Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Mega Edition: The DOJ And The Controlled Demolition Known As The Epstein Scandal (10/8/26)

Transcript

Mega Edition: The DOJ And The Controlled Demolition Known As The Epstein Scandal (10/8/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The FBI has asked a judge to block some of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the files about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein from being released.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And now the feds are claiming that the reason behind
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this is because they don't want to take the chance
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of messing up Ghislaine Maxwell's retrial. Now, do I buy that?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I do not. They have not wanted to release this
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: information about the FBI and Jeffrey Epstein since Junior Soprano
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: is wearing short pants. So why would they want to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: release it now? And they're going to continue to do
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the same stuff that they've been doing since the jump.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And that is saying that this is an open investigation,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: so they can't provide any more details or any updates
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: on what's going on as far as what they're up to.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: And that's because it's obvious that the FBI was protecting
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein and for that behavior. The FBI is finding
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: itself now being sued by Epstein survivors as well as
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: being sued by Nassar survivors. So at what point do
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: we look at the FBI and have an internal report
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: on the FBI the same way we did on Jeffrey
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Epstein's death? How many instances do we need to see
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: at the FBI of them not doing the right thing
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: before we start paying attention? Because the institutions that we
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: all relied on to bring justice for so long, well,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: those institutions are broken. And there's no justice that's coming
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: anytime soon. Today's article is from News Headline Exclusive. FBI
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: asked judge to block the release of secret Jeffrey Epstein files.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Feds claim it would mess up the jury pool and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: possible Ghislaine Maxwell retrial. This story was authored by news staff.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Prosecutors are gearing up for the retrial in the Ghislaine
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Maxwell sex trafficking case. In a sign the Department of
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Justice expects it will be forced to go head-to-head with
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Maxwell in a courtroom for a second time, they have
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: asked a New York judge to agree to the categorical
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: withholding of the FBI's top-secret files on her sex predator
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: pal Jeffrey Epstein. News.com has exclusively learned. So in other words,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: go get screwed. Hey taxpayer, we're not giving you any
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of the information that you deserve or should have. And
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: when I say that, what I mean is Jeffrey Epstein
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: is dead. OK, I don't want to hear about an
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: ongoing case, especially when we're not seeing any other arrests.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: What do you mean an ongoing case? Who's being investigated?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Can we get a report? Are we going to hear
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: about some of the other movement behind the scenes? Of course,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: you're not going to hear about it because it's not happening.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: The website Radar Online sued the FBI in 2017 and
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: demanded they reveal their entire case against Epstein, the former
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: friend of Presidents Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: other famous identities who died in his Manhattan jail cell
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: on August 10th that year. Ever since, the FBI and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the Department of Just Us have been relentlessly fighting to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: keep the majority of the documents from RadarOnline.com end out
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: of the public. Now ask yourselves, is there anything that
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: has to do with Epstein that should not be released
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: for public consumption? Now, if the man was still alive
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and he was facing trial, I get it. You don't
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: want to, you know, divulge what you have against this
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: dude as you're waiting to prosecute him, but he's dead.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: There's no prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. So how about the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: government finally does the right thing, and turns over all
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: the files. Unfortunately, they can't do that, because it would
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: reveal just how deeply and how firmly they were in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: bed with this dumb son of a bitch, Jeffrey Epstein.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: In their latest filing, in the near six-year lawsuit... Maureen Comey,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the lead prosecutor against Maxwell, admitted the FBI is sitting
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: on unreleased information that could impact a jury appeal in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: any appeal for Maxwell. Now, why is this not something
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: that all of our congressmen and women and senators are
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: going crazy over? Why is it that they have to
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: play political theater instead? I mean, where's Stacey Plaskett at?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Does she have anything to say about any of this?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Probably not, huh? Too busy still counting that money that
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein gave her. Comey, the daughter of former FBI
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Director James Comey, admitted the Epstein files include exhibits that
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: were not publicly filed at the first trial, specific information
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: about witnesses who may testify at a new trial, as
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: well as information and documents authored by potential trial witnesses.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: It's going to be even worse for Ghislaine Maxwell the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: second time around. Mark my words. They're going to produce
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: more witnesses and it's going to get even hairier for
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the lady of complain, Ghislaine. And guess what? It should.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: This lady shouldn't get one single minute chipped off her sentence.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: The files include topics and witness statements that go far
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: beyond the issues covered during the first trial, Comey said.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in a July 11th declaration to the United States District Court,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Southern District of New York. The first trial focused primarily
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: on the abuse of six victims, and maybe exhibits were
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: received under seal to protect the privacy of those victims
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: and other third parties, she added. Oh yeah, you really
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: care about the victims, Maureen Comey. You really care about
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: all of the girls who were molested and raped by
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein. That's why so many other people are in prison, right? right?
