Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Judge Berman Demands Accountability After Epstein Survivors’ Explosive Letter (5/26/26)

Transcript

Judge Berman Demands Accountability After Epstein Survivors’ Explosive Letter (5/26/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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Epstein Chronicles. There have been moments in this six year
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war where you just stop, look around and wonder if
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these people actually think that were this stupid, And this
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week this is one of those moments, because after that blistering,
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scorched short letter sent on behalf of the Epstein survivors
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calling out the Department of Justice for what can only
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be described as gross negligence and outright betrayal, Judge Richard
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Berman has finally stepped in, demanding answers, demanding clarity, demanding
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transparency about what exactly the DOJ thinks it's doing with
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these documents and how they plan to protect the privacy
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of the very people who were tortured by this monster
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and his network. Let's just take a minute and really
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sue with this. The DOJ spent nearly a million dollars overtime, manpower,
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endless hours, allegedly to sanitize these documents, allegedly to protect survivors,
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allegedly to make sure the public release didn't read traumatize
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the people who had already paid the highest price. And
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after all of that effort, all of those resources, all
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of that grandstanding. They accidentally released the names of survivors.
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That's the big mistake, that's the one they got wrong.
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So they managed to successfully black out the names of
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people who did the abusing, the politicos, the financiers, the celebrities,
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the billion dollar backers, the power brokers, the intelligence adjacent operators.
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But somehow the only slip up in the entire process
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just happened to expose survivors to danger, harassment, and humiliation.
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In the words of Joe Biden, come on, man, if
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you believe that's an innocent clerical error, I've got a
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bridge in Brooklyn with your name on it. These people
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have protected Epstein and his orbit for decades. Every turn
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of the wheel has been in the service of shielding
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the powerful and silencing the powerless. They had one job
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this time, one protect the victims. And they couldn't even
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do that, not because they're incompetent, but because the priority
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has always been the same contain the exposure, limit the damage,
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and preserve the mythology that this was the work of
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a lone pervert instead of a sprawling criminal enterprise with
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institutional backing. And that's why the survivors went scorched earth.
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That's why they didn't just whisper. They detonated. That letter
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was basically a declaration of war. And now Judge Berman,
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one of the only people in this saga who has
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consistently demanded accountability, is staring down the DOJ and saying
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no more, no more excuses, no more oversights, no more
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oopsie daisies that only ever seem to land on the
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backs of victims because under normal circumstances, maybe you chalk
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it up to bureaucratic incompetence, some pencil pusher asleep at
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the wheel. But after everything we know, after years of
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sweetheart deals, NDAs, hidden evidence, seal files, deferred prosecutions, intelligence
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fingerprints all over the crime scene, and a cover up
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deep enough to bury a skyscraper, this isn't in competence,
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its strategy, its protection. It's control. Something is moving beneath
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the surface. You can feel it. The seams are popping,
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and whatever is coming next, they're terrified that you're going
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to see it, So let's get into it. This article
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was published by NBC News the headline Judge seeks to
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shield Epstein victims after dozens of names exposed in document release.
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This article was authored by Catherine Doyle. A federal judge
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is pressing the Justice Department to explain how it will
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protect the identities of Jeffrey Epstein's victims after lawyers said
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that dozens of their names appeared unredacted in documents released
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by Congress, prompting what they described as widespread panic. Can
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you blame them? We're talking about people that have fought
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tooth and knell to keep their names anonymous throughout the years,
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and then in this dump, their names are just released.
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Imagine being the judge, and if you recall, it was
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Judge Berman that has demanded accountability from the FBI and
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the DOJ since the Sweetheart deal. So he's not some
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guy that's new to this, right, He's not green. My
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man's been around this situation for quite some time and
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he's disgusted by it too. Judge Richard Berman of the
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US District Court for the Southern District of New York
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on Wednesday night, requested a detailed description of the material
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the government intends to release and an explanation of how
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it will safeguard the privacy of victims, including through redactions. Berman,
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who oversaw the trafficking case against Epstein attached a letter
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from attorneys Bradley Edwards and Britney Henderson that calls for
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strict privacy protections in future releases. And that's the letter
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that we just talked about in the previous episode. And
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I wish I could tell you that it was an anomaly,
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but it's not. This is the kind of shit that's
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been happening from the very beginning when it comes to
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this case, and nobody has any explanation for it. Right.
