Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Family Wealth, Public Defenders and the Cost of the Tyler Robinson Trial (7/19/26)

Transcript

Family Wealth, Public Defenders and the Cost of the Tyler Robinson Trial (7/19/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a previous episode, we were talking about Tyler Robinson and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the cost of his defense and how the taxpayers are
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: on the hook for that massive bill. Well, come to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: find out Tyler Robinson's family has a couple of bucks.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Now that said, his family is not on trial, and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I think we have to understand that he's a grown man,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: He's not a kid, and his dad doesn't have to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: pony up money for a lawyer. Now, if it was
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: me and it was my son and I thought he
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: was innocent, you better believe I'm going to get Alan Jackson,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: one of these great lawyers. Right, But at least as
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of now, that hasn't happened. So today in this episode,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: we have an article from the New York Post and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: it's talking a little bit more about Tyler Robinson's family's
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: business and how his family is not hurting for any
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: dough headline. Secrets behind Tyler Robbinson's lucrative family business revealed
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: as Utah taxpayer's foot ten million dollar legal bills for
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk's alleged killer. And once again, this article was
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: published by the New York Post. The author of this
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: article is Jared Downing. Tyler Robinson's dad was back running
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: as thriving local business this week, days after he showed
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: up in court to support his son, who's been racking
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: up an eyewatering Utah taxpayer funded legal bill for allegedly
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: murdering Charlie Kirk. Look, it's a lot to swallow. I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: get it. Not very much fun if you're a taxpayer
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: in Utah, but that is how the system set up,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: and the worst amongst us. They need to have legal
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: representation like anybody else. And if they can't afford that themselves,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: well you can't expect their parents to do it right,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: not unless they want to. So that leaves the bill
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: at the feet of the taxpayer. And I know it's
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: not fair and it's a punch to the gut, but
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: it's the way the systems set up. Matthew Robinson has
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: been at his son's side since the beginning, even turning
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: them over to cops after he allegedly confessed to killing
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the TPUSA founder last September. But when it comes to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: his legal defense, Tyler Robinson, twenty three, is on his
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: own and taxpayers are footing the bill, which could exceed
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: ten million dollars. Now, look, even if his dad has
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a lucrative business, does he have a ten million dollar business?
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Does he have that kind of liquidity? I doubt it
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: maybe though, Look I don't know, but I would find
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: it hard to believe. And you're talking about a complicated,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: complex case that's going to take a legal team, multiple lawyers,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: by the way, years, So I don't really know how
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: anyone could pay for that, honestly, unless you're super rich.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: But again, it's not his dad's responsibility to pick up
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: his bill. And I know that sounds kind of crass,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: right he has all this money arding his son. I'm
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: talking about from a legal standpoint, there is no lever
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: you can pull to make his father step up and
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: pay that bill. Now, would it be the right thing
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to do, most certainly, But as we all know, a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: lot of people don't like to do the right thing.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Matthew Robinson was spotted commuting from his six hundred thousand
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: dollars Southern Utah home to his masonry business as his
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: son awaits his fate. Matthew Robinson is apparently back to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: his normal routine, driving his GMC pickup truck to the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: unmarked warehouse on the outskirts of Saint George, not far
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: from where I live. I'm in Las Vegas. That is
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: about one hundred and ten miles from Las Vegas. But
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: what's the guy supposed to do? Not live his life,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: not go to work, not you know, try and make
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: a living. So I certainly have some compassion for this
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: kid's family one hundred percent. They don't deserve to be scorned.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: And if the original reporting's true, they were the ones
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that got him to turn himself in, so that's certainly
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a good thing, right. The Stone and Marble supplier runs
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: on word of mouth marketing and tight relationships with loyal clients.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: According to multiple sources who have done business with them,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: most of Matthew Robinson's customers have stuck with the family
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: despite the charges against his son. The elder Robinson rarely
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: mentions his son, according to a colleague who asked her
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: remain anonymous. Look, man, we're going to destroy this dude's dad.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not taking part in that. Sorry. If it comes
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: out that his parents had something to do with it,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: that's different. But trying to get them to pay for
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the defense, I think that's a step too far. Honestly.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: The company has been in the family for more than