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: The withheld records include statements from and evidence regarding many
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: more victims of Epstein and numerous witnesses who were not
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: called or referenced during the first trial, including some who
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the government may elect to call and or reference if
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: this case were to be retried. And then if it
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: doesn't get retried or even after it's done being retried,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: they'll have another excuse for why this information can't be released. Accordingly,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: premature release of the records would risk unduly influencing potential
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: jurors for a retrial. Maxwell, 61, appealed her conviction after
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: a jury found she joined and enabled the sexual abuse
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: that Epstein committed on scores of teenagers and young women
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: for more than a decade. Kudos to News.com here for
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: actually including the fact that Maxwell wasn't just somebody recruiting girls,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: but somebody also engaging in the abuse. Might be a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: factoid to add, right? Pretty important to the story, no?
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: She has claimed that she was prosecuted as a proxy
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: for Epstein to satisfy public outrage over the case in
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the aftermath of his death in a Manhattan jail. The
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: former British socialite is serving a 20-year jail sentence at
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: a federal facility in Tallahassee. RadarOnline.com, represented by noted First
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Amendment lawyer Dan Novak, filed suit in 2017 and alleged
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the FBI stonewalled its Freedom of Information Act request. And
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that's just par for the course. When we're talking about
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: anything Epstein, anything Maxwell, it's always going to be a
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: stonewall type of situation. because they understand, meaning the government,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the FBI, the DOJ, how bad they're all going to
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: look if this is ever truly exposed to the public
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: for what it is. The website demanded the production of
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the Bureau's records concerning the agency's investigation and prosecution of
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Edward Epstein for sexually trafficking underage women. Defendant FBI
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: has withheld these records despite a properly filed Freedom of
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Information Act request. Jeffrey Epstein is a billionaire financier, pedophile millionaire, philanthropist, scumbag,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and sex offender. In 2001, Epstein became the subject of
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: an undercover sex trafficking investigation by Palm Beach, Florida police
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and the FBI. Dozens of underage women were trafficked by
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Epstein to perform sexual acts on him as well as
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: his friends. the website said in its initial filing. Despite that,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: the suit said, Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a single count of soliciting prostitution from a minor under
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Florida state law and serve only 13 months in prison.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: He would die later in the midst of the Radar
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: Online FBI battle while in his Manhattan holding cell in 2019,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: where he was awaiting trial for several sex trafficking charges. Radaronline.com
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: has been attempting to get its hands on the contents
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of the FBI files ever since. Now ask yourselves, why
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: is it Radar Online trying to do this and not
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: the New York Post or the New York Times or
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: insert legacy media outlet here? Is this not a big story?
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Is this story not worth covering? Is the information that's
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: being hidden by the FBI not a big deal? I
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: thought everybody was me too. What happened to that, huh? Oh,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that's right. It's only me too when it's convenient politically, right?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Besides that, to hell with it. Because guess what? Where
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: were all of the Me Too folks out there during
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the Ghislaine Maxwell trial? Where have all of the Me
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Too folks been this whole entire time? What, the survivors
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of Jeffrey Epstein aren't worthy of your support? Because your
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: actions tell us that that's how you feel. And for
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: anybody out there that might get upset at that criticism, well,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: it sounds like a you problem, right? Not me. I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: was the one here the whole entire time for how
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: many years? I'm waiting for the rest of these people
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: who supposedly care about women, who supposedly care about what's
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: going on to catch up. In a 2019 search of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Epstein's Manhattan mansion, FBI agents seized a shelf full of
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: black binders, which included CDs filled with photos, a passport
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: from a foreign country with a picture of Epstein under
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: another name, Saudi Arabian passport and an Austrian one, and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: other documents. They also sought open a safe and found diamonds, jewelry, CDs,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and hard drives inside. which we've never seen one single
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: bit of, you would think that all these people that
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: are so up in arms about documents here and documents
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: there would be real curious about what was found in
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein's safes. What was on those hard drives? Where
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: are those pictures at? Who was represented in those pictures?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: None of those questions have ever been answered. In a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: similar raid, FBI and NYPD officers ransacked the Caribbean home
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands and were seen
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: on video carting away evidence, including a number of computers.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Funny how that never happened at Zorro Ranch, huh? I
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: wonder what they're hiding out in New Mexico that is
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: keeping them from raiding the Jeffrey Epstein property that is,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you know, snuggled away in desolation. Probably the first place
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I would have raided Much of that evidence has never
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: been released, nor has details about Epstein's role as an
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: FBI informant, as was first detailed in this exclusive News.com report. Look,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: we've all known Epstein was working with the FBI forever.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: How do you think he got off with Bears and