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All the people that want to run around and act
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like free Epstein and the stories being overblown like he
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had no ties to intelligence, all of that jazz, but
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they can't ever explain the finer points. And look, it's
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all fine and well to lob bombs, but you better
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have something to back it up. The House Oversight Committee's
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public release of more than twenty thousand documents caused widespread
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panic among survivors. The lawyers wrote, well, yeah, when your
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name gets dumped like that, it's going to cause panic.
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It's going to cause havoc. It's going to cause chaos,
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and it's going to cause you a lot of grief.
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Edwards and Henderson, who represent hundreds of Epstein's victims urged
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the Justice Department to redact all victim names in any
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future materials sent to Congress or made public. They also
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asked for a private meeting with the DOJ to share
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a list of more than three hundred victims they represent
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so that federal officials can protect against further disclosures. The
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lawyers said dozens of victims' names appeared unredacted in the
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cash of documents and emails from the Justice Department release
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this month, turning the release into a new source of
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concern for victims who had sought to maintain their anonymity.
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And if you were acall, as we were going through
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the court documents for Epstein and Maxwell, there were so
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many women who came forward and were allowed by the
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court to proceed anonymously. Now if you compare that to
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what happened with Diddy and you see all the women
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that tried to move forward anonymously who were shot down,
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it shows you the real concerns that these women have.
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When it comes to Epstein, we're talking about a real
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criminal empire here. We're talking about a group of people
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that should have been hit with the world's largest RICO case,
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but they were able to avoid it. And the only
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way you avoid a RICO case if you're somebody like
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Jeffrey Epstein or Glenn Maxwell, is if you're being protected.
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And I would love for somebody to give me an
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example of somebody that was doing what Epstein was doing
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that wasn't hit with RICO, because I can give you
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examples from here till next month of people who are
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hit with RICO in questionable circumstances at best. But this
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scumbag and his friends they get to skate on RICO.
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And the reason is because RICO is an absolute colonoscopy. Right,
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They're looking at everything, all your ties, all your business partners,
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everybody who sent money to everybody who sent money to you,
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and it becomes a whole thing. And that's what they're
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scared of. They're scared of the paper trail. They're scared
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of people following that paper trail and finding victory because
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you can't dispute it, right, I mean, the paper trail
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is what the paper trail is. So that's why they
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fear that when it comes to witnesses, they can impugn them, right,
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they can attack them, they can go after their character,
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a whole bunch of things they can do, and they
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do all of it. But when you have a money
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trail and you follow that money, it's very difficult to
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dispute the findings. The numbers are what they are right,
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there's no half step in there. There's no really disputing
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any of it unless you say that the report was
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doctored or whatever, and I don't think that's going to
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work out too well for you. Transparency cannot come at
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the expense of privacy, safety, and protection of sexual abuse
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and sex trafficking victims, especially these survivors who have already
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suffered repeatedly, the lawyers wrote. According to the letter, some
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victims warned that releasing their names would put them in
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physical danger. Several told their lawyers that they had been
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approached on the street by reporters, including one who said
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she was confronted while standing with her nine year old son.
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According to the letter, the lawyers pointed to one document
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release by the Justice Department that they said listed the
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names of at least twenty eight victims, including individuals who
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were minor children at the time of the abuse, as
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well as women granted protection in the same legal jurisdiction
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as a result of grave public safety concerns, and that's
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what I was talking about. These women have already fought
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that battle of anonymity and won, but now they're being
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outed by the Justice Department. I thought the Justice Department
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was so concerned about protecting victims. Isn't that what they said,
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that this whole thing's about Epstein's victims. No, it's not.
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It's about covering their own ass. That's what it's all about.
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This type of negligence by the government to a survivor
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is just unable to comprehend. One alleged victim wrote in
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a document included in the core of filing, I don't
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understand how this is possible. I have been unable to
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mentally and emotionally function or sleep set another a third said,
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I thought the government had promised to redact our names
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and identifying material. I don't understand how this is happening. Again, Well,
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it's because they don't care. That's how it's happening. And
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I wish I could say something differently here and say,
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you know what, it was an oversight and they're going
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to fix it and things are going to get better.
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But we all know that's not the case. We all
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know that these people have no desire to be transparent.