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a decade, but Matthew's brother and co founder previously sued him,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: claiming he embezzled one hundred thousand dollars over the course
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of nearly two years, according to a lawsuit filed in
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: twenty fourteen. And here we go, we're gonna start hearing
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: about the family, about you know, the inner workings of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the Robinson Fami family fights, whatever, and unfortunately that comes
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: with a case like this. We saw the same thing
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: with Coberger about his mom and dad about his sister.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: You know, people start digging deep, and they should I'm
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: certainly not going to say they shouldn't do that, But
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, I don't think that anybody should be
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: thinking that this dude's family or dad should be paying
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: for his defense. The brother, Clint Robinson, accused Matthew of
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: trading work for personal favors, hiding financial records, and once
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: said they will go to jail if authorities were to
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: see their books. According to court records, well, that's not good.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I'm certainly not condoning that. And if his dad's running
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: some kind of sideways business, it's not going to end
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: up well for him. The only point I'm making here
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: is that there's no mechanism to make his family pay
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: for the defense. Clint requested multiple restraining orders, but the
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: brothers later reached a confidential settlement. That's how it usually works. Eventually,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: you get to the negotiating room and you figure out
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: a way forward. The lawyer for Clinton Robinson declined to comment,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and Matthew's lawyers did not respond to the Post inquiry
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: on Thursday. Robinson's parents, Matthew and Amber, have kept quiet
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: after he allegedly shot the conservative leading white at Utah
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Valley University, about a three hour drive from their hometown. YO.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't even know what to say or do. Imagine
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: this was your kid and he kills anyone, never mind
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: somebody like Charlie Kirk on live TV. I mean talk
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: about devastating, talk about ruining the whole family. I can't
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: even imagine. I cannot even imagine. Friends, teachers, and neighbors
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: remember Tyler Robinson as a hard working, church going kid
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: who seemed close to his parents, at least from the outside.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And look, this is where things get sticky. I one
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: hundred percent believe that Tyler Robinson was radicalized online. And look,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: radicalization goes both ways. There's a lot of radicals, boy,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, a lot of people that are
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: willing to do a lot of crazy shit these days.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And they're all hyped up on rhetoric, all hyped up
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: on bullshit, all hyped up by people who know exactly
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: what they're doing when they're trying to enrage people. And
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of it going around both sides of
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the aisle. And I think that Tyler Robinson had his
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: head filled with a bunch of nonsense and thought that
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: he could be some kind of hero. That's what the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: initial reporting looks like. Obviously we have to wait for
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: all the evidence, but the initial fuel is that there
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: certainly was some kind of radicalization at some point, and
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: we all know that one of the mediums for that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: these days is the Internet. And where did Robinson spend
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: most of his time, that's right on the internet. Robinson
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: briefly attended Utah State University with a prestigious scholarship, but
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: later dropped out. He then moved in with his trans
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: lover Lance Twigs, and grew increasingly political radical, according to
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: evidence prosecutors laid out in a bombshell pre trial hearing
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: this month, and I think Twigs played a bigger role
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: here than we know. And if you want the truth,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: if there's anybody who might be involved with pre knowledge
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: or planning, I would say Twigs. Now that's just an
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: assumption I have. Okay, I have nothing to back that up.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: But something doesn't seem right with Lance Twigs. And I'm
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: not somebody that's big on, you know, the conspiracies, But
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: when you have somebody like Lance Twigs who is a
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: key witness and somebody that's going to move the needle,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I think we have to be very skeptical of those
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: kind of witnesses and we have to go through their
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: stories with a fine tooth comb, especially when you look
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: at the timeline of radicalization. To Lance Twigs play any
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: part in that. I know he came off as you know,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a god fearing individual in that interview, dressed in his
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: suit and tie, et cetera. But is that really who
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Lance Twigs is? I have my doubts. Robinson spent his
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: time gaming chatting online in a rent room across town
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: from his parents, Twig said in a video testimony played
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: at the hearing. Prosecutors presented evidence that Robinson confessed to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: killing Kirk at least three times to Twigs, including in
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: a love letter in which he called Twigs by his
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: transferry name Luna Yo. I won't even get into all
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of that because I have no idea. Like, if you