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Stearns the first time around? Just listen to what people
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: have to say about him. Just listen to what Steve
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Hoffenberg had to say about him. And then ask yourself,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: how is it that somebody like Epstein is always slipping
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the dragnet? Does that happen because he's this grand criminal
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: and he knows how to cover his tracks? Or is
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: he being protected by somebody in the FBI? Oh, come on, Bobby.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: That never happens. Yeah. Go ahead and look up Linda Vecchio.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: But in her declaration, Comey, who also helped lead the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: case against Epstein, argued premature public disclosure could reasonably be
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: expected to influence potential jurors' perception of the witnesses and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the evidence to be presented at trial. Previously, Comey told
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the judge, the release of the FBI's records relating to
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the investigation and prosecution of Epstein would provide Maxwell with
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: greater access to the agency's investigatory files, than she would
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: otherwise have through the criminal discovery process. Contravene the protective
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: order entered by Judge Nathan in the criminal case against Maxwell,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: risk influence by the media upon witnesses and the jury,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: potentially influence witnesses' trial testimony by providing the opportunity for
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: them to shape their testimony by conforming it with other
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: evidence gathered during the investigation. and be reasonably expected to
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: impair the ability to seat a fair and impartial trial.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: She's already been convicted. All of this information that's damning
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: already is out there. This other stuff is just more
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: layers to it, right? And what it would do is
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: slam home everything that we know already. And the reasoning
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: by Maureen Comey as to why this stuff shouldn't be released,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: it just doesn't sit with me. I don't think that
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: it's even in the realm of reality, considering all of
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the information that's already out there about Ghislaine Maxwell and considering,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: you know, she's already been convicted of being a sex trafficker.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I think that all of this is just more narrative
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: control by the FBI and the DOJ. While the trial
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of Maxwell has since concluded and sunk into a life
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: behind bars, the FBI via the Justice Department said the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: release of its Epstein case file could likely interfere with
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the prosecution of Maxwell. Regarding the remaining records, releasing the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: entirety of the FBI's records relating to its investigation of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Epstein in this FOIA litigation would interfere with any new
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: trial of Maxwell in several ways, Comey said. First, it
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: would allow Maxwell to have earlier and greater access to
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the investigatory files that she would otherwise not have through
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the criminal discovery process. She did not have access to
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: all the FBI files relating to the investigation and prosecution
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: of Epstein. If there were a new trial, the court
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: would presumably set a deadline for release of any additional
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: records relating to the new trial. Release of all FBI
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: records pertaining to the FBI's investigation and prosecution of Epstein, therefore,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: would provide Maxwell with earlier and greater access to records
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: than she would otherwise have at any new trial. So
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: that's pretty slick by Comey, right? Wrap it all up
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: in the whole entire fear that Maxwell might get the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: upper hand. But the reality is they just don't want
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to turn this information over to the public. And I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: am convinced of that. Comey also claimed if there were
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: a new trial, there would likely be significant coverage by
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the media, which would be adversely impact on a jury.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Media coverage of a new trial may impact potential witnesses
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and jurors, she said. As such, the parties in the
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Maxwell matter remain subject to protective order, prohibiting the defense
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: from disseminating government productions to the public or the press.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Comey added premature release of the withheld records, particularly if
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the records are released in part or without full context,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: may influence the perception of jurors who have been exposed
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: to media coverage containing speculation and theories relating to Maxwell.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: There's no more speculating. There's no more theories. She was
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: convicted of sex trafficking. I don't know what else a
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: potential jury would have to know that would pollute them
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: besides that. But I guess Maureen Comey knows better than
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: everybody else. On July 7th, 2022, Maxwell appealed the criminal
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: judgment to the United States Court of Appeals for the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Second Circuit. Maxwell's appeal is said to focus on five
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: points raising issues pertaining to statute of limitations, a non-prosecution agreement,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: juror misconduct, and a post-verdict hearing and sentence. Notice all
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: of that is technicalities and loopholes, like I've been telling
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: you for how long? pay very close attention to the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: people who rely on loopholes and technicalities. The vast majority
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of those people are guilty. The government breached a non-prosecution
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: agreement that immunized Ms. Maxwell for these offenses, said Arthur Idella,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Maxwell's latest attorney. That agreement was entered into by the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: government in Epstein in 2007 and, by its terms, unambiguously
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: barred this prosecution in the first instance. No, that's not
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: the truth. It barred it down in Florida. The prosecution
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: agreement wasn't something that was binding nationwide. It was before
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: what happened down in Florida. Well, here we are. And
