Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Former New Mexico AG Gary King Faces New Epstein Scrutiny (Part 1) (9/9/26)

Transcript

Former New Mexico AG Gary King Faces New Epstein Scrutiny (Part 1) (9/9/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. When it comes to New Mexico and Jeffrey Epstein,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: there is a lot that still needs to be explained.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of people from New Mexico that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: had very, very close ties to Jeffrey Epstein that still
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: refuse to admit it. And one of those people, according
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  Speaker 1: to all reports, is none other than former New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General Gary King. Now, Epstein's family... purchased the ranch
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: from the King family. Then, of course, Mr. King himself
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  Speaker 1: met with Jeffrey Epstein in 2010, and he also accepted
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: money from Jeffrey Epstein's companies in 2014. Oh, and by
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the way, he also flew on a private Jed Epstein
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  Speaker 1: help charter later that year while he was running for governor. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Deb Haaland, who's the current Democratic governor nominee down in
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico, she was also on the flight. in 2014.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And for all these years, Mr. King really hasn't had
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  Speaker 1: much to say about Jeffrey Epstein. But now that he's
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: forced to say something, of course, it's the same story
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: we've heard time and time again. I hardly knew him.
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  Speaker 1: I had no idea what he was doing or what
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  Speaker 1: he was. And you got the wrong guy. So today,
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  Speaker 1: we have an article from the Santa Fe New Mexican
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  Speaker 1: and the headline, He wasn't my friend. Former New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: AG Gary King tries to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein.
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  Speaker 1: This article was authored by Clara Bates. Former New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General Gary King says his ties to Jeffrey Epstein
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  Speaker 1: have been exaggerated, and that the legislative panel formed to
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  Speaker 1: investigate Epstein hasn't reached out to hear his side of
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  Speaker 1: the story. About ten years too late, Mr. King. Your
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  Speaker 1: story might have been important previously, right? When people were,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: you know, actually investigating Jeffrey Epstein and what he was
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  Speaker 1: up to? Might have been the right time to come forward. King, 71,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: is perhaps the most prominent living New Mexico politician accused
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  Speaker 1: of having close ties to the lay financier and convicted
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  Speaker 1: sex offender. The New Mexican reported in March that King,
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  Speaker 1: who was Attorney General for eight years when Epstein owned
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  Speaker 1: a ranch in the state, had more contact with Epstein
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  Speaker 1: after Epstein's guilty plea to a child sex crime than
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  Speaker 1: was previously known, based on emails released by the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Department of Justice earlier this year. And remember, the timeline's crucial.
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  Speaker 1: You can't run around and say you had no idea
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  Speaker 1: what Jeffrey Epstein was after he was already convicted. But unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: the vast majority of people that we talk about, it's
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  Speaker 1: all after the fact. So they really don't have any
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  Speaker 1: kind of defense, right? No tenable ground. King met Epstein
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  Speaker 1: for tea in Santa Fe in 2010, accepted campaign donations
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  Speaker 1: from Epstein's companies in 2014, and flew on a private jet.
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  Speaker 1: Epstein helped charter later that year while running for governor.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Deb Haaland, the current Democratic gubernatorial nominee, was running for
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  Speaker 1: lieutenant governor then and was also on that September 8,
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  Speaker 1: 2014 flight. King didn't respond to several calls from two
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  Speaker 1: New Mexican reporters in February. However, in two phone interviews
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  Speaker 1: this week, King said he met Epstein only once, was
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: unaware of the 2014 donation made under the name of
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's companies, were from Epstein, and didn't know he helped
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  Speaker 1: charter the private plane. Sure doesn't know a whole lot,
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  Speaker 1: does he? Bet you he knew a whole lot about
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  Speaker 1: people selling drugs. Bet you he knew a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: about people committing white-collar fraud. But when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein, and the shit Epstein was up to, no idea.
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  Speaker 1: And mind you, this was the Attorney General of the state.
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  Speaker 1: But he has no idea. Okay, I guess the lady
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  Speaker 1: that ran the hotel I stayed at down in New Mexico,
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  Speaker 1: I guess she knows more than the Attorney General did.
