Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Before the Island: The Real Origin of the Governments Jeffrey Epstein Failure (Part 2) (5/6/26)

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Before the Island: The Real Origin of the Governments Jeffrey Epstein Failure (Part 2) (5/6/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:07
  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're picking up where we
• 0:11
  left off in the last episode, talking about the corrupt
• 0:15
  nature of the Epstein investigation from the very beginning. This
• 0:20
  article was published by NBC News and once again the
• 0:24
  authors are Sarah Fitzpatrick and Rich Shapiro. Epstein, who had
• 0:29
  a massive bankroll and extensive connections, had assembled the high
• 0:33
  powered team of lawyers including Kenneth Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Jack Goldberger,
• 0:37
  and Jay Lefkowitz. Around the time, writer said, the investigation
• 0:42
  took another strange turn. Epstein's defense team seemed to know
• 0:46
  details about the probe before they were made public. Oh
• 0:49
  I wonder how that happened. I'm sure it had nothing
• 0:51
  to do with people on the high giving Jeffrey Epstein's
• 0:55
  lawyers information. Right, that would never happen. That would be
• 0:58
  way out of bounds. So why was Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers
• 1:02
  having meetings with high ranking officials from the DOJ? Everybody
• 1:06
  wants to talk about Alex Acosta, But bro, you really
• 1:09
  think Acosta made this decision? You think Acosta was the guy?
• 1:13
  Zero chance he was given marching orders and he marched
• 1:17
  to the tune that the DOJ was playing, because I
• 1:20
  assure you that any deal that's getting cut, any kind
• 1:23
  of serious situation that's involving somebody like Epstein, who has
• 1:28
  donated so much money, who is so connected politically, that's
• 1:32
  not a decision that some mid level prosecutor in Florida
• 1:35
  is going to make. Now, he can have recommendations, and
• 1:38
  he can go to his bosses and say, look, this
• 1:40
  is what I want to do, but the bosses ultimately
• 1:43
  have to sign off on it. So if you're out
• 1:45
  here blaming alex Acosta, congratulations, you fell for it. And
• 1:49
  whoever Epstein's handlers are, they thank you for it. We
• 1:55
  believe that the content of our probable cause affid David eventually,
• 1:58
  sometime after we presented it to the State Attorney's office,
• 2:02
  ended up with the defense attorneys. Writer said, because minute
• 2:06
  details that nobody else knew that were in those documents
• 2:09
  were being refuted and contrary information provided by the defense.
• 2:13
  The whole last thing was tilted from the beginning. And remember,
• 2:17
  they were doing all of this to protect a guy
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  that was accused of molesting little girls. And when we're
• 2:23
  talking about palm beach. That's what we're talking about. Don't
• 2:26
  get it conflated. We're not talking about nineteen twenty year
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  old girls. We're not talking about eighteen year old girls.
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  We're talking about girls in high school fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, maybe.
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  But when Epstein was up to this bullshit with the
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  high schools, he liked them young, and when the girls
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  would age out, what he would do is have them
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  go and recruit girls for them, and the girls themselves,
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  they didn't know any better. Sixteen seventeen years old, some
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  guy says, bring some friends over to give me a massage.
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  And to these girls that sounded like a great idea. Oh,
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  I can go make a couple hundred bucks and give
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  this guy a massage. Until they got there and he
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  started molesting them. But the whole entire network, the infrastructure
• 3:09
  was built to make that seem normal, so that when
• 3:12
  the girls will come over and get a massage and
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  then Epstein would do his bullshit, they talk to their
• 3:17
  friends and their friends would be like, oh, he does
• 3:19
  that to me too. So in the girl's mind, remember
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  we're talking about kids here, in her mind, it's like, well,
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  if all my friends are doing it, then it must
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  be okay. But as we all know, nothing about this
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  was okay. And the fact that this dirtbag was getting
• 3:33
  inside information is just unbelievable to me. And the fact
• 3:37
  that more people don't talk about it is wild. I mean,
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  if you want to get down to it, you got
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  to start at the beginning, right the origin story. And
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  the origin story when we're talking about Jeffrey Epstein's bullshit,
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  most certainly begins in Palm Beach. And this guy was
• 3:54
  abusing high school girls. Remember we're not talking about oh,
• 3:57
  this girl looked nineteen. Stein knew that these girls were underage,
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  and that's exactly what he wanted. But yet somebody in
• 4:05
  the federal government decided they wanted to protect them. Ask yourself,
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  why why, Jeffrey Epstein? Why pull out all the stops
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  for a man who is accused of crimes against children?
