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The Epstein Investigation: Why an Independent Special Counsel Is Long Overdue (Part 3) (10/30/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're picking up where we
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: left off, talking about why it's time for a special counsel. Look,
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  Speaker 1: there's a fundamental difference between investigating everyone who ever encountered
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Epstein and investigating the people who may have participated in facilitating, financing, concealing,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: or protecting his crimes. An independent counsel is would have
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  Speaker 1: to understand that distinction while refusing to let the complexity
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  Speaker 1: of the operation become an excuse for inaction. Epstein maintained
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  Speaker 1: properties in multiple jurisdictions, employed numerous people, cultivated relationships across
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  Speaker 1: finance and politics, and moved within social circles where enormous
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  Speaker 1: wealth frequently created extraordinary access. His operation depended on practical
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  Speaker 1: arrangements involving travel, staffing, payments, property management, recruitment, and personal security.
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  Speaker 1: Those arrangements created records, witnesses, financial transactions, and potential evidentiary
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  Speaker 1: trails that investigators could examine. The objective would not be
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  Speaker 1: to criminalize proximity to Epstein, but to determine whether specific
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  Speaker 1: individuals knowingly participated in offenses or took unlawful steps to
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  Speaker 1: conceal them. Investigators should distinguish between employees performing innocent duties,
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  Speaker 1: witnesses who possess relevant information, and people whose conduct potentially
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: crossed the line into criminal activity. And those distinctions obviously
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  Speaker 1: require evidence, not assumptions, based on wealth, reputation, or political affiliation.
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  Speaker 1: They also require a prosecutor willing to follow incriminating evidence
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  Speaker 1: into the offices of powerful institutions without calculating the social
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  Speaker 1: or political consequences. The American people have every reason to
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  Speaker 1: demand a prosecutorial team whose professional survival does not depend
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  Speaker 1: on preserving relationships with the people, it may need to investigate.
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  Speaker 1: And for me, that demand becomes even more compelling when
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  Speaker 1: we examine the relationship between Epstein's defense operation and the
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  Speaker 1: federal officials who negotiated the original agreement. Epstein assembled an
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  Speaker 1: exceptionally influential legal team that included attorneys with substantial professional
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  Speaker 1: relationships and experience at the highest levels of the American
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  Speaker 1: legal system. Those lawyers who are entitled to advocate vigorously
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  Speaker 1: for their client and effective legal representation is certainly not
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  Speaker 1: evidence of wrongdoing, but the government's response to that advocacy
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  Speaker 1: is absolutely a legitimate subject of examination. An independent investigation
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  Speaker 1: should reconstruct communication between Epstein's lawyers and prosecutors, including discussions
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  Speaker 1: with senior officials who may have influenced the final resolution.
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  Speaker 1: The relevant questions involve who was contacted, who was requested,
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  Speaker 1: which decisions changed, and what reasons were documented for those changes.
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  Speaker 1: Investigators should examine whether representations made during negotiations were accurate
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  Speaker 1: and whether any decision was influenced by considerations unrelated to
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  Speaker 1: the legitimate prosecutorial judgment. They should also investigate whether the
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  Speaker 1: unusual protection extended to potential co-conspirators resulted from documented legal
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  Speaker 1: assessments or or from pressure that deserves further examination. There's
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  Speaker 1: no reason to treat any particular official as criminally responsible
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  Speaker 1: without evidence, but there is equally no reason to exempt
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  Speaker 1: senior officials from scrutiny because their involvement was politically sensitive.
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  Speaker 1: The days of accepting the phrase prosecutorial discretion as a
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  Speaker 1: universal explanation for every extraordinary decision in this case need
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  Speaker 1: to end. Federal regulations already provide a mechanism for addressing
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  Speaker 1: precisely the kind of conflict that makes an ordinary Justice
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  Speaker 1: Department investigation inadequate. Under Title 28, Section 601 of the
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  Speaker 1: Code of Federal Regulation, a special counsel may be appointed
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  Speaker 1: when a criminal investigation is warranted and a departmental conflict
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  Speaker 1: of interest or other extraordinary circumstances make outside investigation appropriate.
