Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 1) (5/15/26)

Transcript

Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 1) (5/15/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to begin taking
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  a look at the Howard Lutnik transcripts from the deposition
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  in front of Congress. Mister Emmer will go on the record.
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  This is a transcribed interview of Secretary Howard W. Lutnik
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  conducted by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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  under the authority granted to it pursuant to House Rule ten. Accordingly,
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  House Rule ten grants the Committee bore jurisdiction for the
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  Committee to conduct investigations of any matter at any time.
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  This interview is requested by Chairman James Comer as part
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  of the Committee's investigation into the circumstances and subsequent investigation
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  into the circumstances and subsequent investigations and the crimes of
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  Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Maxwell, the operation of the sex
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  trafficking rings and ways for the government to effectively combat them,
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  The ways in which mister Epstein and miss Maxwell's ought
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  to curry favor and exercise influence to protect their legal activities,
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  and potential violations of ethic rules related to elected officials.
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  Can the witness please state his name and spell his
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  last name for the record. Secretary Lutnick Howard Lutnik l
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  U T N I c K. Mister Emmer, thank you.
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  I want to thank Secretary Lutnik for appearing voluntarily here today.
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  My name is Jack Emmer, and I'm the Chief Council
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  for Investigations for Chairman James Comer. Under the Committee on
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  Oversight and Government Reform rules, you're allowed to have council
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  present to advise you during the interview. Do you have
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  counsel representing you present with you today? Lutnik, yeah, Emmer,
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  will counsel please identify themselves for the record. Mister Tellwigger,
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  who is the lawyer for Lutnick? Zach Urwilger, a partner
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  at Vincent and Elkins law firm. Another lawyer pops up,
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  mister Crowley Michael Crowley, Associate Vincent and Elkins. Another lawyer,
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  mister Mayron, Austin Meyron, Department of Commerce. This dou needs
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  three lawyers to do a deposition about somebody he only
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  met three times, according to him. Okay, mister Emmer, thank
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  you for the record. Starting with the majority staff, can
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  the additional staff members please introduce themselves with their name,
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  title and affiliation. Mister Grant Billy Grant, Deputy Chief Council
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  for Investigations, Chairman Comber, Peter Spector, Director of Oversight for
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  Chairman Comer, Ellison Tolan, Council Chairman Comer, Hannah Cathy, Professional
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  staff Member Chairman Comer, Emily Firebend Council for Chairman Comber,
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  Brittany Brignack, Senior Council Chairman Comber. Mister Ashworth, Daniel Ashworth,
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  General Counsel for Chairman Comber, Will Harness, professional staff member
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  for Chairman Coomber, Ashley Vineyard, Deputy staff Director for Chairman Comer,
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  Jessica Collins, Communications Director for Comer, and then the next
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  names are redacted. Mister Emmer, thank you. We have members
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  of Congress present today, starting with the Chairman can the
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  Majority members intro, and then the minority members James Comer, Kentucky,
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  William Timmins, South Carolina. Emmer, thank you, Secretary Lutnik. Before
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  we weigh in, I would like to go over the
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  ground rules for this interview. The questioning will proceed in rounds.
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  The majority will ask questions for up to an hour,
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  and then the minority will have an opportunity to ask
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  questions for up to an hour if they choose to
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  the extent. Members have questions for the witness, they will
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  be propounded during their sides respective rounds. The clock will
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  stop before you need to confer with your council, your
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  council speaking, and when members are speaking during the opposing
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  sides rounds of questions, we will all back and forth
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  until there are no more questions. Do you understand, Secretary,
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  letnak I do emmer. There is a court reporter taking
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  down everything I say and everything you say to make
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  a written record of the interview. For the record to
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  be clear, please wait until the staffer questioning you finishes
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  at each question before you begin your answer, and the
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  staffer will wait until you finish your response before proceeding
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  to the next round. Further, to ensure that the court
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  reporter can properly record the interview, please speak clearly, concisely,
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  and slowly. Also, the court reporter cannot record nonverbal answers,
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  such as nodding or shaking your head, so it's important
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  that you answer each question with an audible verbal answer.
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  Exhibits may be entered into the record. Majority exhibits will
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  be identified numerically. Minority exhibits will be identified alphabetically. Do
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  you understand leut nak I do emmer? We want you
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  to answer our questions in the most complete and truthful
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  manner possible, so we'll take our time. If you have
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  any questions or you don't fully understand the question, please
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  let us know. We will attempt to clarify, add context,
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  or rephrase our questions. If we ask about specific conversations
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  or events in the past, and you are unable to
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  recall the exact words or details, you should testify to
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  the substance of those conversations or events to the best
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  of your recollection. If you recall only part of a
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  conversation or event, you should give us your best recollection
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  of those events or parts of conversations that you do recall.
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  Do you understand, let nick I do emmer. Although you're
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  here voluntarily and you'll not be sworn in, you're required
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  by law pursuant to Title eighteen of the United States Code,
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  Section one thousand and one to answer questions from Congress truthfully,
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  not even sworn in. You guys catching on yet, It's
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  all a big fucking joke, That's all it is. To
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  these people, but not to us and not to the
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  vast majority of people out there that are paying attention.
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  And this also applies to questions posed by Congressional staff
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  in the interview. Do you understand lutnake i do emmer?