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the charges that were brought against Maxwell were brought separately.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: So the whole entire idea of trying to use that
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: non-prosecution agreement as some sort of shield or armor is
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: just ridiculous. And I'm glad that Judge Nathan felt that way.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: And I'm glad that the courts felt that way. because
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: that whole entire prosecution agreement should have never even been
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: entered into. But it was, and now here we are.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: And as far as Maxwell and the information that Radar
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Online's trying to get, I doubt that they're going to
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: be successful. And even after this all wraps up, and
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Maxwell has her retrial, I guarantee you that these clowns
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: in the DOJ, they're going to come up with another
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: excuse as to why this information should not be released
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to the public. And you can damn well count on that.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with this episode can
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: be found in the description box. What's up, everyone? And
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. Folks, we
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: have a doozy on our hands with this one. But
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: before we jump into the article, I want to lay
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit of groundwork about the person that we're
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: going to talk about. And it's somebody that we've talked
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: about here on the podcast previously, but it's somebody that
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: should be talked about a whole lot more, especially when
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: we're talking about Jeffrey Epstein and the plea deal. And
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: when we get to the article, you're going to see why.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: But before we get there, let's set the table. Matthew I.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Menschel is a figure whose name may not be as
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: widely recognized as Jeffrey Epstein's or Alex Acosta's, but within
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the legal community and among those who have studied the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Epstein case closely, it carries immense weight. During the mid-2000s,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Menchel served as the chief of the criminal division at
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: an influential post that made him one of the most
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: powerful federal prosecutors in the region. That office, of course,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: would later become the epicenter for one of the most
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: scandalous plea deals in American history. Epstein, a financier with
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: friends in high places, had been accused of serial sexual
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: abuse and trafficking of underage girls. What should have been
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: a landmark federal case became, under Menchel's watch, a secret
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: backroom deal that spared Epstein from serious prison time and
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: silenced his victims through procedural manipulation and legal subterfuge. By
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: the time Epstein's legal troubles were reaching their peak in 2007,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the FBI had gathered an enormous amount of evidence, victim statements,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: corroborating witnesses, phone records, and more, laying the groundwork for
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: a powerful federal indictment. Instead, something changed. Somewhere between the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: investigative findings and the prosecutorial response, momentum stalled. The stalling
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: point was the Miami U.S. Attorney's Office and specifically the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: criminal division led by Matthew Menchel. As chief, He oversaw
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the major prosecutions and wielded substantial authority over which cases
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: advanced and which quietly faded. Internal Justice Department reviews later
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: made public in part identified Menschel as one of the
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: key officials who effectively blocked the FBI from pursuing Epstein's arrest.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: The decision not only neutered the federal case, but handed
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: control back to the local level, where a far more
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: lenient outcome could be arranged. To understand mental significance, it's
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: important to recognize how unusual Epstein's treatment was. Prosecutors rarely,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: if ever, allow serial sexual offenders accused by dozens of
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: minors to negotiate immunity for themselves and their unnamed co-conspirators. Yet,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: that's precisely what occurred. The infamous Non-Prosecution Agreement, or MPA,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: which became Epstein's golden shield, was crafted in secret between
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: federal prosecutors and Epstein's legal team. It granted immunity not
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: only to Epstein but to anyone who might have helped him,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: effectively erasing the possibility of broader accountability. As chief of
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the criminal division, Menschel's oversight and approval were essential for
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: such a deal to take shape. Even if he did
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: not personally pen the documents, his position meant nothing of
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: that magnitude, could have advanced without his knowledge and his consent. Now,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: adding to the ethical quagmire is a detail that surfaced
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: years later. Menschel's personal relationship, with one of Epstein's lawyers,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Lillian Sanchez. According to multiple reports, Menschel and Sanchez dated
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: briefly while both served in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: When the Epstein negotiations began, Sanchez began working for Epstein's
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: defense team, a fact that should have triggered immediate recusal
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: or at the very least a disclosure to internal ethics officials.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: The Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility later concluded
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: that Menschel should have disclosed the prior relationship A gentle,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: bureaucratic phrasing that belies how serious the conflict was. A
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: prosecutor's impartiality must be unimpeachable. Even the perception of bias
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: can undermine a case. In this instance, it wasn't just perception,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it was proximity, personal, professional, and potentially pivotal. Critics have
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: since pointed out, to this undisclosed relationship as emblematic of
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: the cozy, insular world of high-end federal litigation where the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: line between adversaries and allies blurs behind closed doors. In
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Epstein's case, those blurred lines had catastrophic consequences. With Menchel
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: supervising the criminal division and Acosta serving as U.S. attorney,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the two oversaw a process that led to Epstein's plea
