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George W. Bush’s DOJ Drawn Into Epstein Sweetheart Deal Fallout (6/8/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. One of the most common misconceptions when discussing
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  Jeffrey Epstein's sweetheart deal is to place the blame on
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  Alex Acosta, and not because he's blameless in the greater
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  sense of the word, but when we're discussing the deal
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  that Jeffrey Epstein received. I've always said that there's no
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  way that it was Acosta who made that decision, and
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  I told you all the way back then that there
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  is zero chance. But the way it was reported originally
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  by Julie K. Brown was that it was Acosta who
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  made that decision basically on his own. And I remember
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  when I pointed out that a guy like Acosta doesn't
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  have that sort of ability being a mid level bureaucrat.
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  I was met with a lot of resistance, a lot
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  of people saying that Julie K. Brown already reported that
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  it was Acosta that was responsible for everything. Well, that
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  is until recently, because now Julie K. Brown has swung
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  her attention to where it belongs the Bush administration, because
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  it was Mukayzy and Philippe who gave the okay on
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  this deal and I think that's why the emails between
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  Acosta and Maine Justice went missing. Nobody else finds that
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  highly suspect that the only emails that go missing are
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  the Acosta emails. Right in the middle of this negotiation
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  that ends up turning into this sweetheart deal for Jeffrey Epstein.
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  Nobody has any questions about that. Nobody wants to know
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  what Philippe has to say or Mukayzy. Nobody wants to
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  bring them in and sit them for a deposition. That
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  shit should have been done a long time ago. And
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  now that people are paying attention and taking a look
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  at the Bush administration like they should have done years ago,
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  I feel like John McLain, Welcome to the party, pal.
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  Today's article was published by The Daily Beast and the
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  author is Catherine Boris. A new report as implicated President
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  George W. Bush Department of Justice in the controversial case
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  invicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Now there's nothing new about it.
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  For all of you who have been listening, you already know.
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  I've told you time and time again that Alex Acosta
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  was the fall guy. He was the middle man. It's
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  like going to your local Paco Bell and having the
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  district manager speak for the whole company. It's never gonna happen.
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  Now he can speak for the property, right, you know,
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  whatever he might manage. But do you think he's speaking
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  for the shareholders. And that's what you got to look
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  at the DOJ brass As. They're the shareholders, right, They're
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  the ones that are holding the bag. They're the ones
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  that are gonna make the final decision, and they're the
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  ones that are going to sign off on a deal
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  for somebody like Jeffrey Epstein. And I remember getting a
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  lot of pushback when I brought that up. Well, how
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  about now, is it acceptable? Is it real? Because Julie K.
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  Brown is telling you. The report published in The Miami
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  by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Julie K. Brown, whose reporting
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  helped lead de Ebstein's arrest in twenty nineteen, focuses on
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  former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Ryder, who opened the
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  first criminal probe into Epstein's conduct in the mid two thousands.
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  And Michael Ryder has always said the same thing, that
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  whatever happened came from on high and that a decision
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  like this isn't going to be made by a guy
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  like Acosta. It features previously un reported details. Well, unless
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  you haven't listened to this podcast, because we've definitely explored this,
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  including the fact that then Miami US attorney Alex Acosta
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  started negotiating a secret plea deal with Epstein in two
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  thousand and seven, after the financier pedophile was arrested for
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  felony solicitation the year before, after writer had gathered evidence
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  and interviewed two dozen tearful girls and their parents. He
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  was then stonewalled by state prosecutors and attacked in the
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  media before being ostracized by federal prosecutors who took over
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  the case. And look, I'm happy that this is being
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  reported finally, but my question is what took so long.
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  We're not talking about some ancient mystery here, and it
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  really confused me that more people weren't hip to the
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  fact that a guy like Acosta can't make a deal
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  like that. Do you think that insert local district attorney
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  for the Southern District of Florida speaks for the whole
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  entire Justice Department? Is that really what you believe? Tell
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  me you don't know anything about the bureaucracy without telling me.
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  Reacting to concerns raised by the parents of some of
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  Epstein's victims. Writer requested a meeting with Acosta, who served
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  as President Donald Trump's labor secretary during his first term.
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  And look, when I tell you, it goes deeper than Trump.
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  This is what I mean. We have to get to
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  the bottom of it, right who gave the OKA, who
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  said that the NPA was acceptable, and then we work
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  from there because that's when the cover up started. Now
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  does that mean we ignore the cover up going on
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  right now? Of course not. But you have to build
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  a very strong case in order to go after people
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  like this. These are very powerful people, I mean, the
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  President of the United States. You're not going to get
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  them with some kind of you know, accusation with no
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  evidence backing it up. In fact, what you're gonna do
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  is make it harder. And I know people don't want
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  to hear that. What would be best for me and
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  engagement would to be an all out assault every single
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  day on Donald Trump. But that's not the point of
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  the podcast, that's not the point of the story. That's
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  not going to advance justice because what it does is
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  it swings the spotlight off of shit like this. So
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  for me, it's about everything. It's not just about what's
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  going on now, it's about how we got here. And
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  please don't mistake that for me saying that people shouldn't
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  be held accountable now they should be. And I think
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  that this ongoing cover up is going to leave a
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  paper trail, and the next government they should have a
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  teed up for him. We'll see how it goes. Recalling
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  the meeting in his conversation with Brown, writer says that
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  he told Acosta, I'm here to ask you to live
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  up to the principles that you espoused when you were
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  sworn in. Yeah, good luck. Acosta is a clown, an
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  absolute coward, and he has a slinky for a spine.
