transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hello, everyone, this is JVL here with Will Sommer, author of the False Flag newsletter at The Bulwark, and we got some big Epstein news. It's all very exciting. Things are happening at the Department of Justice. Whew, so good. Before we get started, do me a solid, hit like and hit subscribe. It helps out the channel a lot. Will, CNN is reporting that the Department of Justice's internal watchdog organization is launching a review of their production of files and documents related to the Epstein controversy. Yeah. I can't tell what is happening here. Are they investigating as to whether or not the Department of Justice covered up the stuff? Or are they investigating as to whether or not the Department of Justice leaked things that it shouldn't have?

Speaker 2:
[00:52] Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, the CNN reporting, I hadn't even considered that possibility. The CNN reporting is pretty broad. It says that they're going to investigate the review of the files, the release of the files. From my perspective, I think, should they decide to look at whether Donald Trump was, the files were reviewed to omit Donald Trump or those files mentioning Trump were given some special treatment, I think there'd be a lot to look into. And so hopefully they'll be looking into that aspect. I mean, we know pages with Trump's name on them were not included in the public releases. Dick Durbin in the Senate has claimed he heard from FBI agents who were told, if you see Trump's name in a file, let's flag it and presumably something happened to those or they were maybe held back or reviewed. So I think there's a lot to dive into.

Speaker 1:
[01:40] I understand that the Inspector Generals are supposedly independent. I don't think it's really turned out to be that way in practice with this administration. So I just have, again, maybe I'm being crazy and conspiratorial. I have a hard time believing that they're gonna really investigate the Bondi Justice Department along the grounds of, hey, they were covering stuff up for Trump that they shouldn't have been. It seems more likely that this is a, boy, yeah, the deep state in the Department of Justice is being bad and look at all these things they released trying to hurt the president.

Speaker 2:
[02:15] I guess from my perspective, it seems hard to imagine this administration would allow some Inspector General, particularly at this point, I think it was gonna happen. It could have happened nine months ago. The idea that finally the Inspector General was like, hey, I just heard about this Epstein thing. It looks like you guys have been shady about this. I got to look into it. I do think it's possible. We saw with the, whether it was the Mueller investigation or the Ukraine investigation, all these different things that they turn it around and they say the real villain was the person who blew the whistle or why were they hounding Donald Trump about it.

Speaker 1:
[02:46] Yeah, I mean, remember it was, they were going to start investigating all the Democrats who were in the Epstein files. Remember, that was a thing we did for five seconds.

Speaker 2:
[02:54] Yes, and then they said, look, you know, if you Democrats go after Donald Trump, we're going to go after the delegate from the US Virgin Islands, you know, the famous Democratic icon.

Speaker 1:
[03:02] Yeah, that's great. But that's not only Epstein news. We also have the Department of Justice now defending Ghislaine Maxwell. Here's Todd Blanch. Here's a little sound.

Speaker 3:
[03:19] First of all, I am responsible for the Bureau of Prisons. So every decision that they make lands on my desk to the extent it needs to. But just let me talk about the security issue. At the time that I met Ms. Maxwell, there was a tremendous amount of scrutiny and publicity towards her. And the institution she was in, she was suffering numerous and numerous threats against her life.

Speaker 1:
[03:42] So that's the current acting Attorney General, who was the guy who did the private one-on-one meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, explaining why she was transferred to a lower security prison back in December. Will, what's happening?

Speaker 2:
[03:57] This is so weird. I mean, look, Todd Blanch is in this up to his neck, right? I mean, number one, now he's trying to be Attorney General permanently, so we have to keep that in mind. But he was the guy who did the interview with Ghislaine when the initial sort of bout of Epstein stuff last summer was really hot. And they said, we got to, you know, they're thinking, I think they needed to get Trump off the hot seat. So they sent Todd Blanch. They said the only person who we can trust here is Ghislaine. And so he did this kind of weird interview with her to exonerate Trump, where she said, oh, Trump did nothing wrong. And then suddenly, she's moved to this very cozy prison in the Midwest. Suddenly, it's, I mean, you know, she's in fact, you know, he says there, oh, you know, her life was at risk essentially in this one prison. Well, does she have to be moved to one of the nicest prisons? And we know that she's getting special treatment above what the other prisoners already there were getting. I mean, she's supposedly when the prison's in lockdown, she's still moving around, going to the library. So I think Todd Blanch sort of has his own personal reasons here to suggest, oh, you know, there was nothing on toward here. Really, it's never been explained. I mean, we've never even gotten sort of a fake reason why she was moved to this prison.

Speaker 1:
[05:04] I'm just going to move on to the next Todd Blanch thing. But there's also Republicans are mulling over whether to pardon Maxwell. Is that a thing that's happening?