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  It makes zero sense. This is the kind of guy
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  that you usually try to put underneath the prison, unless,
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  of course, he has friends and money. This writer said,
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  never happened to me before in my career. I don't
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  doubt it. How many times are you dealing with somebody
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  like Jeffrey Epstein? Imagine dealing with somebody like this as
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  the chief, and all this stuff starts happening, and you're
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  saying to yourself, look, I'm just trying to engage an
• 4:44
  investigation here and bring down a child molester. Meanwhile, I
• 4:47
  got the federal government, state prosecutors, everyone breaking my chops
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  and folks. Unfortunately, this is just a tip of the iceberg.
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  When you start digging into Epstein and what he was
• 4:57
  up to, it runs deep as fuck. And that's why
• 5:00
  I find it offensive when you have the President of
• 5:03
  the United States out here talking about move on. We
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  haven't even figured out the basics yet when it comes
• 5:09
  to who was involved as far as behind the scenes.
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  One thing we do know though, is there are people involved.
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  Stuff like this doesn't just happen. This wasn't a mistake.
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  Somebody didn't just wake up one morning and say, you
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  know what, let's protect Jeffrey Epstein. There was motivation there.
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  Question is what was that motivation and who was providing
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  that motivation. Writer was so frustrated that he took the
• 5:35
  unusual step of asking the state Attorney Barry Krisher, to
• 5:39
  remove himself from the case, citing the office highly unusual
• 5:42
  treatment of the investigation. The man investigating the case, asked
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  for the state attorney to be removed because he felt
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  like there was impropriety. He felt like somebody in the
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  state attorney's office or federal government was feeding Jeffrey Epstein information.
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  And when that didn't work, the police chief turned his
• 6:01
  evidence over to the FBI, and they said, this is
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  an easy case. This is a horrific situation. We'll put
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  him away for the rest of his life. Writer recalled,
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  and that's what the US attorney assistant US attorney told
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  us as well. So it was an easy case until
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  it wasn't. Huh. It was an easy case until Mukasey
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  and Philippe called you and said, look, that's the end
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  of that. Kill this shit. Kick this back down to
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  the state level. Get us out of it, because we
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  don't want to rock the boat. The last thing we
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  want is some unnamed spoot kicking in our door and
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  telling us that they better back off of Jeffrey Epstein.
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  I mean, what other excuse can there be? The Fact
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  that Jeffrey Epstein was being handled by the very very
• 6:46
  top brass at the DOJ should tell you everything you
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  need to know. But writers renewed enthusiasm didn't last long.
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  In time, it became clear that the federal probe was
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  also stalling. Though he believes the FBI agents were invested
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  did in the case. I believe that this was a
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  decision made by brass, point blank, period, nobody else. Writer
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  arranged to meet face to face with the prosecutor in
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  charge of the case, US Attorney Alex Acosta. Acosta would
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  go on to be named US Labor Secretary under President
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  Donald Trump. The conversation writer said did not get off
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  to a promising start. He basically said, in a very
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  measured manner that the defense in the case has successfully
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  delayed and frustrated their investigation and their prosecution of the case.
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  Writers said, imagine saying that this is a federal government
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  we're talking about, not some podunk backwater district, the federal
• 7:42
  government that has unlimited resources, unlimited money onlimited prosecutors. But
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  they could do nothing here. They were being frustrated by
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  Jeffrey Epstein, huh? Or would they being frustrated by their
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  own bosses. That's what it comes down to, and in
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  my opinion, that's what was going on. Mukasey and Philip
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  they're the ones who slowed this all down, and they're
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  the ones who eventually made it go away. When you're
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  the boss, the buck stops with you. I don't want
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  to hear shit about middle management. I don't want to
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  hear anything about the supervisor on duty. You're the boss.
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  And that's why I always talk about Acosta being the
• 8:16
  fall guy. He don't make those decisions, but the fact
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  that he went down for them is another tell that
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  this was a big cover up. But Writer left Acosta's
• 8:25
  office hoping for the best after the prosecutors told them
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  they were moving forward with the investigation. I left that
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  meeting thinking, this guy hopefully is going to do his job.
