Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Doug Band And His Epstein Related Congressional Transcript (Part 3) (7/21/26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're picking up where he
- 0:06Speaker 1: left off with Doug Band and his interview with Congress. Question,
- 0:12Speaker 1: just to touch quickly on the Vanity Fair article stated
- 0:15Speaker 1: that in January two thousand and three, President Clinton visited
- 0:18Speaker 1: Epstein's private Caribbean island. Mister Band, did President Clinton ever
- 0:22Speaker 1: visit mister Epstein's private island? Answer? To the best of
- 0:26Speaker 1: my knowledge, I have no information that President Clinton visited
- 0:29Speaker 1: the island. Question. This interview was only six years ago.
- 0:34Speaker 1: Why did you say that at the time that he
- 0:35Speaker 1: did in fact visit the island. Answer? You know, as
- 0:39Speaker 1: I said, the conversation with a reporter took place over
- 0:42Speaker 1: an extended period of time. I don't remember the specifics
- 0:45Speaker 1: of those conversations. Question, you don't recall anything that made
- 0:49Speaker 1: you say that he did in fact go to the island. Answer.
- 0:52Speaker 1: I don't recall the specifics of those conversations. As I
- 0:55Speaker 1: sit here today and again, I understand and appreciate your
- 0:58Speaker 1: mission and the ultimate trying to figure out out whether
- 1:00Speaker 1: or not he went to the island. I have no
- 1:02Speaker 1: information to that effect that he went to the Island.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Question were you concerned when the article was published? Answer?
- 1:10Speaker 1: I don't remember how I reacted to it. Again, I
- 1:13Speaker 1: understand that it's still five to six years ago, so
- 1:16Speaker 1: it was some time ago. I don't remember how I
- 1:18Speaker 1: reacted or didn't react. Question do you recall whether you
- 1:22Speaker 1: ever sought to correct the representations made in the article? Answer?
- 1:27Speaker 1: It's certainly possible that I did. I just don't recall
- 1:29Speaker 1: whether I did or didn't. Question jumping back towards President
- 1:33Speaker 1: Clinton's relationship with Miss Maxwell, how would you describe how
- 1:37Speaker 1: would you characterize the relationship? Answer to me, they seem
- 1:41Speaker 1: to be friends. Question do you have any knowledge of
- 1:45Speaker 1: President Clinton meeting Maxwell prior to that two thousand and
- 1:47Speaker 1: one dinner or early two thousands dinner? Answer? I don't
- 1:51Speaker 1: personally have knowledge. I mean, obviously, I'm sorry, not obviously.
- 1:55Speaker 1: I've seen press reports that they visited the White House,
- 1:58Speaker 1: but I don't have any other knowledge or or anything
- 2:00Speaker 1: personally that I knew. Those were obviously things that I've
- 2:04Speaker 1: seen in recent time. Questions, so to be clear, you
- 2:07Speaker 1: have no recollection of ever knowing mister Epstein and Miss
- 2:10Speaker 1: Baxwell attending any White House function during your time in
- 2:13Speaker 1: the White House, mister band Again based on public reporting,
- 2:17Speaker 1: I was in college when that happened, so I don't
- 2:19Speaker 1: know nothing that I knew about or was part of.
- 2:22Speaker 1: Question you were in college when they visited the White House? Answer?
- 2:26Speaker 1: Based on public reporting of the dates of the time
- 2:28Speaker 1: that they went. I believe that I was in college
- 2:30Speaker 1: at the time. Did you ever advise President Clinton to
- 2:34Speaker 1: end his relationship with Miss Maxwell? Answer? I don't recall
- 2:38Speaker 1: whether I said to him to end it as I said.
- 2:40Speaker 1: I recall I have an email that I sent in
- 2:43Speaker 1: twenty eleven to remove her from all lists, which was
- 2:46Speaker 1: my attempt to do so. Question you never had a
- 2:50Speaker 1: conversation with President Clinton about ending his relationship, about cutting ties,
- 2:54Speaker 1: about what you had done to insulate them and the
- 2:56Speaker 1: foundation from Miss Maxwell? Answer it certainly posp that I did.
- 3:00Speaker 1: I just don't recall. Question are you aware of any
- 3:03Speaker 1: relationship between Secretary Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein? Answer? I don't
- 3:08Speaker 1: have any information or know anything about a relationship between them.
