Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Former Prince Andrew’s Trade Envoy Role and the Vetting Failure Now Under Scrutiny (5/22/26)

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Former Prince Andrew’s Trade Envoy Role and the Vetting Failure Now Under Scrutiny (5/22/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Epstein Chronicles. The UK government has released documents relating to
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  Prince Andrew and his time as the Trade Envoy, and
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  as you would expect, we're learning that Prince Andrew was
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  never formally vetted for the role of UK Trade Envoy,
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  and like everything else in his bitch ass life, it
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  was handed to him. There is nothing I hate more
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  than wasted privilege. This man had the whole world given
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  to him, and what did he do squandered it? And why?
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  Because he needed more? Imagine being the Queen's son and
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  that not being adequate. You need more. I have to
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  add more, always more and more and more and more,
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  like a glutton of debauchery. And it was great for
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  Prince Andrew for years until it wasn't. And now that
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  the bill is due, this man wants nothing to do
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  with it. But the problem for Andrew is there's no
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  escaping especially now. His problems were bad enough when he
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  was being looked at in the United States, but now
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  not only in the United States but his own country.
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  So you know, the jeopardy for Prince Andrew grows by
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  the day, especially when we see these documents that are
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  being released and we come to find out that Andrew
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  was never even vetted. Now do you think that would
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  have happened for anybody else or only for the Queen's
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  darling boy. Today's article is from The Guardian and the
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  headline no evidence of formal security vetting when Andrew became
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  UK Trade Endvoy. Minister says this article was authored by
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  Amanda Topping. Formal security vetting and due diligence appears not
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  to have been carried out before the appointment of Andrew
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  mount Batt and Windsor as Trade Endvoy the government. And
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  it said as it emerged that the late Queen was
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  very keen for her son to take up a prominent
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  role in promoting Britain's interests. And that's always been the
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  case when it comes to Andrew. Mommy's darling little boy
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  could do no wrong. And even with all of the
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  evidence that was put before the Queen, she wasn't willing
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  to hold him accountable. And that's why the monarchy is
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  in jeopardy. I know everybody loves the Queen, but she
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  really fumbled the ball when it comes to Prince Andrew,
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  and the damage of that decision is long lasting. It's
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  not going away anytime soon, and as more information comes out,
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  the more damning it's gonna be for the royal family.
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  The first batch of documents relating to the appointment of
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  the former Prince as Trade Envoy by Tony Blair in
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  two thousand and one includes a memo dated February twenty fifth,
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  two thousand and addressed to Robin Cook, then the Foreign Secretary,
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  in which the then Chief Executive of British Trade International,
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  David Wright, said, Queen Elizabeth the second wish had been
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  for mount Baton Windsor then the Duke of York to
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  take on the role. So because the Queen wanted it,
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  it happened. But Andrew used that role allegedly to enrich
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  himself and all the while he was on the taxpayer's dime.
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  The government published historic documents concerning the appointment on Thursday
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  in response to a parliamentary move by the Liberal Democrats,
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  and said that it found no evidence that formal due
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  diligence or security vetting was carried out at the time,
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  despite the role given Mount Baton Windsor access to senior
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  government and business contacts around the world. Just being the
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  Queen's sons good enough. Huh. Well, that might be the
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  case if the queen's son wasn't an absolute moron. But
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  I bet they wish they vetted him now, don't they?
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  And I bet somebody wish the would step in and
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  told the Queen she's making a bad decision. We found
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  no evidence that a formal due diligence or a vetting
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  process was undertaken. There's also no evidence that this was considered.
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  Chris Bryant, a Trade minister, said in a written statement
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  to Parliament, this is bad. And look, I'm telling you
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  right now that we're just at the very start of
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  the disaster for Prince Andrew. This is gonna spiral because
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  if you think that the allegations that have been made
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  against Andrew when it comes to Epstein are the only ones,
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  you're crazy. They might not all be about sex, but
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  this dude was corrupt according to everything we've heard. He
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  never met a scumbag, he didn't want to hang out with,
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  and for all those years he was protected by the Queen.
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  But that ship is held and the Queen obviously is
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  no longer around, so that protection is now gone as well.
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  Bryan said that it was understandable since the new appointment
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  was a continuation of the royal family's involvement in trade
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  and investment promotion work, and because mount Batton Windsor was
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  replace in the Duke of Kent, who was stepping down
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  from his role as Vice Chair of Overseas Trade Board,
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  sounds like an excuse to me. Everybody should be vetted.