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  Speaker 1: There's no information out there that you have or that
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  Speaker 1: anybody else has that I did him any favors, that
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  Speaker 1: I socialized with him, that we were friendly in any way,
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  Speaker 1: King said. There are people that are making up stuff
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  Speaker 1: about that out there, but none of it's true. He
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  Speaker 1: wasn't my friend. Well, I don't need to make anything up.
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  Speaker 1: We have the emails. We have the correspondence. And we
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  Speaker 1: also know that you're not just meeting him for tea
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  Speaker 1: for no reason. King also defended the fact that as
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, he didn't investigate Epstein, following Epstein's 2008 guilty
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  Speaker 1: plea to solicitation of prostitution with a minor in Florida. Well, okay, great. Fine.
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  Speaker 1: Let's just be generous and give him that. Why were
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  Speaker 1: you associating with him? If he was a known child molester,
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  Speaker 1: somebody that solicited, quote-unquote, a child prostitute, which doesn't even exist,
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  Speaker 1: why are you still spending time with him? Why are
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  Speaker 1: you meeting him for tea? Why are you meeting up
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  Speaker 1: with him for anything besides busting his fucking head open?
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  Speaker 1: I have freely admitted all along that we solicited campaign
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  Speaker 1: contributions from him, as we did from lots and lots
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  Speaker 1: of people, but I never did him any favors or
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  Speaker 1: looked the other way or did any of those kinds
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  Speaker 1: of things based on either knowing him or receiving campaign
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  Speaker 1: contributions from him, King said. The New Mexico House of
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  Speaker 1: Representatives formed an investigative subcommittee in February to examine Epstein's
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: activities in the state. potential crimes that occurred at his
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  Speaker 1: Zorro ranch, and possible legislative fixes. Separately, the State Department
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: of Justice is running a criminal investigation looking to charge
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  Speaker 1: individuals connected to Epstein's crimes. I have a funny feeling
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  Speaker 1: that's going to come up bust. Because they're not going
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  Speaker 1: to be willing to go after the people they should
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  Speaker 1: go after. I mean, you have a slam dunk when
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about people like Indyke and Kahn, people like
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  Speaker 1: Leslie Groff, people like Sarah Kellen Vickers. They were all involved.
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  Speaker 1: And there is a money trail for all of it.
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  Speaker 1: But of course, that's not what they're interested in. What
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  Speaker 1: they're interested in is trying to make it look like
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  Speaker 1: they're doing something. But until somebody's in cuffs, until we
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  Speaker 1: have a case, I really don't want to hear it.
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  Speaker 1: Although King expected to be called to testify by the
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  Speaker 1: Legislative Truth Commission by now, he hasn't been. Maybe they're
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  Speaker 1: not really interested in the truth that much, King said.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly nobody in the AG's office has ever called me
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  Speaker 1: to talk to me about it, so no, nobody's been interested. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that was the whole entire idea. Nobody was interested because
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  Speaker 1: they didn't want to drag this back up. And if
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  Speaker 1: this debate wasn't forced, nobody would be talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: And that's just the truth. A spokesperson said the commission
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  Speaker 1: is following the evidence and acting upon our investigation in
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  Speaker 1: due course. While we will be calling on persons of
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  Speaker 1: interest directly, we also welcome additional sources and encourage government
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  Speaker 1: officials with relevant information to reach out to our commission.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Pam Armstrong, responding to questions on behalf of the commission's
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  Speaker 1: Democratic members, Representative Andrea Romero and Mariana Anaya wrote in
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  Speaker 1: an email, Like everything else, it has to devolve into
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  Speaker 1: bitch-ass politics. Nobody can just get up there and say,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, let's put our bullshit to the side
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  Speaker 1: And let's try and figure this out. What, those other
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  Speaker 1: little petty fights aren't still going to be there? Of
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  Speaker 1: course they are. Epstein purchased the ranch he named Zorro
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  Speaker 1: in 93 from Gary King's father, former governor Bruce King,
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  Speaker 1: and his family, large landowners in the southern Santa Fe
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  Speaker 1: County area. As King heard it from his family members,
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  Speaker 1: Epstein was driving around looking for ranch land to buy
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  Speaker 1: around the Galistio Basin when he saw a hilltop near Stanley.
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  Speaker 1: and asked his real estate agent who owned the land.