- 3:12Speaker 1: Question are you aware of any relationship between Secretary Clinton
- 3:16Speaker 1: and Glene Maxwell? Answer? I don't know if they had
- 3:19Speaker 1: a relationship or not. I worked for President Clinton. Question
- 3:23Speaker 1: did you ever work on Secretary Clinton's election or campaign
- 3:26Speaker 1: efforts at any time? Answer no, sir, only to the
- 3:30Speaker 1: extent that I was staffing the president when he was
- 3:32Speaker 1: campaigning for But no, I was never a part of
- 3:34Speaker 1: the campaign. Question never helped out with any reelection or
- 3:39Speaker 1: election or campaign effort? Is that correct? Answer? That's correct.
- 3:42Speaker 1: But again, I was staffing the president he was campaigning
- 3:45Speaker 1: for or often obviously, so I was accompanying him as
- 3:48Speaker 1: a staff member, But I don't recall, I mean, I
- 3:50Speaker 1: was not part of his campaign in any way. Question
- 3:54Speaker 1: was there ever any time where Secretary Clinton was in
- 3:57Speaker 1: the same room or a president or socializing with mister
- 4:00Speaker 1: Epstein or miss Maxwell. Answer I don't recall any specific
- 4:04Speaker 1: events or being in the room. Obviously, it's been publicly
- 4:07Speaker 1: reported that she attended Chelsea's wedding, so by definition they
- 4:11Speaker 1: were in the same room, but I don't know or
- 4:13Speaker 1: remember other instances. Question how would you describe your relationship
- 4:18Speaker 1: with Chelsea Clinton? Answer? You know, I was very close
- 4:21Speaker 1: to her father. He relied heavily on me. Chelsea and
- 4:24Speaker 1: I had known her for a long time, long time
- 4:28Speaker 1: since my time at the White House, and our relationship
- 4:30Speaker 1: was complicated and complex, and you know then it grew
- 4:33Speaker 1: to be somewhat contentious towards the end. Question and real quick,
- 4:37Speaker 1: why did your relationship with Chelsea Clinton end? Answer? Well,
- 4:40Speaker 1: I don't know it ended. It just grew contentious over time.
- 4:43Speaker 1: She was getting more involved and I was doing other
- 4:45Speaker 1: things and trying to get on with my life and things.
- 4:48Speaker 1: So I don't know if there was a specific instance
- 4:51Speaker 1: or a specific thing that was the cause of it.
- 4:53Speaker 1: I was close to her father, she was in school
- 4:56Speaker 1: and then working and getting involved in the foundation and things,
- 5:00Speaker 1: and it was just the natural progression of things, I suppose.
- 5:03Speaker 1: Question can you characterize the relationship between Maxwell and Chelsea Clinton? Answer?
- 5:08Speaker 1: They seem to be friends. Question can you expand on that?
- 5:11Speaker 1: How do you know that there were friends? Answer? Well,
- 5:14Speaker 1: she was at her wedding, which would seem to indicate that.
- 5:17Speaker 1: I just recall them spending time together being friends to
- 5:20Speaker 1: the best of my recollection. Nothing specific or any instances.
- 5:24Speaker 1: I just remember and just recall them being friends. Question
- 5:28Speaker 1: do you know how often they would spend time together?
- 5:30Speaker 1: You said they were friends. I just want an approximate answer. Sure,
- 5:34Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know how often they were together.
- 5:36Speaker 1: Chelsea's life was for the most part separate. Obviously, she
- 5:40Speaker 1: had her own life, her own family, so I don't
- 5:43Speaker 1: know how much time they spent together. Question were you
- 5:45Speaker 1: at Chelsea Clinton's wedding? Answer I was. Question do you
- 5:48Speaker 1: recall any conversation between you and Miss Maxwell? Answer? I don't.
- 5:53Speaker 1: Question do you recall any conversation between you and mister Epstein? Answer?
- 5:57Speaker 1: I don't recall them being at the wedding, so no. Question.
- 6:01Speaker 1: Do you recall any conversation between miss Maxwell and President
- 6:04Speaker 1: Clinton or Secretary Clinton mister Shapiro at the wedding harness
- 6:09Speaker 1: at the wedding band? I don't. I mean, I think
- 6:11Speaker 1: there was five hundred six hundred. The wedding was you
- 6:14Speaker 1: know something, Chelsea. It was her thing. She organized it,
- 6:17Speaker 1: she planned it, she ran it. I don't remember anything.
- 6:21Speaker 1: Questions So no conversations at any of the wedding events
- 6:24Speaker 1: between Clinton and Maxwell? Answer not that I could recall. Question.