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: want to dress up as a furry and go and
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: frolic with your buddies, really not my business, you know
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like, I really don't give a fuck.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: People who have listened to the podcast know how I feel.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: If you and your partner are consenting, I don't care.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: You want to be Strawberry Shortcake and you want your
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: partner to be Jason Vorhees and you want to run
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: around the neighborhood. I don't give a fuck as long
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: as everybody's consenting and nobody's being hurt. But when you start,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: you know, getting into all this other weird shit about
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you know, cults and furries, and that's where my knowledge ends.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know anything about any of that, all that
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: subculture stuff. Your boy has no clue, But I'm gonna learn.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take the deep furry dive later on and
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: try and figure out what that community is really about.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Because Up until now, I thought there were just a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: bunch of I hate to say it, but weirdos who
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: dressed up his animals and you know, went and larped.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I had no idea there was like a radical part
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: of the furry community. But I guess there is. So
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I got some work to do. But according to what
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: his family's saying and what his friends are saying. As
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: far as family friends, the radicalization started online and it
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: accelerated when he moved in with Twigs. So does Twigs
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: have a bigger role here? I don't know. We'll have
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to see. Twigs were called, Robinson breaking down in tears
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: before declaring that he was ready to come clean to
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: his parents. He later showed up to the Sheriff's office
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: with his dad and a former cop family friend. Prosecutor
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: say Robinson were for an electrical contractor before his arrest,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: but a judge declared him into you and hired high
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: power defense attorneys from California and Utah to defend them.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: That's how it works. I know people don't like it,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and I know that people haven't been following along with
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: capital cases or any complex case for the most part,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: But I have been, and I'm telling you this is
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: how it works. We don't have to like it, but
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: it is what it is. His lawyers have asked the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: state for two million in additional funding for the trial,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: which could cost more than ten million after potentially years
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: of appeals upon conviction. According to experts, though, wopping cost
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: is the result of the time and expert witnesses needed
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to defend such a sensational capital murder case with the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: stakes as high as they get. Nama Rockmani, a prominent
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: form of prosecutor with no ties to the case, told
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the Post, it's going to be crazy, Okay, It's going
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: to be an absolute zoo. And once we start getting
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: access to the court docket, a lot of people in
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: their bullshit are going to be exposed. Robinson's hometown, a
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: tight knit, predominantly Mormon enclave nestled in the cliffs and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: butts of the southern Utah Desert, is still rilling from
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: their alleged local boy made bad. I can imagine. I
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: can only imagine. Think you got a normal kid here,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: a guy that you know, you might have went to
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: church with or whatever, turn on the news and he
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: killed Charlie Kirk. Allegedly that got to be pretty crazy.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure how I felt, Robinson's former high school teacher,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Rick Hentosh told the Post after watching prosecutors lay out
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: evidence against him this month, it was quite dramatic. All
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the news media, you try to take it all in.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: It's tough to see one of your students in this
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: kind of situation, whether they're guilty or innocent. He and
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: his neighbors never asked to be at the center of
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: one of the nation's biggest scandals, and nearly a year later,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: they're ready for it all to end. The community is
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: just done, he said. I can only imagine all the
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: morons that descended on Saint George, all the people harassing
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: these people ridiculous. But look as far as the dad goes,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: as far as money goes, I don't know how you
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: can expect somebody's family to do it unwillingly. Now, morally,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I get it, and if it was my kid, I'd
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: be paying for a defense lawyer one way or the other.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: But not everybody's us, right, And when we're talking about
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: ten million dollars and the price tag that's coming with this,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I don't think that at Tyler Robinson's dad, even with
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: his masonry company, and all of that could afford the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: kind of lawyers that you need. So all of this
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: is very fascinating, and we're going to continue to follow
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: along as each decision and each motion comes down that way,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: we continue to swim through this muck looking for that clarity.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: All the information that goes with this episode can be
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: found in the description box