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  I'm certainly not absolving him. But he wasn't the one
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  who made the decision. Oh, he went along with it,
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  but he didn't make that decision. Who has the authority
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  to make the decision of whether or not the federally
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  prosecute Epstein. We turned it over to you. We did
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  most of the work, and the assistant US attorney told
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  us she usually gets ten years for each count, and
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  we had maybe one hundred counts and probably twenty four
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  or so cooperating victims. So whose authority is it? He added,
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  And folks, this is a big deal. And if you're
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  wondering why the United States government's trying to cover it up,
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  here you go. Do you know the kind of embarrassed
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  that's going to come along with this when it's outed?
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  And that's why they're sending you on wild goose chases
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  down rabbit holes looking for shit that they can use
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  as a defense. Oh well, it's all a hoax. It's
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  all about this one. It's all about that one. No,
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  it's all about all of you, every last one of
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  you scumbags that help Jeffrey Epstein along the way. It's
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  about all of you. Oh. According to writer, Acosta did
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  not respond, prompting the police chief to express concern that
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  Epstein's legal team was manipulating Acosta's office. We've been receiving
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  some guidance from Maine Justice and Epstein's defense attorneys have
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  done a very effective job installing the case a costa applied. Now,
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  who has told you that for years? I mean not
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  for nothing. Very few people are talking about this part
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  of the case, very few people, because it was all
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  settled previously, right by Julie K. Brown's reporting until it wasn't.
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  And look, that's not a knock on Julie K. Brown.
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  This is an expansive story. She's done incredible work, and
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  Acosta certainly did play a part. But I don't think
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  Julie was willing to jump down that rabbit hole before
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  she had the actual documentation in her hands. Me personally,
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  I had seen some shit and heard some shit from
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  some people that convinced me. And when you start putting
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  the pieces together and you start doing the equations, well
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  two plus two that shit equals four, and here we are.
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  The main Justice refers to the Department of Justice headquarters
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  in Washington, DC, which at the time during Bush's presidency,
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  was being overseen by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Incorrect. The
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  deal was signed when Mukhesy was the bostil and it
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  was Mark Felippe, who was the Deputy Attorney General at
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  the time, who processed the whole thing. Think of him
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  basically as Todd Blanche. He was Todd Blanche, but for
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  the NPA, that's what happened, That's how it went down.
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  It's not that confusing. The Daily Beast has contacted the
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  Department of Justice and George W. Bush's office for comment.
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  Let me give you guys a little tip. Why don't
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  you guys contact Mark Felip You're welcome. Epstein ultimately only
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  pleaded to one count a solicitation, despite law enforcement agencies
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  having knowledge of as many as forty potential victims. He
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  would not be indicted on charges of sex trafficking miners
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  until twenty nineteen. Epstein's name had previously been raised by
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  the Trump transition team when Acosta was being interviewed for
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  the role of Labor's secretary, with Acosta reportedly being asked,
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  is the Epstein case going to cause a problem for
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  confirmation hearings. I was told Epstein belong to intelligence and
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  to leave it alone. Acosta told the Trump transition team
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  he would later be appointed as Trump's Labor secretary and
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  serve in his cabinet for two years. Well, Acosta says,
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  that's not true. He didn't say it. Now, if you
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  want to believe Acosta, that is certainly up to you.
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  Me personally, I do not believe them. He's a coward,
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  a liar, and somebody who has no morals. Imagine somebody
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  telling you from Main Justice that you're going to cover
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  up for Jeffrey Epstein. Yo, you know how quick Ey'd
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  be fired, not only fired, but talking shit the whole
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  way out. Well, you're not going to get your pension. Cool,
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  keep it. I'll go get a job in the private
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  sector and I'll make sure that I hammer the DOJ
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  every time we go to trial. That's what I would
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  have said if I was a lawyer, But for people
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  like a Costa, forget it. You'd have to have some
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  courage to do that. And we know that that's in
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  short supply. Speaking of Brown, Writer said that he considers
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  the fact that Epstein's behavior one unchallenged by so many
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  people for years, many of whom he cultivated close friendships
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  with in order to ensure exactly that, to be the
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  worst failure of the criminal justice system in recent years.
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  BINGO one hundred percent. And when you're being run by
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  some agency insert agency here, certainly helps. Some reforms have
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  been made, and Epstein and Maxwell cases of shed light
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  on many of the others that are still needed, Writer said,
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  but the true measure of success will be whether the
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  system learns from its failures and acts on those lessons. Well,
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  not going so well, is it? So? Look, folks, I've
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  told you this for years, and now that Julie K.
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  Brown's reporting it, maybe people will start listening. Alex Acosta
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  was never the architect. Alex Acosta was the middleman. And
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  when it comes to the NPA, if you're looking to
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  blame anybody, blame the Justice Department. All right, folks, that's
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  going to do it for this one. All of the
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  information that goes with this episode can be found in
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  the description box.