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: to minor state charges in 2008, charges that carried a
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: sentence of just 13 months served mostly in a private
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: cell with liberal work-release privileges that allowed him to leave
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: jail up to 12 hours a day. Federal prosecution was
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: quietly abandoned, victims were not informed of the plea in
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: clear violation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act, and perhaps
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: most stunningly, the non-prosecution agreement ensured that Epstein's powerful friends, enablers,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: and co-conspirators, whose names appear throughout FBI files, would never
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: face accountability. In the years since, Menchel's role has been
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: dissected by some journalists, trying to piece together how such
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: an extraordinary collapse of justice could have happened. According to
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: one detailed report, Menchel was the senior prosecutor who blocked
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Epstein's arrest in 2007 after FBI agents had requested authorization
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to take him into custody. Another described him as part
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: of the internal faction that resisted mounting pressure from agents
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: who believed Epstein's crimes warranted federal sex trafficking charges. Whatever
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: his precise actions, what is clear is that Menschel was
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: not a peripheral player. He was central to the decision-making
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: apparatus that determined Epstein's fate. When the Department of Justice
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: finally reviewed the case years later, the conclusions were damning.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: The review stopped short of declaring criminal misconduct, but made
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: clear that poor judgment and unprofessional behavior among the prosecutors,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Menschel among them, had irreparably tainted the process. The report
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: described a culture of secrecy, internal confusion, and misplaced deference
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to Epstein's defense team. In other words, the Miami office
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: had functioned less like a prosecutorial body and more like
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: a negotiation table for the powerful. Menchel, as the office's
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: senior criminal chief, was a key architect in that environment.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: After leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, Menchel entered private practice
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and built a reputation as a top-tier white-collar defense attorney.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: His biography now reads like that of a consummate insider, polished, successful,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and respected. And yet the shadow of the Epstein case lingers.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: His time in Miami and the decisions made under his
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: authority remain a permanent stain on the record of a
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: legal system that failed spectacularly to deliver justice. And to
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: this day, Menchel has never spoken publicly in detail about
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: his role in the plea deal, nor has he acknowledged
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: any wrongdoing. But one thing is for sure. When prosecutors
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: become too close to the people they're supposed to hold accountable,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: when personal relationships intersect with public duty, the scales of
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: justice tip, and not by accident. Menchel's fingerprints, figuratively speaking,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: are on one of the darkest chapters in modern prosecutorial history.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And while Menchel has hoped that history would just move on,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the survivors who were denied their day in court will
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: never forget the names of those who made that denial possible.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Today's article... is from the Tampa Bay Times and the headline.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Epstein had dinners with top Florida prosecutor on his case,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: according to documents. Boy, who told you folks this years ago?
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: I remember arguing with people over this, telling me that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: that's crazy. It wasn't happening. that Jeffrey Epstein wasn't having
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: meetings with people like Menschel, and that it was crazy
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: that his legal team would be reaching out to Justice
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Brass to make things move in a direction that's more
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: affable to Jeffrey Epstein. Well, I know this is going
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to come as a shock to you, but those people
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that were trying to pitch you that bullshit narrative, they
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: were wrong again. And I'd love to give the author
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: credit here, but there's no name attached, so I'm guessing
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: it was staff. Jeffrey Epstein had multiple appointments, phone calls,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and dinners with Matthew Menschel, the Miami U.S. Attorney's Office
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: chief criminal prosecutor who spearheaded Epstein's sweetheart deal in 2007,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: newly released documents show. Well, what do you know? All
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: those people who told you that everything was on the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: up and up, that the whole entire deal was A-OK,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: there was nothing wrong with it, they were lying to you.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: They were pitching you some kind of bullshit narrative for
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: whatever reason, but the truth has always been very apparent,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and the truth has always been right here for anyone
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: to see. And if the DOJ really cared about justice here,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: if they cared about the survivors, then they'd go and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: rip that deal up. They'd do whatever it takes to
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: get rid of it. They'd call all these people in, Menchel, Villafana,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: all the people I've been telling you about. And they'd
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: put them all under oath. A tranche of over 8,500
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: pages of records from Epstein's estate, released by the House
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Oversight Committee Friday, show that Epstein's calendars and emails reflect
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: that Menchel, who left the DOJ in 2007, had multiple
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: meetings or dinners with Epstein in 2011, 2013, and 2017.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Lawmakers also refer to a photograph of Menchel on a
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: ski trip with Epstein sometime in the 2000s, but didn't
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: produce the photo. Oh yeah, nothing to see here, folks.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Just the kind of guy we want prosecuting Jeffrey Epstein.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Nothing stinks here. The deal is completely fine. It's above board.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: And if you have any questions about it, well, you
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: should just move on. Because this is all settled news, right?