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  Writer said. It didn't turn out the way Writer had hoped.
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  In two thousand and seven, Acosta made the decision not
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  to charge Epstein in federal court. Instead, he sent the
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  case back to the local prosecutors. How could you even
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  write that with a straight face? How could you say
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  that with a straight face. Anybody who knows anything about
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  anything knows that that's not the truth. That a guy
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  like Acosta isn't the one making that deal. It has
• 9:00
  to get signed off on. We're talking about a bureaucracy here.
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  We're not talking about a guy with no notoriety. We're
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  not talking about somebody who's not connected. We're talking about
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  a guy that obviously had very very deep connections to
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  very very powerful people. So acting like Alex Acosta is
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  going to be the one to make that call has
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  always been ridiculous. Writer was crushed. The same office that
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  had seemingly refused to pursue Epstein aggressively was now back
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  in charge. Acosta agreed to sign a non prosecution deal
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  that ended the federal sex crimes investigation and spared Epstein
• 9:36
  the prospect of serving several years in prison. Instead, Epstein
• 9:40
  pleaded guilty to stay charges of soliciting a minor for
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  prostitution and served thirteen months at Palm Beach County jail.
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  Epstein was also required to register as a sex offender
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  and pay his restitution to his victims. So that made
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  it all better. Everything was all fine and well now, right, No,
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  the fact that they didn't go after Epstein here with
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  federal charges allowed Epstein to continue to operate all the
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  way up until he was arrested. So all those girls
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  who were molested and abused after he was arrested the
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  first time in Florida, that's directly on the hands of
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  the Department of Justice and the federal government. No wonder
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  they want this all to go away. I've never seen
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  anything like it, Writer said. It was extremely unusual and disappointing.
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  Writers said he believes a result would have been different
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  had the victims been underage boys. That would have shocked
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  the senses more. Writers said, somehow this hit a different
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  place and that they were young women on the way
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  to being women. Man, that's horrible to even think about.
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  How could you even think like that? Like I don't
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  even have a daughter, and the thought of a child,
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  a young high school girl, being lured into the clutches
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  of Jeffrey Epstein is just almost too much to stomach.
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  So I don't know how anybody with a daughter out
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  here could give Jeffrey Epstein any kind of deal. But unfortunately,
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  there's a lot of people who are sick in the
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  fucking head, and some of those people are the ones
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  who can make decisions about mine and your freedom. And
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  if that's not terrifying, I don't know what is. Epstein
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  was released from jail in the summer of two thousand
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  and nine. The case seen behind him until twenty eighteen,
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  when the Miami Herald published an expose highlighting the government's
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  kid glove treatment of a man accused of praying on
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  dozens of underage girls. Acosta defended the way his office
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  handled what he described as a complicated case. We believe
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  we proceeded appropriately, Acosta said during a July twenty nineteen
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  press conference. We did what we did because we wanted
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  to see Epstein go to jail. You had all the
• 11:52
  evidence to send him to federal prison. Stop the bullshit.
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  All of the evidence was there. You didn't have the backbone,
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  Alex Acosta to stand up to your superiors. That's the
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  real story here, not that Alex's Acosta gave out a deal.
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  He didn't give out shit. Bro has no backbone, though,
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  and that's why he should be ridiculed. Imagine your boss
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  is coming to you and telling you that it's time
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  to let this go, that you're just going to kick
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  this back down to the state. I would lose my job.
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  I would go absolutely bonkers. I go to the OIG,
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  I go to the president, everybody. There is zero way
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  that I'd be okay with this, and any prosecutor that
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  is okay with it is a spineless ass pump and
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  there's no doubt that Acosta is certainly guilty of that.
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  But Acosta resigned as Labor Secretary two days later amid
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  mounting criticism. Krisher, the former state attorney, didn't return a
• 12:44
  request for a comment from NBC News, but he released
• 12:48
  a statement in July defending his office and pushing back
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  against acosta suggestion that the state prosecutors were driving the case.