Speaker 2:
[05:17] Yes, it is. It's real. You know, I mean, in a way, I feel like maybe it's always, you know, ever since, you know, this all kicked off in the summer, it was going to end up here because, you know, throughout this, there's been this idea of like the Republicans saying, and, you know, Trump is very, you know, soft on Ghislaine, essentially. I mean, he said, you know, oh, I wish her well, things like that. I mean, this is someone who, you know, besides Jeffrey Epstein was like, you know, most involved in these crimes. But now it's getting to the point where the House has their investigation, such as it is into the Epstein case. James Comer, the head of the committee, he was asked, you know, well, Ghislaine won't testify. She says she's going to plead the fifth to protect herself. Of course, if she was pardoned, she could testify and you can kind of force her to testify. Would you, are there Republicans on the committee who would support a pardon for her so she would testify? And he said, look, I personally don't support it, but the Republicans are divided on it. So this idea, I think you can kind of see a path there beginning from a little speculation on my part, beginning back from when Ghislaine came out and sort of exonerated Trump, tried to get the heat off of him. She gets this nice trip to a nicer prison. Then, you know, they say, okay, well, it's a little hot right now, but maybe in a year we can have this situation where it's not up to Trump. You know, the Republicans in Congress are asking, we need a pardon so we can find the real villains. And then that's how she gets the pardon.

Speaker 1:
[06:39] So there's a ticking clock here because the Republicans are going to lose control over the House Oversight Committee in, what, seven months. When that happens, Democrats will have the power to start investigating and offering deals to people, right? So if you're the Republicans, you kind of have to get Maxwell all buttoned up and put to bed before you lose control of the committee, don't you? Like they've got whatever she's going to say, they've got to get her to say it, whatever deal she's going to get, they've got to get her that deal so that she then has nothing to gain by working with the Democrats.

Speaker 2:
[07:18] I think there's a lot to the point you're making, and I think more broadly it behooves the Republicans to sort of say, oh, we already did our Epstein investigation. Why are the Democrats looking into this again, you know, to kind of do their report to get perhaps get Ghislaine Maxwell on the record and try to move forward? You know, on the other hand, if they rush through this, let's say she gets a pardon. That's a disaster for the midterms. I don't know if you schedule this for December or something after. But, I mean, you talk about people who are Independence, Manasphere, Joe Rogan types, who are already kind of defecting. I mean, you talk about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell. I mean, it's, basically, Comer said, you know, he knew this would be very unpopular with the public. It looks like a disaster in terms of, you know, what Trump's Epstein culpability might be. So I think they have to balance those.

Speaker 1:
[08:03] The, well, and this brings us to the last thing I want to ask you about, which is, how salient is this going to be going forward? Because here's the other piece of sound I wanted to share.

Speaker 3:
[08:14] And so I think that, to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward.

Speaker 1:
[08:22] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[08:24] Well.

Speaker 1:
[08:24] So, the guy who wants to be the formal confirmed AG says, it just shouldn't be the part of anything going forward. To what extent does he have the power to make that reality?

Speaker 2:
[08:36] You know, I think it's a little unclear. I mean, there is a law now that they have to release the files. And so, you know, I think that there are further files. I mean, obviously, as we discussed, there's now this Inspector General review. You know, certainly if you did want to become Trump's pick for Attorney General, you kind of have to say that, right? I mean, he can't say, oh, I really would love to, you know, till the end of this administration, I want to be getting in. I want to see if there's anyone else we can indict, you know, which may be, hey, as the top law enforcement official in the country, you know, maybe that would be a good thing to look at instead of, you know, let's wrap this up as soon as possible. So I think, you know, you can tell that, I mean, God, Todd Blanch is fighting for his life on this issue. I mean, he knows personally he's involved in whatever happened with Ghislaine. I mean, he's really stuck here. So I think he's obviously trying, I think personally to move on as well.

Speaker 1:
[09:24] Do you think he survives it?

Speaker 2:
[09:25] You know, I don't know. I mean, I think if, you know, he's going to have to go in front of the Senate and get confirmed, you know, he's going to be Attorney General. And so, you know, I think if, you know, the Ghislaine pardon, I think if he goes in front of the Senate, I think there's going to be more questions about her treatment in prison and these perks she's received. And this is something I think the average voter, particularly people who aren't like super high information, this is something that breaks through. I mean, pedophile rings, you know, Trump's connections therein. I mean, this is something that you could say to someone rather than saying, well, did you know your gas is, you know, even 30%, you know, whatever higher from the war in Iran or talk about other issues. But I mean, if you say like Trump cut a deal with the most notorious living sex trafficker in the country, in the world maybe, I mean, you know, I think that would break through with people. So, you know, even in the Senate, I could see Republicans getting a little concerned.

Speaker 1:
[10:17] Your lips to God's ears. Will, thanks a lot. Everybody listen, if you are going to be in Southern California, we have live shows coming up in Los Angeles and San Diego. Next month, tickets are going fast. If you want to go to the shows, go get your tickets now before they sell out. Go to thebulwark.com/events for information and links to get the tickets. Everybody else will be back. I don't think the Epstein stuff is actually going away. Hit like, hit subscribe, follow the channel. Good luck, America.