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  If at any time you knowingly make false statements, you
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  could be subject to criminal prosecution. Do you understand lutnik
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  i do Emmer. This includes both knowingly providing false testimony,
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  but also stating that you do not recall or remember
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  something when in fact you do. Do you understand lutnick
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  i do Emmer. Furthermore, you cannot tell half truth or
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  exclude information necessary to make statements accurate. You're required to
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  provide all information that would make your response truthful. A
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  deliberate failure to disclose information can constitute a false statement.
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  Do you understand lutnick i do emmer? Is there any
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  reason that you're unable to provide truthful testimony in today's interview?
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  Lt Nick no Emmer. Please note that if you wish
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  to assert a privilege over any statement today, that assertion
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  must comply with the rules of the Committee on Oversight
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  and Government Reform pursu into that Committee, Rule sixteen C
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  one states for the chair to consider assertions of privilege
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  over testimony or statements, witnesses or entities must clearly state
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  the specific privilege being asserted and the reason for the
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  assertion honor before the scheduled date of testimony or appearance.
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  Do you understand, Secretary Lutnik, I do emmer. Ordinarily we
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  take a five minute break at the end of each
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  hour of questioning, but if you need a longer break
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  or a break before that, please let us know, and
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  will be happy to accommodate. However, to the extent that
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  there is a pending question, we would ask you to
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  finish answering the question before we take a break. Do
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  you understand, Lutnik? I do emmer. Do you have any
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  other questions before we begin? Lutnick no emmer. Do you
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  have an opening statement that you would like to read?
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  Lutnick I do emmer. You may proceed, Lutnik, Chairman, Comer,
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  members of the Committee and Committee staff, I unequivocally condemned
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  the conduct attributed to Jeffrey Epstein and everyone who participated
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  in his legal activities. The survivors of his crimes deserve
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  our respect and support. I voluntarily agreed to appear and
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  answer questions in connection with this Committee's investigation. I would
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  like to begin by briefly describing my virtually non existent
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  interactions with this individual who lived adjacent to my New
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  York City home. In nineteen ninety seven, I purchased an
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  unfinished townhouse as my family home in New York City.
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  Renovations took several more years than expected due to the
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  events of September eleventh terrorist attacks and their impact on me,
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  my family, and all my co workers in the World
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  Trade Center. Approximately eight years after our purchase, in two
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  thousand and five, my family and I finally moved into
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  our new home, which happened to be a to his residence.
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  Shortly thereafter, my wife and I were invited by that
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  individual to his residence for coffee. During this brief interaction
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  that included my wife, me, and this individual, he made
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  a crude and gross remark in my wife's presence, which
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  caused us to cut the visit short and leave immediately
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  Following that brief initial meeting. As we walk back to
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  our home, my wife and I discussed the encounter and that,
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  given his clear lack of boundaries, I would never establish
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  a personal or professional relationship with them, and that is
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  exactly what I did following this two thousand and five interaction.
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  My only other two interactions with Epstein over the ensuring
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  ensuing fourteen years were both meaningless and inconsequential. My second
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  interaction occurred six years later in twenty eleven, when his
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  staff initiated contact with my office, suggesting he had a
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  reason to get in touch with me. Our offices attempted
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  to connect us by phone over the course of several weeks,
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  but we were unable to do so. Ultimately, to the
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  best of my recollection, his staff indicated he would be
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  in his residence on a particular weekend afternoon, and my
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  staff arranged for me to ring his bell during my
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  and my wife's typical Sunday walk around the block with
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  our dogs to hear what he had to say. My
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  best recollection is I rang the bell, sat in his
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  foyer with my dog, waited for him to come down,
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  heard what he had to say, and I left. As
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  far as I recall, it was about scaffolding. It was
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  meaningless and inconsequential. Next, some eighteen months later, in late
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  twenty twelve, his staff inexplicably contacted my office unprompted regarding
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  my family's planned holiday travel to the Caribbean. Unbeknownst to me,
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  his staff somehow had become aware that my family and
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  I would be near his island over the holidays, although
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  they were apparently unsure whether that meant during the Thanksgiving
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  or Christmas holiday. I still have no idea how has
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  staff discovered my family's vacation plans or why they're pursued
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  arranging a visit with me. From what I have since learned,
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  it appears he was initially seeking a meeting with just me.
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  My wife made clear, however, that we had a large
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  traveling party of approximately twelve plus people, and if we
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  were to come, it would be with everyone. My family
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  of six and another family of six had a brief,
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  meaningless and inconsequential lunch, and then left. To the best
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  of my recollection, those were the only three occasions in
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  which I interacted with Epstein in person. Each and every
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  one of those was meaningless and inconsequential. To put this
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  in perspective, Epstein lived in the house next door to
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  my family for fourteen years, and in that time I
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  interacted with him in person only three times, again, each
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  meaningless and inconsequential. I had no personal or professional relationship
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  with this individual, despite the proximity of our addresses. Further,
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  at no time during these limited interactions did I witness
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  any conduct, let alone any type of illegal conduct of
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  which we have since become aware. In closing, after our
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  first interaction, my wife and I discussed that I would
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  not establish a personal or a professional relationship with that individual.
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  On a podcast on October twenty twenty five, I informally
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  recounted that conversation. What I said on that podcast regarding
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  my conversation with my wife was correct. I did not
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  establish a personal or a professional relationship with that individual.
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  The documents and my prior testimony confirm that I am
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  here to answer your questions. All right, folks, We're going
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  to wrap up right here, and in the next episode,
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  we're going to pick up where we left off. All
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  the information that goes with this episode can be found
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  in the description box.