Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Raskin and Dean Send DOJ a Letter Demanding a Botstein Investigation (10/9/26)

Transcript

Raskin and Dean Send DOJ a Letter Demanding a Botstein Investigation (10/9/26) · 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 Jeffrey Epstein and his influence,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: one of the sectors that was absolutely polluted and corrupted
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: by him is higher education. And one of the people
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that was very, very close to Jeffrey Epstein is Leon Botstein.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And now Leon Botstein is facing the music due to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that relationship. And now on the back end of a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: letter that was sent by Jamie Raskin pointing to a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: rather disturbing email, Mr. Botstein has now stepped down from
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: all of his roles at Bard University. So today, in
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: this episode, that's what we're going to talk about. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to do that, why don't we dive into this letter
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: that was sent by Jamie Raskin. And this letter was
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: sent to Attorney General Blanche and Kash Patel. Dear Attorney
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: General Blanche and Director Patel, For decades, Jeffrey Epstein and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Ghislaine Maxwell operated a massive, multi-billion dollar international sex trafficking
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: ring that victimized more than 1,000 women and girls. Nonetheless,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: you have claimed that neither the Department of Justice nor
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the Federal Bureau of Investigation has any evidence to prosecute
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: or even investigate a single person for their role in
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: this gigantic conspiracy. 15 months ago, on July 6, 2025,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: six months after President Donald Trump took office, DOJ and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: FBI insisted in a joint memorandum that federal law enforcement
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: had no evidence that could predicate an investigation into any
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: possible co-conspirators. Then, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch doubled down
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: on the wild claim a few weeks later, stating the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: remains as accurate today as it was when it was written.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Director Kash Patel claimed in front of Congress that there's
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: no credible information that Epstein trafficked young women to anybody else,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and that if there was, I would bring the case
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals. These statements were
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: demonstrably false. Members of Congress have reviewed unredacted versions of
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: certain documents in the Epstein files on computer terminals at DOJ.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Despite DOJ's infamous efforts to make the review process as
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: cumbersome and restrictive as possible, we've identified key documents that
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: indicate the existence of possible co-conspirators clearly worthy of further
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: investigation and potential prosecution. Records in the DOJ Epstein files
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: indicate that throughout 2014, Jeffrey Epstein groomed a young foreign
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: model and aspiring vocalist referred to as Jane Doe in
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  Speaker 1: this letter. by offering her advice and help with her
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: plans to attend school and develop her career in the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: United States. Instead of helping her pursue nursing of the arts,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Epstein pressured her to take sex education and massage courses.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: In exchange for arranging her visas and paying her educational
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and medical expenses, Epstein employed Jane Doe while he sexually
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: abused her. Epstein then attempted to convince her to become
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a mistress, although it's not clear to whom rather than
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: pursue gainful employment outside of his control. By all appearances,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Epstein was trafficking this young woman across state and international
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: lines by mid-2014. Epstein had his assistant, Leslie Groff, arrange
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: several private flights for Jane, though, to travel from Europe
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to Canada and a series of destinations across the United States,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: including New York, Florida, New Mexico, and his Caribbean island.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Before one of these visits, Jane Doe sent Epstein a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: picture of herself giving a woman, possibly Ghislaine Maxwell, a
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: nude massage. Epstein used his relationship with Leon Botstein to
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: convince Jane Doe that she could have a successful musical
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: career after modeling. In May of 2014, Epstein sent Jane
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  Speaker 1: Doe to meet Botstein, then president of Bard College and
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: director of the American Symphony Orchestra and other Bard music programs.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: ostensibly for him to assess her musical talent and provide
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: her with educational guidance. We've reviewed one startling email, redacted
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: by DOJ, sent from Botstein's Bard email account, president at
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Bard EDU, to Epstein that reads, It appears that Botstein
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: was referring to his meeting with Jane Doe, scheduled to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: take place two days later, on Saturday, May 17th, 2014,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: when Botstein was supposed to assess Jane Doe's singing ability.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Epstein further leaned on Botstein to convince Jane Doe's parents
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: of his legitimacy, just as he did with Leary parents
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: of other survivors. A couple of weeks after Epstein sent
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Jane Doe to Botstein, Epstein asked Botstein for four orchestra tickets,
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  Speaker 1: apparently for Jane Doe's parents, and the parents of another