- 6:29Speaker 1: Just to touch again on this Vanity Fair article, it
- 6:31Speaker 1: stated that you said Glaine had access to yachts and
- 6:34Speaker 1: nice homes Chelsea needed that. Can you explain what you
- 6:37Speaker 1: meant by that answer? You know again, the Vanity Fair
- 6:40Speaker 1: article took place several years ago. I had extended conversations
- 6:43Speaker 1: with them over a long period of time. I don't
- 6:46Speaker 1: remember the specifics of the conversations. Question you don't recall
- 6:50Speaker 1: making the quote. Answer, I don't recall. Question, you don't
- 6:53Speaker 1: recall why you said it. Why was Chelsea needing Glaine's
- 6:56Speaker 1: yachts nice homes? Answer? I don't recall. Question, mister band,
- 7:01Speaker 1: why did your relationship with President Clinton end? Answer? You know,
- 7:04Speaker 1: I appreciate the question and understand the nature of it.
- 7:08Speaker 1: I spent, as I said, at that point, up to
- 7:11Speaker 1: that point, my entire adult life working for him and
- 7:14Speaker 1: his endeavors and things that he was trying to do.
- 7:17Speaker 1: I at that point had started my own family. I
- 7:19Speaker 1: was married, I had one child with another one on
- 7:21Speaker 1: the way, and wanted to get on with my own life.
- 7:24Speaker 1: Wanted to be an entrepreneur, wanted to build a business,
- 7:27Speaker 1: wanted to see if I could do it on my
- 7:29Speaker 1: own and could build something on my own. So it
- 7:32Speaker 1: was just a natural progression. You know, it's very difficult
- 7:34Speaker 1: in his world to be sort of half in, half out.
- 7:37Speaker 1: It's a twenty four hour day, as I said, you
- 7:39Speaker 1: know earlier, traveling in a excruciating amount, so it was
- 7:43Speaker 1: just time. Question, just real quick. Did President Clinton never
- 7:47Speaker 1: visit any property owned or at least by Jeffrey Epstein? Answer?
- 7:51Speaker 1: My only recollection of that would be him visiting the
- 7:53Speaker 1: townhouse in New York City, Shapiro Epstein's townhouse. Band, sorry,
- 7:58Speaker 1: Epstein's townhouse, as I know, nowhere else. Question do you
- 8:02Speaker 1: recall if President Clinton was invited by mister Epstein to
- 8:06Speaker 1: attend his other properties? Visit the other properties? Band? I
- 8:09Speaker 1: don't recall. Question went did this visit to the town
- 8:13Speaker 1: home take place? Band? You know again, I appreciate it.
- 8:15Speaker 1: I'm trying to be responsive and helpful. I recall him
- 8:19Speaker 1: going to meet with Epstein at the house, and I
- 8:21Speaker 1: staffed him on that visit. I have a vague recollection
- 8:23Speaker 1: of many years ago. Question what was the purpose of
- 8:27Speaker 1: the visit? Answer? No idea. Mister Emmer, we've had another
- 8:31Speaker 1: member joined. Can he please announce himself for the record,
- 8:36Speaker 1: Congressman Stephen Lynch from eighth Congressional District of Massachusetts. Mister Band,
- 8:41Speaker 1: you were considered senior staff at President Clinton for Bill
- 8:45Speaker 1: Clinton from two thousand to twenty eleven. Would you concur
- 8:48Speaker 1: with that general assessment? Answer? Yes, Higgins, excuse me. In
- 8:52Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, you were appointed as special assistant to
- 8:54Speaker 1: the President and later Deputy Assistant to the President. In
- 8:59Speaker 1: two thousand and two to twenty eleven, you served as
- 9:02Speaker 1: Clinton's chief advisor and counselor to the President. You spearheaded
- 9:06Speaker 1: his post presidential operation and helped them launch the Clinton
- 9:09Speaker 1: Global Initiative. That's a top a senior advisor. We would
- 9:13Speaker 1: consider that in Congress like chief of staff or a
- 9:16Speaker 1: legislative director level band, right, Higgins, the top couple of
- 9:21Speaker 1: people in the office. Band. He had a relatively small
- 9:24Speaker 1: office in the president's office. Higgins, question, were you at
- 9:28Speaker 1: the top of the office Band? He had a chief
- 9:30Speaker 1: of staff, which I was not, But yes, I would
- 9:32Speaker 1: be considered in her circle, mister Band, Yes, sir, I
- 9:37Speaker 1: think in terms. Higgins cuts them off. I'm not trying
- 9:40Speaker 1: to split hairs. You're not a junior guy ten offices away.
- 9:43Speaker 1: You were there because you said several times that you staffed.
- 9:46Speaker 1: Did you staff effectively for President Clinton after the presidency?
- 9:51Speaker 1: Were you an effective senior staff member? Band? Sorry, I
- 9:54Speaker 1: just want to go back. You had just said spearheaded
- 9:57Speaker 1: the operation. President Clinton spearheaded it. He was elected twice. Higgins.