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: That's what we were told. That's what the OPR report
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: was supposed to do. But the truth is, none of
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: it's settled. And not only that, but you're being lied to.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: And these are the receipts that prove it. Contacted on Friday,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Menchel initially referred the Miami Herald to a 2020 statement.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: that he had previously sent the Herald in response to
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: questions about whether he had a business relationship with Epstein.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: I had no business relationship with Mr. Epstein at any point,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: not before, during, or after my tenure at the U.S.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Attorney's Office. He added that Epstein had tried to get
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: his firm to handle some of the civil litigation associated
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: with his case, but we declined. Oh, what a great
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: guy this Menschel is, huh? As you're on your ski vacations.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: As you're out here hanging out with your buddy Jeffrey Epstein.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: After publication, Menchel told the Herald that he never skied
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: with Epstein. He did not deny that he met with
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Epstein after he left the U.S. Attorney's Office. Oh, well,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't ski with him, but we were breaking bread.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: I was over at his house. After all the evidence
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: you saw, as a prosecutor, you have the audacity to
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: go and break bread with this dude? And nobody's calling
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: this Menchel cat out? This dirty, rotten son of a
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: bitch should have been on the carpet from day one.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Every last one of those architects of that NPA are
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: directly responsible for the people getting away with what they
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: got away with. Remember, it's been the NPA that's been
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: their golden suit of armor this whole entire time. Epstein's
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: 2008 deal allowed the New York financier, pedophile, to escape
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: federal sex trafficking charges that could have put him in
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: prison for life. It also gave immunity to others involved
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: in his crimes, many whom have never been identified. A
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: 2008 investigation by the Miami Herald called Perversion of Justice
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: detailed how federal prosecutors in South Florida minimized Epstein's abuse
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: of almost 100 underage girls and worked closely with Epstein's
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: high-powered attorneys to keep the scope of his crimes secret. Well,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that's not what Alex Acosta is telling us in the transcripts,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and we're going to get to those in the next
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: day or two. I've already started recording them, and you're
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: going to want to tear your hair out. Bro's obviously lying,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: but at this point, I just expect everybody involved to
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: continue to lie. If they told the truth, I would
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: be absolutely shocked at this point. Following publication of the series,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: federal prosecutors in New York re-examined the case, and Epstein
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: was arrested again, in 2019 on more serious sex trafficking charges. However,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: he died nearly a month later in federal custody in
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: what was ruled a suicide by hanging. Friday's revelation about
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Menschel comes as the House Oversight Committee continues its probe
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: into the case. Lawmakers are examining whether there were other
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: wealthy and powerful men who were involved in Epstein's crimes
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and whether there was a cover-up by the FBI and
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: and Justice Department. Several banks are also under scrutiny for
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: failing to flag financial transactions, even though they knew that
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Epstein had been accused of sex trafficking minors. And they
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: can go with the cover-up from the FBI or the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: DOJ all they want, and there's no doubt that they're
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: a part of it. But the real information? Locked away
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: in some fucking vault in Langley or wherever the hell
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the CIA keeps this shit. Because remember, it's the CIA
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: who's behind this. Everybody else is just part of the cover-up, right?
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: The whole entire thing was put into motion by the CIA.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: President Trump, who was once a friend of Epstein's, has
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: denied he had any knowledge or involvement with the money
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: man's sex crimes. After initially promising to release the Justice
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Department files on the case and announcing that a list
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: of Epstein's clients were on her desk, Pam Bondi, Trump's
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Attorney General, abruptly announced in July that a review of
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: the files revealed... That there was no Epstein client list
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: and no credible evidence that others were involved in his crimes. No,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: he did it all on his own. Just another lone wolf.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Another paddock, right? Just another guy that had some proclivities.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Saw his chance and he acted. Imagine trying to pitch
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: that shit to people when all of this other evidence
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: is out there. I mean, just his mental stuff alone
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: is damning as hell. Never mind everything else on top
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: of it. because that's what we're doing. We're just stacking
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: receipts at this point. We all know the story, and
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: we all know that we're not being shot straight, but
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: considering the amount of gaslighting and the amount of people
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: that try to rewrite history, the only way to force
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: accountability is to stack the receipts so high that they
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: can't ignore them. And my friends, that's what's starting to happen.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: All this information that continues to come out is painting
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: a very, very damning picture of the DOJ and this
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: deal that they made with Jeffrey Epstein. And nobody's ever
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: answered for it, ever. Don't tell me that OPR report
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: was anyone answering for anything. That was a cover-up job. Oh, well,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: there was a couple issues here, but, you know, it
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: was just a bunch of coincidences all taking place at
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the same time. And it took them over three years
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: to come up with that. Meanwhile, Mr. Menchel over here
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: is out having lunch and dinner and ski trips and
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the whole nine with Jeffrey Epstein. But sure, let's not
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: mention that in the OPR report. You mean to tell
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: me that the Inspector General didn't have access to that?