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  If mister Acosta was truly concerned with the state's case
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  and felt he had to rest the matter, he would
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  have moved forward with the fifty three page indictment that
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  his own office drafted, Krisher said, And look, it's always
• 13:07
  been a game of hot potato, all these agencies passing
• 13:11
  the buck when they all played their part. But I
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  think the most egregious issue here is the federal government
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  kicking this back down to the state. They had everything
• 13:19
  they needed, but instead they pumped out. Epstein was arrested
• 13:23
  on fresh charges in July. New York federal prosecutors charged
• 13:27
  them with sex trafficking and conspiracy in a case that
• 13:30
  featured similar allegations to those a decade earlier. Epstein pleaded
• 13:35
  not guilty, but he committed suicide allegedly inside his federal
• 13:39
  jail cell last month. The death left Righter thinking about
• 13:42
  the victims and their lost chance to see them held accountable.
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  I feel badly for the victims, Writer said. I realize
• 13:49
  that there's catharsis in confronting Epstein, and they'll never have
• 13:53
  that opportunity. But he hopes that the entirety of the
• 13:57
  case will lead to systemic change. Yeah, how's that working out?
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  Six years later, how's it working out? Oh, that's right,
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  we're just moving on. So what has changed. Nothing? That's
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  what's changed, absolutely nothing. The criminal justice system needs to
• 14:14
  learn from this and make sure it can't happen again,
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  said Rider, who still lives in Palm Beach where he
• 14:19
  runs a security consulting firm. Writer wants to see legislation
• 14:24
  that bars miners from being labeled as prostitutes in the
• 14:27
  justice system. He also called on Florida lawmakers to close
• 14:30
  the loopholes that allow people like Epstein to get away
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  with misdemeanors for child sex crimes. If you look at
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  the first dozen victims and their accounts of what happened
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  to them, it's clear to me he was coached by
• 14:41
  a lawyer on how to only commit a misdemeanor. Writer said,
• 14:45
  if you're a member of the legislature and you're out
• 14:47
  listening to this right now, fix this. It needs to
• 14:50
  be fixed. Writer also delivered a message to all those
• 14:54
  girls whose lives were upbended by a middle aged sexual
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  predator with endless resources available to him. I don't have
• 15:01
  any contact with the victims, and if they're listening now,
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  I'm embarrassed for the way the criminal justice system treated
• 15:07
  them back then in Florida, Writer said, But I want
• 15:10
  them to know that not every part of the system
• 15:12
  failed them. We did our job in Palm Beach Police Department,
• 15:16
  and everything that happened here should lead to in the future,
• 15:19
  if any of these things happen again to some other victim,
• 15:22
  that the system won't fail them. Chief Michael Ryder didn't
• 15:26
  set out to make history. He wasn't chasing headlines, and
• 15:29
  he didn't have a political agenda. He was a police
• 15:32
  chief trying to do his job, trying to protect children,
• 15:35
  trying to hold a predator accountable, trying to believe that
• 15:38
  the system he served would do the right thing once
• 15:41
  the truth was laid bare. But the truth wasn't enough.
• 15:45
  The Epstein case in Palm Beach exposed a terrifying reality
• 15:49
  that in America, the rules bend for the rich and
• 15:52
  the powerful can buy not just silence, but immunity, and
• 15:56
  Writers saw at firsthand. He saw a case with overwhelming
• 16:01
  evidence get quietly gutted. He saw a prosecutor shrink in
• 16:04
  the face of billion dollar pressure. And he saw a
• 16:07
  man who should have faced decades behind bars walk away
• 16:10
  with a wrist slab and a secret deal that shielded
• 16:14
  his entire operation. And still Chief Writer refused to back down.
• 16:19
  He went to the FBI, He wrote a letter to
• 16:21
  the victims. He called out corruption when it would have
• 16:23
  been safer to stay quiet, because he understood something that
• 16:27
  most people in power seem to forget, that silence in
• 16:31
  the face of injustice is complicity. In this episode, you
• 16:35
  heard what he saw. You heard how the case was buried,
• 16:37
  how justice was bought, how victims were sidelined, and how
• 16:41
  the system at every level chose to protect a predator
• 16:45
  over the truth. So the question now isn't just what happened,
• 16:49
  it's why did it happen, and more importantly, who made
• 16:52
  sure it did. This was never just about Jeffrey Epstein.
• 16:56
  This was about the system. It was about the system
• 16:59
  that at them thrive. All of the information that goes
• 17:03
  with this episode can be found in the description box