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If they wanted to be transparent, breaking news, we wouldn't
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be having this gigantic debate in Edwards and Henderson said
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some survivors fear the Justice Department intentionally expose their names
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when it released thousands of unredacted files tied to Epstein's
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case to Congress this year. These women now beg this
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court and begged the United States Department of Justice to
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allow them to choose to remain protected, the attorney said.
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While Epstein's estate also failed to redact some names, the
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lawyers said they believe that these were genuine mistakes. Yeah,
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we're not going to pin this all on the Epstein estate.
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They certainly have their own problems, but this is a
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DOJ problem, and the DOJ needs to handle it. And
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whoever's working for Congress when it comes to oversight, whoever
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the investigators are, they have to do a better job.
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And if they can't do a better job, find somebody
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who can. The lawyers also accuse the DOJ of creating
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a perpetual distraction through the release of grand jury materials
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tied to Epstein's co conspirator Glaine Maxwell, arguing that the
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documents provide little meaningful information and are being used as
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a diversion. Well, look, I agree with that one hundred percent.
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If you want to talk about the grand jury documents
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in the overall encompassing Epstein documents, we want cool. But
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if you're going to act like they're the be all
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end all, that's where I have a problem because they're not. That.
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They'll give us a little bit of context, and you
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all know I love context. The more meat on the
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bone the better. But let's not act like this is
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the Holy Grail, because that is not what it is.
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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request
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for a comment on Thursday. Berman presided over the government's
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twenty nineteen case against Epstein before the disgraced financier and
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sex offender died in jail while awaiting trial. The letter
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from Edwards and Henderson comes after President Donald Trump signed
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a bill on November nineteenth directing the DOJ to release
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its Epstein files. The president, who for months argued against
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passing the legislation, has continued to call the push to
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release the files part of a hoax. Imagine a hoax
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a man with daughters himself? Would it be a hoax
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if it was his daughter, would it be a hoax
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if it was his granddaughter? Of course it wouldn't be right.
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It would be a big thing, a big problem. Well,
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guess what, even though it's not your people, it's a
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big problem. Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which
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directs Attorney General Pound Bondi to release all unclassified records
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tied to Epstein within thirty days, while withholding or redacting
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material that could jeopardize a federal investigation. A federal investigation
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that materialized out of nowhere. I mean, come on, are
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we really going to give credence to that? And if
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you want to look at the results of what will
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come if they try to bring criminal charges against anyone
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due to this dumbass investigation, just take a look at
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what happened with James Comy. That's exactly what's going to
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happen if you go through with targeted prosecutions due to Epstein,
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and that's going to make things worse. Right, how's that
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going to make it better? If we have targeted prosecutions
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that end up getting thrown out, and it gives people
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the room to say, look, it's all the big hopes
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that's the goal. Keep in mind, that's the goal. They
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want this to go away. They don't want to deal
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with it, they don't want to talk about it, and
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they don't want you talking about it, And whatever paths
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they have to take to get there, they're willing to
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take it. Some victims have criticized the attempts to unseal
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the grand jury testimony, saying those attempts have disregarded victims
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repeated calls for privacy, and make no mistake, Judge Berman
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isn't asking for a favor. He's telling the DOJ to
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explain themselves in writing. With no wiggle room left after
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everything that's happened, after every excuse we've heard for why
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transparency apparently takes a decade, he wants to know why
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the only people exposed in the whole process were the
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ones who already took the hits. And there's no way
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to dress that up. They had unlimited time, unlimited resources,
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unlimited cover, and the best they could do was put
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survivors on the chopping block. Again, the reality is simple,
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either they don't care or they hope nobody would notice.
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Neither answer is acceptable, So now it's on them to
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produce something real, not a press release, not a talking point,
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not another round of our thoughts are with the victims,
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actual answers, actual accountability, and for the first time in
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a long time, we have a judge who's not letting
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them hide behind the door and shrug. The survivors made
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their position clear in that letter. This wasn't an accident
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that can be brushed aside. It caused real harm. It
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undermined what little trust remained, and Berman acknowledged that by
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demanding specifics instead of accepting another round of procedural fog.
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Nobody expects miracles. They just expect the most basic level
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of competence and respect for the people who endured the
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worst parts of the story. If the DJ can't manage that,
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then everything else they've said about protecting victims is just noise.
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All of the information that goes with this episode can
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be found in the description box.