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: If not, why not? And if he didn't have access
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: to that, what else didn't he have access to? That
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: led to a public outcry, especially from Epstein's who held
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: an emotional press conference on Capitol Hill in September to
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: implore Trump to release the files. Trump has called recent
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: attention to the case a hoax. Key questions have long
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: been asked about how Jeffrey Epstein was able to obtain
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: federal immunity in the first place. A judge later ruled
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: that the plea deal, which was initially sealed by Acosta's office,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: was illegal because it was kept from Epstein's victims and
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: their attorneys. The House Oversight Committee on Friday released the
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: transcript of testimony by Menchel's former boss, Alexander Acosta, who
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: testified September 19th in front of the committee. Acosta, Trump's
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: former labor secretary, testified that he and other federal prosecutors,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: including Menchel, didn't want to take Epstein's case to trial
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: because they considered it a crapshoot. No, you didn't want
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: to take it to trial because you were protecting your boy.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying it was Acosta who cooked up
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the plot. This came from on high. I'm talking Philippe
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: and Mukasey. In its coverage of the case, the Herald
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: raised questions about Menschel's role in negotiating the deal. Besides
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Acosta and Menschel, the case was overseen by prosecutors Jeffrey Sloman,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Andrew Lurie, and Anne-Marie Villafana. The Herald found that Villafana,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: the lead line prosecutor, drafted an 82-page prosecution memo directed
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: to Acosta, his deputy Sloman, and Menschel, who was then
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: head of the criminal division. In the memo, she proposed
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: a 60-count indictment of Epstein on sex trafficking charges. Now
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: you see why it was killed? Does it all make
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: sense to you now? Now that you find out who
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Menschel really is? Now look at me with a stray
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: face and tell me that there's not a cover-up in play.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: A subsequent probe by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, OPR,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: later found that its Child Exploitation Division in Washington reviewed
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Filofano's materials, offered to work with her, and called the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: memo exhaustive and well done. Well, I wonder why they
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: were stopped from doing that. Acosta would later tell federal
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: investigators he could not recall ever reading her memo and
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: that he relied on Menchel and others to know the
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: details of the case. Acosta testified that he never met
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Epstein or accomplice Glenn Maxwell, who is now serving a
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and abuse. In his
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: comments before the committee, Acosta also reiterated that he trusted Menchel,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: who proposed the plea deal with Epstein's lawyers. Oh, well,
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: isn't that nice, huh? Leave it all up to Menchel.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I told you that there was bad guys lurking in
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: the background, and here's one of them. Matthew Menchel, my friend,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: You're on the clock, and it's time you answer some questions.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: An OPR report issued in 2020 describes how Villafana became
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: angry in July of 2007 when Menchel explained to her
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: in an email that he had offered the deal to
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: Epstein's lawyer, Lily Sanchez, the only woman involved in Epstein's defense.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Villafana felt it was an end run around her, the
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: report said. The report also noted that Menchel had dated Sanchez,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: should have informed his bosses about it, and probably should
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: have been recused from the case. Acosta was asked about
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Menchel at least 17 times during his testimony before the
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: House Oversight Committee. He indicated that he had not been
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: aware that Menchel had a prior romantic relationship with one
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: of Epstein's lawyers and that Menchel should have told him
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: so that they could have discussed whether there was a
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: conflict of interest. There was. Is it not plain as day?
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: It's time to tear up that NPA. Not tomorrow. Not
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: next week. Not next month. Right now. Acosta was also
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: questioned about a photograph that allegedly showed Menschel skiing in
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Aspen with Epstein sometime in the early 2000s. The committee
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: failed to produce the photograph when asked for more information
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: by Acosta. So, we don't know about that picture, I
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: haven't seen it, but I'm guessing they have it. Menschel
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: left the U.S. Attorney's Office in August of 2007 before
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Epstein's deal was finalized. to take a job with the
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: international law firm Cobre & Kim. His LinkedIn profile indicates
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: he is still a lead trial attorney at the firm. Ultimately,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Acosta approved Epstein's plea deal in 2008, despite evidence that
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Epstein had molested dozens of high school girls, whom he
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: lured to a Palm Beach home to give him massages.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: The massages were a pretense to molest the girls, who
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: ranged in age from 13 to 17 years of age.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges, one involving
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: a minor, and would serve only 13 months in a
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: county jail. Although he was forced to register as a
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: sex offender, he was allowed to leave the jail each
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: day to go to his office in West Palm Beach.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Several women later filed lawsuits that claimed they were sexually
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: abused by Epstein in his office while he was supposed
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: to be supervised by the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office. Acosta
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: testified that Epstein's defense team tried to get Epstein off
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: the hook entirely, but he told lawmakers that he believed
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Epstein's crimes warranted jail time and stood his ground. Oh,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: isn't he such a hero? I stood my ground. Shut up, man.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Got a slinky for a spine and Charmin for a heart. Still,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: he and the other prosecutors, including Villafana, all agreed that
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: taking it to trial would risk him escaping jail altogether,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: he said. Part of the reason for the decision, Acosta said,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: was the reluctance of his underage victims to testify. You
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: mean the ones that were being paid off or threatened,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: those girls? It's such a travesty that they think they
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: can rewrite history. The bad news for them is, we
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: all know the story already. Some refused to talk whatsoever,
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Acosta said of the victims. Others said he did nothing wrong,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: and that's the evidence you have, right? Still, public court
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: records show that Palm Beach police and the FBI did
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: gather other evidence. including phone records showing Epstein had contacted
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: underage girls, physical evidence and photographs that the girls were
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: in his home, and phone message pads showing countless messages
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: left for him about the girls being available for quote-unquote massages.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: And we're talking about high school girls here. And the
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: messages were on notepads that were retrieved by the investigators
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: after they raided the Palm Beach home. Acosta said he
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't familiar with the corroborating evidence in the case and
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: relied on his top prosecutor's recommendation. Well, isn't that nice?
