children at the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: highest levels, and a lot of that is obviously nonsense.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: You know, there were theories about pizza shops where people
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: were being tortured and so on. But now that we
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: see that actually there was a network of very wealthy
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: people who at the very least were friends with someone
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: who was committing child sex offenses and was in a
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: very dark place. What does that tell you about America's
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: political elite at that time.
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: They're pretty shocking revelations in the sense that, of course,
• 12:43
  Speaker 6: you know that it doesn't involve conspiracies. I mean, the
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: Magat crowd was not quite on the money there. It
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: doesn't involve dark conspiracies see rooms, et cetera, et ceterable.
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: What does show is a privileged elite revolving, if you like,
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: around one man who created this whirlpool of connection I
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: mean he was obsessive. Epstein was obsessive about networking connections,
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: created this group of very privileged men, bought them in
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: so they could fraternize with young girls. And what is extraordinary, Claire,
• 13:13
  Speaker 6: is these high profile names that we saw across the files,
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: people who must a have obviously had a moral bypass
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: in getting involved, but be extraordinarily assumed they would not
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: get caught. And you know, it's all coming out now,
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: But this incredible confidence with which they participated in these events,
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: and we talk about you know, Prince Andrew and a
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: whole bunch of other people, Bill Gates, etc. Being named
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: in the files. Did they not think this would come out?
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's really quite an extraordinary circumstance and it's
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: a real eye opener, I think for ordinary people to
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: look at the activities as some of these rich and
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: powerful people and just wonder, Wow, we had no idea
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: that sort of stuff happened.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: It's sort of this idea too, of sex as a
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: kind of corporate bonding activity or as a group sport.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, until now, we've thought about that as something
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: that rugby league teams do when they're away on camps.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: You know, did it surprise you that senior men, senior
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: in politics in business would even be interested in that,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: or am I a bit naive here?
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: That's a good question. I just am more surprised. I
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: think that they thought they'd get away with it. It
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: just seems really such a curious case that they wouldn't
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: have thought that some people involved would not talk and
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: that I mean, iPhones are ubiquitous everywhere in the world.
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: I mean, there wouldn't be photographs it. It just seems
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: extraordinary to me. I guess that shows that they were
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: in such a rarefied bubble they didn't even think of
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: those things, and much less as I say that the
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: terrible morality of being involved in that. It's really a
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: double whammyan look, I just think it's it's obviously very fascinating.
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know, readersn't listen of media throughout the
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: world cannot get enough of the Epstein files because they're
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: just extraordinary. Every day something else is turning up, you
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: see another name, and you know, we should also say
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: a lot of people named in the Epstein files are
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: completely innocent of any of this stuff. But you know,
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: because Epstein brought everyone into this whirlpool, into his world.
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: And there's a lot of people named that he've clearly
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: got nothing to do with the nefarious activities that Epstein
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: was involved in, but everyone has been sucked in and
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: it's a huge vortex. It's just revealed this whole sort
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: of nether world, this lord of the rings Land that
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: we never knew existed.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: And Epstein was the one gathering the information. Right if
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: anyone had a trove of material that he could maybe
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: use to blackmail people or at least use to kind
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: of keep a record of what he'd been up to,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it was him.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: And you wonder what he wanted out of it all?
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: What did he want? I mean, presumably it wasn't sort
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: of sex and girls. It was presumably far more than
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: that power. But what sort of power was he seeking?
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: I mean, he's not with us anymore, But it would
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: be fascinating, wouldn't it, to really try and hear his
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: honest opinion of what he was trying to achieve by
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: this extraordinary network. Someone who's sent literally millions of emails
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: must have spent every second minute of his waking day
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: sending emails to what purpose?
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's Chief International Correspondent, Thanks Cam Pleasure.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: You can read Cameron's analysis, plus all our reporting on
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: this fast moving story right now at the Australian dot
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: com dot a you