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  Speaker 1: The regulations also require that an appointment serve the public interest,
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  Speaker 1: which is difficult to separate from the extraordinary collapse of
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  Speaker 1: confidence surrounding the case. Section 600.3 specifically requires that a
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  Speaker 1: special counsel be selected from outside the United States government.
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  Speaker 1: That requirement is enormously important, because the person supervising an
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  Speaker 1: investigation into the department's conduct should not arrive with institutional
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  Speaker 1: obligations to the offices being examined. A special counsel is
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  Speaker 1: not completely beyond the authority of the attorney general and
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  Speaker 1: the position does not magically eliminate every possibility of political interference.
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  Speaker 1: But the office possesses defined prosecutorial authority and is not
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  Speaker 1: supposed to operate under the department's ordinary day-to-day supervision. The
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  Speaker 1: special counsel can investigate federal offenses within the assigned jurisdiction,
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  Speaker 1: pursue relevant evidence, and make charging decisions according to applicable law.
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  Speaker 1: Those powers would be substantially more useful than another congressional
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  Speaker 1: proceeding in which witnesses can offer evasive answers while lawmakers
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  Speaker 1: compete for television clips. If the Epstein scandal does not
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  Speaker 1: provide a compelling factual basis for seriously considering this mechanism,
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  Speaker 1: one has to wonder what extraordinary circumstances the federal government
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  Speaker 1: believes would justify using it. The present leadership of the
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  Speaker 1: Justice Department only deepens the argument that the investigation cannot
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  Speaker 1: credibly remain under ordinary departmental control. Todd Blanch's previous role
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  Speaker 1: as Donald Trump's personal defense attorney creates an obvious appearance
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  Speaker 1: problem whenever the department handles allegations or evidence involving Trump's
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  Speaker 1: relationship with Epstein. Blanch's subsequent involvement in interviewing Elaine Maxwell
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  Speaker 1: has intensified controversy over whether the process was sufficiently insulated
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  Speaker 1: from political considerations. House Judiciary Democrats have now alleged that
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  Speaker 1: Blanche directed Maxwell away from discussing a particular survivor whose
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  Speaker 1: account implicated Trump, an accusation that itself warrants impartial examination. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we have to remember that this allegation is not a
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  Speaker 1: criminal finding, and its accuracy should be established through the
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  Speaker 1: full record of the interview rather than accepted on partisan authority.
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  Speaker 1: But that's exactly the problem with allowing the department to
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  Speaker 1: assess the propriety of its own leadership's conduct. The official
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  Speaker 1: whose decision may require scrutiny should not exercise practical control
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  Speaker 1: over the investigation determining whether those decisions were appropriate, nor
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  Speaker 1: should the public be expected to accept the department's assurances
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  Speaker 1: simply because its leadership insists that all necessary procedures were followed.
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  Speaker 1: Recusal rules exist because conflicts of interest can undermine an
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  Speaker 1: investigation even before anyone establishes that improper conduct occurred. In
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  Speaker 1: a case as politically explosive as Epstein, the government should
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  Speaker 1: be bending over backward to eliminate legitimate doubts about independence
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  Speaker 1: rather than expecting everyone to accept its declarations at face value.
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  Speaker 1: The controversy surrounding the Epstein Files Transparency Act offers another
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  Speaker 1: compelling illustration of why the department needs independent scrutiny. Congress
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  Speaker 1: enacted legislation requiring the release of extensive Epstein-related records subject
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  Speaker 1: to legally authorized protections and exceptions. The department subsequently undertook
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  Speaker 1: an enormous review and production process announcing in January 2026
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  Speaker 1: that it released approximately 3.5 million pages in total. But
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  Speaker 1: the enormous volume of material released does not, by itself,
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  Speaker 1: establish that every relevant record was properly identified, reviewed, or disclosed.