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  Speaker 1: His real estate agent reached out to the King family,
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  Speaker 1: and they made an offer to buy the land there,
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  Speaker 1: King said. The sale offer was the first the family
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  Speaker 1: had ever heard of Epstein, he said. Yeah, certainly not
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  Speaker 1: the last. Might have been the first you heard from him.
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  Speaker 1: And after you heard that he was molesting kids, that
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  Speaker 1: should have been the last, right? But I guess not.
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  Speaker 1: Epstein paid around $ 3 million for the property, King said,
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  Speaker 1: which records show amounted to around 7,600 privately deeded acres,
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  Speaker 1: not included leased public land. Epstein associate, Glaine Maxwell, said
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  Speaker 1: in an interview with the U.S. Department of Justice last
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  Speaker 1: year that Epstein cast a wide net in his search
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  Speaker 1: for property. The two of them visited Montana, Utah, and
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico. And he just loved New Mexico, she said. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he loved the age of consent. He loved the fact
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  Speaker 1: that it was 16 and he wouldn't have to register there.
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  Speaker 1: That's what he loved. Like, are people for real? Oh yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein just loved the beautiful sunsets in the New
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  Speaker 1: Mexican desert. It was no surprise Epstein wanted the property,
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  Speaker 1: King said, rattling off the names of famous people that
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  Speaker 1: have purchased land in the Santa Fe area. Oh well,
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  Speaker 1: in that case. King said his family had little connection
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  Speaker 1: to Epstein after the purchase. Over the years, King heard
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  Speaker 1: about workers attending church in Stanley, but he didn't have
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  Speaker 1: any personal knowledge of Epstein's activities there. Epstein would come in,
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  Speaker 1: spend a few weeks, or something like that, and then leave,
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  Speaker 1: as King understood it. Man, that must be wild. Be
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  Speaker 1: the Attorney General of the state and have no idea? Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: people that are running hotels and motels, people at gas
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  Speaker 1: stations know that something bad's going on at the ranch?
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  Speaker 1: No wonder New Mexico's in such a piss-poor state. King
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  Speaker 1: remembers only a handful of phone calls with Epstein over
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  Speaker 1: the years, the first of which was in 2006 to
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  Speaker 1: solicit campaign donations. Epstein donated $ 15, 000 to King's campaign for
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, the New Mexican reported, in 2006. King this
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  Speaker 1: week said he reached out to everybody who might be
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  Speaker 1: interested in making a contribution. Now look, this was in 2006,
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  Speaker 1: so it wasn't after the conviction. So he can try
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  Speaker 1: and use that as defense, but come on. The sharks
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  Speaker 1: were already circling, and the investigation into Epstein was fully underway.
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  Speaker 1: You mean to tell me that the Attorney General Had
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  Speaker 1: no idea what was going on? I mean, come on.
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  Speaker 1: He was somebody who lived in the area and indeed
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  Speaker 1: was a businessman. We reached out to and solicited contributions
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  Speaker 1: from pretty much everybody that we knew, King said. After
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's 2006 arrest in Florida, on accusations of soliciting sex
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  Speaker 1: from girls, King told the New Mexican he planned to
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  Speaker 1: return the money to avoid any appearance of impropriety. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think I've ever met him personally, he said in 2006.
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  Speaker 1: He knows other members of my family better. King said
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  Speaker 1: this week he doesn't remember saying he would return the funds.
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  Speaker 1: I don't recall ever returning any funds that he would
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  Speaker 1: have given. In 2006, he said, King won the election
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  Speaker 1: and took office in 2007. The following year, Epstein pleaded
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  Speaker 1: guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution
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  Speaker 1: in Florida in a deal with widely criticized as lenient.