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: woman who works for him to attend a Bard concert abroad.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Epstein gave Botstein instructions on how to charm the parents,
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  Speaker 1: telling him to shake their hands and that any special
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: treatment would be appreciated. Following the concert, a BART administrator
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: forwarded an email exchanging photos from the concert to Botstein,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein's guest. Another woman in the group took the photo.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: It's hard to construct any kind of innocent explanation for
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a Botstein's question and the surrounding events. Botstein said, Ask
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the most famous sexual predator of our time about a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: woman Epstein was trafficking. Is Jane Doe for me? Or
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: are you keeping her for yourself? We know that Epstein
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: was neither a college president recruiting students, nor a symphony
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: director recruiting players. So what would it mean for Botstein
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: to ask Epstein whether Jane Doe was for him, or
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: whether Epstein was keeping her for yourself? In any event,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: this evidence and the facts laid out in the Epstein
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: files surely meet or exceed the federal law enforcement standard
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: for initiating a criminal investigation. The existence of evidence that
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a crime may have occurred, and these facts strongly indicate
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that a crime may have occurred. Yet you've done nothing,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and launched no investigation about this incident, which you and
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: your staff must have known, for at least 18 months.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: In doing so, you've effectively permitted a potential co-conspirator of
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein to stay in a position of power over
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: young students, faculty, and staff for an additional year at least.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: At the most basic level, this episode also demonstrates your
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: fundamental dereliction of duty in failing to protect survivors during
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the release of materials pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: This woman's name was indiscriminately unredacted hundreds of times in
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the Epstein Files, her face was unredacted in pictures, Yet
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: despite this outrageous recklessness with respect to survivor or deliberate
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: exposure of personal identifying information, you are apparently careful to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: redact Leon Botstein's email address in an incriminating email. Why
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: was her name released? Why, by contrast, was his email redacted?
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Who directed this disparate treatment contrary to law? And who
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: were they working to protect? We now urge you once
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: again to undertake a serious investigation into rather than a
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: cover-up of the countless potential crimes suggested in evidence in
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the Epstein files. This would require you to abandon your
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: reasonable lie that there's no evidence in the Epstein files
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that could predicate an investigation into third parties. Investigate Leon Botstein.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Investigate Leon Black. Jess Daly. Les Wexner. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulaym.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Richard Kahn. Darren Indyke. Leslie Groff. Larry Vesosky. And others.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Congress should not have to continue to do your job
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: for you. We also urge you to comply immediately and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: in full with the requirement of the EFTA. Release all
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: the files, including the millions of pages that you have
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: so far withheld illegally, unredact the names of everyone but
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the victims, and drop your absurd claims of privilege. Allow
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: congressional staff to view these files. Every day in which
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: you refuse to comply with the EFTA's requirements, that you
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: release the complete Epstein Files compounds the injustice done to
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: the country, generally and specifically the survivors. Every day that
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: passes reduces the time for investigation and prosecution in cases
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: where the statute of limitations clock is ticking. Every pressing
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: day threatens the loss of and damage to evidence that
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: could be used by state and local prosecutors to bring
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: cases against Epstein and Maxwell's co-conspirators. who have yet to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: face any accountability or justice. While we restate these requests
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: in good faith, so that the survivors may finally see justice,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: we can have no confidence, alas, that you will decide
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to honor either of them. Ultimately, we understand that your
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: outrageous abandonment of your responsibilities is not about Leon Botstein.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: It's about protecting another individual who appears frequently in the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Epstein Files and who may have also been a co-conspirator
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: in Jeffrey Epstein's brutal and sex trafficking operation. And yet
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you continue to show the world that you would rather
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: let a dozen, even a hundred, or a thousand human
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: sex traffickers go free than allow the possibility of an
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: honest investigation of the conduct of one man. Very truly yours,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Jamie Raskin and Madeline Dean. And this document was dated...
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: on october 7th 2026 all the information that goes with
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: this episode can be found in the description box