- 10:01Speaker 1: I'm just clarifying. Band. I appreciate that, Higgins, and you
- 10:05Speaker 1: were a senior advisor to the president. Band, Yes, sir,
- 10:08Speaker 1: question were you an effective advisor? Band I'd like to
- 10:12Speaker 1: think so? Question? Okay, so clearly you're a sharp guy.
- 10:16Speaker 1: Did you take notes during the hundreds of meetings that
- 10:19Speaker 1: you took notes? Or you didn't take notes? Band? Not
- 10:21Speaker 1: that I recall, Higgins, you said you don't recall. Were
- 10:24Speaker 1: you in the habit of not taking notes as a
- 10:26Speaker 1: senior advisor in meetings so that you could counsel Clinton
- 10:29Speaker 1: later for an after action review of any meeting. It's
- 10:33Speaker 1: common for senior staff to take notes so that we
- 10:35Speaker 1: can discuss a meeting later. Were you in the habit
- 10:38Speaker 1: of doing that or not? Answer no, sir, that I
- 10:41Speaker 1: was not in the habit of doing that, mister Higgins,
- 10:43Speaker 1: So you never took notes? Answer not that I recall,
- 10:47Speaker 1: Higgins You said you don't recall, But surely you recall
- 10:50Speaker 1: your work ethic and the means by which you achieved
- 10:52Speaker 1: the status as a senior staffer to the president. So
- 10:55Speaker 1: you took no notes, band, I don't recall ever taking
- 10:58Speaker 1: notes in meetings. Higgins. If you would have taken notes,
- 11:02Speaker 1: how would you have taken them? Did you ever take them? Banned?
- 11:05Speaker 1: I don't ever recall taking notes, Higgins, don't ever recall
- 11:09Speaker 1: taking notes? Band No, sir question. So moving to the point,
- 11:14Speaker 1: you were a senior advisor to the president for a
- 11:16Speaker 1: decade and never took notes. Okay. On the airplane you described,
- 11:20Speaker 1: the airplane is guests in the front, secret Service in
- 11:22Speaker 1: the middle. You said Epstein had an office in the back.
- 11:25Speaker 1: You just made that statement. Do you recall that banned? Yes,
- 11:28Speaker 1: sir question. Okay. So when you say Epstein had an
- 11:31Speaker 1: office in the back, you were saying Epstein had like
- 11:34Speaker 1: a given location on Bill Clinton's plane. What plane are
- 11:37Speaker 1: you referencing here? Banned? I'm sorry, sir, his plane, Higgins?
- 11:41Speaker 1: When you say his Shapiro Epstein's banned Epstein's, Higgins, Epstein's plane.
- 11:46Speaker 1: So the Secret Service was the detail for the president
- 11:49Speaker 1: and they would regularly fly on Epstein's plane according to
- 11:52Speaker 1: your description, banned. The Secret Service would always accompany President
- 11:56Speaker 1: Clinton no matter what. Higgins. Okay, So it was guests
- 11:59Speaker 1: in the front banned, Yes, sir, question, in secret service
- 12:03Speaker 1: and the hancho was in the back. Where were you
- 12:05Speaker 1: banned in the front? Question? You were in the front,
- 12:08Speaker 1: so the president didn't have was the chief of staff
- 12:11Speaker 1: in the back? Answer? I don't recall who was in
- 12:14Speaker 1: the back? I mean, sorry, who's chief of staff? Higgins?
- 12:17Speaker 1: You recall who was in the front or the back? Band,
- 12:20Speaker 1: the president's chief of staff? Higgins? Yes, Band, the chief
- 12:23Speaker 1: of staff didn't travel all the time. Sometimes she did, Higgins.
- 12:27Speaker 1: Would that make you the senior guy if the chief
- 12:29Speaker 1: of staff was not there? Band? Well, there was a
- 12:32Speaker 1: directorial policy. There were other aids, other staffers, but for
- 12:35Speaker 1: the most part. Question. So you're saying you never flew
- 12:39Speaker 1: in the back of the plane. You were like a
- 12:40Speaker 1: guest like me or chairman Comer would sit in the front,
- 12:43Speaker 1: and then there would be secret service and you'd sit
- 12:45Speaker 1: up in the front with regular guests. Ban Yes, sir.
- 12:49Speaker 1: To the best of my recollection, I never recall going
- 12:51Speaker 1: to the back of the plane ever. All right, folks,
- 12:53Speaker 1: we're gonna wrap up right here, and in the next
- 12:55Speaker 1: episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna pick up where
- 12:57Speaker 1: we left off. All the information that goes if this
- 13:00Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.