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  Speaker 1: After Florida police identified dozens underage victims accusing Epstein of abuse,
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  Speaker 1: Epstein served 13 months in jail and was placed on
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  Speaker 1: house arrest in Florida until July of 2010. Not long
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  Speaker 1: after Epstein's house arrest ended, he decided to reach out
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  Speaker 1: to King for a meeting. So he has no room
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  Speaker 1: to argue here, okay? Epstein was already convicted and you
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  Speaker 1: met him for tea. Now imagine if some child molester,
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  Speaker 1: some abuser of kids, hits you up and says, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know what? Maybe we should meet up for some tea.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think? Pretty sure I know the answer
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  Speaker 1: that most of you would give. In King's telling, Epstein
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: reached out to arrange a meeting in August 2010 because
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  Speaker 1: he wanted to express his condolences for Bruce King, who
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  Speaker 1: died the year before. They ordered two pots of tea
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  Speaker 1: at Ginger Bar and Bistro, King said, and chatted about
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  Speaker 1: his father. It seems to be sort of a human
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  Speaker 1: thing if somebody wants to express their condolences to accept that,
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  Speaker 1: King said. Oh yeah, from a convicted child molester. I'm just,
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  Speaker 1: you know, showing decorum. I'm just doing the honorable thing,
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  Speaker 1: like Prince Andrew said. Asked whether he had concerns since
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Epstein had just come off his child sex crime sentence,
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  Speaker 1: King said, as a former defense attorney, he was acquainted
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  Speaker 1: with people who had been in jail. What does that
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  Speaker 1: even mean? Yeah, that was your professional job. But you
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  Speaker 1: have these kind of friends in your personal life? Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I guess. My upbringing was such that I had been
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  Speaker 1: taught to be polite and compassionate to every human being.
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  Speaker 1: And so I don't perceive talking to Mr. Epstein to
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  Speaker 1: be anything other than being polite or compassionate, he said.
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  Speaker 1: I guess that's one way to explain it. Then there's
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  Speaker 1: the other way. And that way is that you just
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  Speaker 1: don't give a fuck that he was molesting kids. King
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  Speaker 1: said he doesn't think that Epstein and Bruce King kept
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  Speaker 1: in touch after the sale of the ranch. but his
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  Speaker 1: father was well-known and respected, so he wasn't surprised Epstein
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  Speaker 1: wanted to pay his condolences. It's possible Epstein appreciated being
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  Speaker 1: connected with the state's political elite, King said, but his
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  Speaker 1: father had been out of office since 95. So do
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  Speaker 1: you think that he had no connections anymore? His son's
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  Speaker 1: running for attorney general? They're one of the richest families
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  Speaker 1: in the whole state? But they have no connections? Nobody
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  Speaker 1: that they can reach out to on Epstein's behalf? Nobody
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  Speaker 1: they can set Epstein up with? Okay. Asked whether it's
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  Speaker 1: possible Epstein wanted to connect with King as Attorney General,
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  Speaker 1: he said, I don't know that anybody ever perceived me
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  Speaker 1: as being particularly powerful, but yeah, if you look back
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  Speaker 1: at it over the course of time, it might be
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  Speaker 1: that he thought that being friendly to me was what
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: might be beneficial to him at some point in the future.
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  Speaker 1: I can't speak to that because I wasn't inside his head.
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  Speaker 1: King remembered at the Jinja meeting, the two also talked
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  Speaker 1: about the Santa Fe Institute and where Epstein knew prominent
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  Speaker 1: Nobel laureate physicist Murray Gellman. King, who trained as a chemist,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: was interested in whether I might be able to meet
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: this Nobel Prize winner and curious about the Institute in general.
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  Speaker 1: King never got an introduction to anybody at the Santa
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Fe Institute from that, he said. Well, Jeffrey Epstein had serious,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: serious ties to the Santa Fe Institute and to Murray Gellman.
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  Speaker 1: And when I went to the Santa Fe Institute, they
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: didn't want to talk at all. They had nothing to say.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, they sent one of their goons to escort
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  Speaker 1: me off the campus. And I find it laughable that Mr.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: King is acting like he needed Jeffrey Epstein to set
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: up some kind of meeting with Mr. Gentleman. You mean
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  Speaker 1: to tell me his family, the King family, couldn't reach
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  Speaker 1: out to the Santa Fe Institute and get the meeting?
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Of course they could. So that's not really an excuse,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, that holds any water. And like most
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: of the nonsense we hear coming from people that were
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: adjacent to Epstein, it doesn't really hold up when compared
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to the contemporaneous evidence. So, in the next episode, we're
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: going to pick up where we left off, and that's
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: with 2014 donations. All the information that goes with this
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: episode can be found in the description box.