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: The guy that was paddling around with Epstein recommended that
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: he gets a plea deal. I wonder why in hell
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: he would ever do that. Folks, are you paying attention yet?
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Do you realize that you've been jobbed? That you've been
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: lied to? That you've been hustled? And make no mistake,
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: this is all part of the cover-up. This is embarrassing
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: as hell for the DOJ, for the government. They don't
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: want to have this egg on their face. They'd much
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: prefer that everybody just, you know, moved on. He explained
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: to the committee that while the prosecutors believed a crime
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: had been committed, he didn't think jurors would understand the
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: nuances of the case. In other words, the jury would
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: think the victims were prostitutes. They were kids. No, they wouldn't.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: We're not talking about 25-year-old women here. He said, she said, like,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: you know, Cassie Ventura. We're talking about kids. I want
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: to be crystal clear here. Lest I be taken out
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: of context or lest I be clipped on this. No
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: one in our office ever thought that the victims were
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: anything less than victims. No one thought that they were,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: you know, the idea that they were involved as anything
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: other than victims did not cross the mind of a soul,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: he said. Just lies heaped on top of lies. He
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: just got done telling us how they weren't credible, how
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: the jury wouldn't believe them. Well, guess what, Mr. Acosta?
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: We don't believe you. Acosta admitted that Epstein's lawyers and
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: their aggressive tactics would have made the case hard to
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: win at trial. We put him in jail, he registered
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: as a sex offender, and the victims had an opportunity
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: to recover. And that was a win, Acosta told the committee.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Looking at all of this, the ultimate judgment was, do
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: you roll the dice? And if he gets away with it,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: you're sending a signal to the community that he can
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: get away with it. Well, I wonder what signal you
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: guys sent with that sweetheart deal, huh? Because the optics
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: of it's great. The messaging's fantastic. Everybody loves it. Just
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: the greatest deal ever. The best deal that ever was. Right? Right?
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: Acosta was appointed by Trump as labor secretary in 2017.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: He resigned after Epstein's 2019 arrest because he said he
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: felt the scandal would be a distraction for the Trump administration.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Him and Prince Andrew, huh? We're going to do the
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: honorable thing. We're going to resign. Look, folks, I told
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: you from the beginning that the NPA was the origin
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: of this bullshit. And guess what? Now we're finding out
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: that the guy who was behind it, or one of
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: the key architects when it comes to the NPA, was
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: one of Epstein's buddies, was going to dinner with him,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: was going on ski trips. Look, we now have evidence
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: that Jeffrey Epstein, the financier convicted of abusing minors, shared dinners,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: phone calls, and maybe a vacation ski trip, and friendly
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: meetings with Matthew I. Menschel, the very prosecutor who helped
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: orchestrate his infamous 2007-2008 plea deal. Let that sink in.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: The man entrusted to stand between the predator and justice,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: the senior attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office overseeing Epstein's case,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: was face-to-face, off the record, off the docket, off virtue,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: with the very subject of his office's worst failure, a
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: ski trip, dinners, phone calls, intimacy, all while the victims waited,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: all while the world believed the law was blind. And
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: now we know that these weren't casual courtesies, they were
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: red flags. They weren't benign social moments, they were conflict.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: They weren't discreet lapses of oversight, they were a brazen
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: collision of predator and prosecutor. The prosecutor whose division greenlit
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: the sweetheart deal. Now I want you to think about
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: what that means. Victims of horrific abuse entrust our system
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: for protection. Those in charge hold power for one reason,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: to safeguard justice, to be the barrier. But when that
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: barrier is compromised, when the protector becomes too friendly with
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: the threat, everything falls apart. The system stops safeguarding and
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: it starts shielding. And that's what happened. So now it's
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: time to burn the sunlight brighter on this injustice. The
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: alleged ski trip, the documents, the calls, the dinners logged,
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: these aren't minor details. These are proof that proximity existed.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Influence merged, discretion faltered. And the consequence, a paradigm of
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: justice twisted in favor of the powerful. To Mr. Menchel,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: to his former office, to every official who turned a
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: blind eye, the world's watching. The survivors are still here.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: The calls for accountability scoff louder. Justice doesn't always roar.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it whispers. But this time, it should roar. Because
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: if the seemingly untouchable can meet his prosecutor on a
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: ski slope, then the rest of us deserve to know
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: who else was meeting behind the curtain, who else smiled
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: while the system faltered. So let's finish with this. Law
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: is supposed to stand for one thing, equality under its gaze.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: If it bends for the rich, the cunning, the connected,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: then what's left for the ordinary, the voiceless, the abused?
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Release those records. Hold the names. Demand the accountability. Because
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: when a prosecutor dines with the accused, the accused wins.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: The victim loses, and we all lose confidence in the
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: promise of justice. And in this case especially, justice must win.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with this episode can
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: be found in the description box.