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  Speaker 1: The department's own description of the process acknowledged categories of
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  Speaker 1: withheld material. including records it considered privileged and other material
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  Speaker 1: covered by statutory exceptions. Those decisions involve judgments about legal requirements,
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  Speaker 1: document classification, redaction, and the boundaries of disclosure. The Office
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  Speaker 1: of the Inspector General opened an audit in April of
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  Speaker 1: 2026 focused on the department's compliance with the transparency law,
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  Speaker 1: including its procedure for collecting and releasing records. That audit
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  Speaker 1: serves an important purpose. but examining compliance with the disclosure
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  Speaker 1: statute is not identical to conducting a comprehensive criminal investigation
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  Speaker 1: into Epstein's operation and possible official misconduct. A special counsel
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  Speaker 1: should have access to the underlying record and should be
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  Speaker 1: able to determine whether any withholding, destruction, alteration, or concealment
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  Speaker 1: constitutes a federal offense. Americans shouldn't be forced to choose
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  Speaker 1: between accepting the department's assurances and assuming that every redaction
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  Speaker 1: conceals a conspiracy or because an independent investigative process can
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  Speaker 1: examine the evidence and distinguish lawful confidentiality from potential misconduct. Now,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the political dimensions of the scandal makes the
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  Speaker 1: selection of a special counsel every bit as important of
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  Speaker 1: a decision as it is to appoint one. The Democrats
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  Speaker 1: cannot be allowed to turn the investigation into a weapon
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  Speaker 1: designed exclusively to damage Donald Trump before the midterm elections.
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  Speaker 1: Republicans cannot be permitted to use the legitimate danger of
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  Speaker 1: partisan exploitation as an excuse to shut down an investigation
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  Speaker 1: that might expose politically inconvenient conduct. Epstein operated across decades,
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  Speaker 1: and his relationships extended into institutions populated by people with
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  Speaker 1: vastly different political affiliations. The investigation must be willing to
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  Speaker 1: examine decisions made during Republican administrations, Democratic administrations, and periods
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  Speaker 1: when powerful people benefited from political influence that had little
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  Speaker 1: to do with party loyalty. A legitimate inquiry would not
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  Speaker 1: decide in advance which politicians deserved suspicion or and which
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  Speaker 1: ones qualify for protection. It would begin with records, witnesses,
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  Speaker 1: financial transactions, prosecutorial decisions, and demonstrable conduct, allowing the evidence
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  Speaker 1: to determine where the investigation proceeds. If the evidence leads
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  Speaker 1: toward a former president, then the evidence should be followed.
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  Speaker 1: If it leads toward a current official, a prominent Democrat
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  Speaker 1: or Republican donor, a federal prosecutor, or an influential business executive,
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  Speaker 1: exactly the same standard must apply. The entire point of
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  Speaker 1: appointing an outsider is to prevent political loyalties and institutional
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  Speaker 1: relationships from determining which doors investigators are willing to open.
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  Speaker 1: And the kind of outsider that's needed for this assignment
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  Speaker 1: is not another comfortable Washington insider whose career has been
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  Speaker 1: spent moving between the Department of Justice, congressional committees, and
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  Speaker 1: prestigious law firms that depend on federal relationships. What we
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  Speaker 1: need is a genuinely independent legal heavyweight with courtroom experience
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  Speaker 1: and investigative knowledge, and a professional temperament necessary to confront
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  Speaker 1: entrenched power. The ideal candidate would understand federal criminal law
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  Speaker 1: while having no personal investment in defending the department's previous
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  Speaker 1: handling of Epstein. That person would also need to be
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  Speaker 1: sufficiently established professionally that threats to reputation, access, or future
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  Speaker 1: government employment would carry little persuasive force. There should be
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  Speaker 1: no sentimental attachment to the reputation's of former prosecutors, and
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  Speaker 1: concern about embarrassing colleagues who once occupied respected positions within
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  Speaker 1: the federal system. Competence would matter more than political popularity
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  Speaker 1: and a proven willingness to challenge questionable government conduct would
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  Speaker 1: be a considerable advantage. The person appointed should understand that
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  Speaker 1: the assignment is not to rehabilitate the public image of
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  Speaker 1: the Justice Department. It's to determine whether federal crimes occurred,
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  Speaker 1: whether additional prosecutions are warranted, and whether anyone improperly interfered
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  Speaker 1: with the administration of justice. Those questions must remain separate
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  Speaker 1: from the department's desire to preserve its prestige or avoid
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  Speaker 1: exposing embarrassing institutional decisions. An investigation that begins with an
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  Speaker 1: obligation to protect the institution is already compromised before the
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  Speaker 1: first subpoena is issued. Alright folks, we're going to wrap
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  Speaker 1: up right here, and in the next episode dealing with
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  Speaker 1: the topic, we're going to pick up where we left off.
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  Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: found in the description box.