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  It doesn't matter who you are. And this is why.
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  What because you were born a Windsor, you're not capable
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  of treason, You're not capable of evil. We know that's
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  not the truth. So yeah, he should have been vetted,
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  but unfortunately they decided they didn't have to do that.
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  So with that decision they now have to live with
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  the consequences and I think for the monarchy that's going
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  to be disastrous. There's nobody showing up that's going to
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  save the monarchy, certainly not Charles. I mean maybe William
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  will be more liked, but do you really think he's
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  going to have the effect the Queen did. I have
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  a very hard time believe in all that. The government's response,
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  which includes the publication of eleven documents that show how
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  the role was created and Mount Batan Windsor was appointed,
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  comes after the Liberal Democrats tabled to Humble Address and
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  Parliament calling for publication of papers on his role, including
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  any vetting and any correspondence from Peter Mandelsson, the disgraced
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  former ambassador to the US. In the February two thousand
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  memo to Cook, Wright suggested Mount Baton Windsor's role would
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  include some regional trips and two or three oversea visits
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  each year, as well as leading trade missions from time
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  to time. He wrote, finally, we would want the Duke
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  of York to be available to receive prominent trade visitors
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  from overseas here in London and perhaps act as a
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  host at mules or receptions as appropriate. So basically they
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  just want Andrew there as a prop to say that
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  the Queen's son is there. It's not like he was
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  actually useful, not like he actually did anything. The senior
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  officials said that they did not envisage that the Duke
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  of York would want to be burdened with the regularity
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  of meetings of the Board of British Trade International or
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  the burden of paper which goes along with the board membership.
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  God forbid, he has extra duties that would take away
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  from his time of hanging out with Epstein. Can't have that, Kenny.
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  We're talking about a guy who skipped his daughter's birthday
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  to hang out with Epstein. The documents also showed that
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  Mount Batton Windsor's aid told the government that he preferred
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  to go to sophisticated countries and to see ballet rather
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  than theater on overseas visits. He should not be offered
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  private golfing functions abroad, said the aid, as this was
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  a private activity and if the then Prince took his
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  clubs with him, he would not play in any public sense.
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  He probably stunk. Not that I should talk shit. I'm
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  terrible at golf, I mean absolutely terrible. I find it
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  boring and I find it monotonous. But if you're somebody
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  like Prince Andrew, golf is something that you have to
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  do right. How many deals have been made on the
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  golf course A whole hell of a lot. Mount bat
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  and Winsor served as the UK Special Representative for International
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  Trade and Investment from two thousand and one to twenty eleven,
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  an unpaid role in which he traveled the world, meeting
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  senior business and government figures, yeah and enriching himself. Going
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  down to New Mexico to hang out with Bill Richardson
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  and Jeffrey Epstein down at Doro Ranch. Hell of a
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  guy that Prince Andrew. And remember he went down there
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  in his official trade capacity, so anything he was doing
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  while in New Mexico he was doing as a representative
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  of the British government, not just as the monarchy, but
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  of the British people. And I have a funny feeling
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  that people over in the UK are not going to
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  take kindly to it. They have had their fill in
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  the UK of people like Andrew. The second son of
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  the late Queen, became the first royal family member to
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  be arrested at modern times when he was held over
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  claims of misconduct in public office. Emails appeared to show
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  him sharing confidential information with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey
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  Epstein while working as a trade representative. He is previously
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  denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. This is just
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  the beginning for Andrew, and his problems are only going
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  to grow because once they open the door and they
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  start taking a look around your room, inevitably they're going
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  to find your other secrets. And a man like Prince Andrew,
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  if he has anything. It's secrets now. The only caveat
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  to that is just how far the English authorities are
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  going to dig. Are they going to cut him some
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  slack because he's Andrew or are they going to make
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  any example of them to show the world and more importantly,
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  the people of the UK that they mean business. At
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  this point, I doubt that Andrew is going to do
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  any kind of time in prison, and not because the
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  evidence isn't there, but because who he is. And the
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  same goes for Mandelssohn. But we'll have to see what
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  the authorities come up with, and we have to see
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  just how sickened the UK populace ends up being, because
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  I think that's going to drive the conversation if the
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  people are demanding accountability in the UK when it comes
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  to Andrew and Mandelssohn. Maybe we'll get there. But if not,
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  this investigation, like the investigation in America, will die on
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  the vine. So we'll see what we see, and like usual,
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  we'll keep our ear to the ground. All the information
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  that goes with this episode can be found in the
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  description box.