1. Jeffrey Epstein Files Controversy:
- Attorney General Pam Bondi's Accusations: Bondi accused the New York FBI Field Office of deliberately withholding significant parts of the Jeffrey Epstein files. She sent a formal letter to FBI Director Cash Patel, demanding the full release of the files and an investigation into why her orders were not followed.
- Details of the Letter: Bondi's letter, dated February 27, 2025, outlines her repeated requests for the full Epstein files and the discovery that thousands of pages were being withheld. She set a deadline for the FBI to deliver the complete files and to investigate the non-compliance.
- White House Briefing: Conservative influencers were invited to the White House, where they received Phase One of the Epstein files. The briefing revealed that the FBI in New York had not provided all the documents, and there were suspicions of audio and video recordings being withheld.
- Media and Public Reaction: The media criticized the release, calling it a "nothing burger," while conservative influencers emphasized the significance of the withheld documents and the deep state resistance.
2. Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump:
- New York Post Report: The document discusses a New York Post article suggesting that the would-be assassin of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, may have had an accomplice. The FBI is accused of suppressing information related to the investigation.
- Details of the Incident: Highlighting the lack of information about the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and the possibility of a criminal network involved in the assassination attempt. Private investigator Doug Hagman suggests that Crooks did not act alone and that there were coordinated efforts to carry out the assassination.
- FBI's Role: We raise concerns about the FBI's handling of the investigation and the need for transparency. It mentions the frustration of local law enforcement and the public over the lack of information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome. It is Vernic was center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you as well, and Senator. It was a very
big day Thursday, as we got part one of the
Epstein files that were released the public by a lot
of conservatives that were at the White House. And then
Pam Bondi came out afterwards and dropped a bomb that
(00:21):
was pretty much, Hey, I may be the Attorney General
in cash, but tell maybe the FBI director, but there
are people in New York that are hiding documents from
us that deal with Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well that's exactly right. And let me start by saying
thank you to Pam Bondy for honoring the promises she made.
I have been calling on the Department of Justice to
release the full Jeffrey Epstein files, and she is working
to do that. And so she released the first tranch
of information today. That was good, although a lot of
(00:53):
the observers who saw the information were underwhelmed by what
was in it. She released it to a group group
of conservative influencers online and gave them a binder with
the information and there were no no big smoking guns
and what came out initially. We we do know that
the the The new Jeffrey Epstein contact list included Alec Baldwin,
(01:17):
Michael Jackson, and Mick Jagger. But it was for people
who want to know who were Jeffrey Epstein's clients, who
was who was complicit and and and who is guilty
as he was of sexually abusing teenage girls. There was
(01:39):
relatively little information in the files that were released, But
then there was a bombshell because Pambondy accused the New
York FBI office of with holding significant parts of the
Epstein files. That that's a big, big deal, and she
(02:02):
did so in a formal letter that she sent to
Cash Pattel. So she sent a letter on February twenty seventh.
I'm going to read you the entire letter because this
letter's a big deal. February twenty seventh, twenty twenty five.
Dear Director Patel, before you came into office, I requested
the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In
(02:22):
response to this request, I received approximately two hundred pages
of documents, which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein's list
of contacts, and a list of victims' names and phone numbers.
I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of
documents responsive to my request, and was repeatedly assured by
(02:43):
the FBI that we had received the full set of documents.
Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI
Field office in New York was in possession of thousands
of pages of documents related to the invent instigation and
indictment of Epstein. Despite my repeated requests the FBI never
(03:07):
disclose the existence of these files. When you and I
spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was
to learn this new information. By eight am Tomorrow, February
twenty eighth, the FBI will deliver the full and complete
Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio
(03:29):
and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and
his clients. Regardless of how such information was obtained. There
will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access.
The Department of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure
of these files will be done in a manner to
(03:51):
protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law,
as I have done my entire career as a prosecutor.
Also directing you to conduct an immediate investigation into why
my order to the FBI was not followed. You will
deliver to me a comprehensive report of your findings and
(04:13):
proposed personnel action within fourteen days. I appreciate your immediate
attention to this important matter. I know that we are
both committed to transparency for the American people, and I
look forward to continuing to work with you to serve
our President and our country. Sincerely, Pamela Bondi, Attorney General.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
This letter was incredible, and I actually talked to someone
that you and I both know, Chad Prather. He was
invited as one of the fifteen. He's a fellow Texan
that went to the White House, and as soon as
he left, we actually talked on the phone and he said, Ben,
he said, none of us that were invited up here
knew we were going to get the Epstein files. Number one.
(04:57):
We were actually brought up to the White House to
talk about communitys and we were going to meet with
the Vice President. We didn't know we're going to be
meeting with the people in the cabinet. We didn't know
we were going to be meeting with the president. We
certainly didn't know we were going to be given these
Epstein files, and he said there was two parts of
this that the big mainstream media clearly didn't understand. Or
(05:17):
they were angry that we got the files before they did,
and so they wanted to say that today was a
nothing burger. He said. When they gave them to us,
they said, look, there's really nothing new in here that
you're going to find. This is why we're calling it
Part one. And then they said what we want you
to know is exactly the letter that you just read,
which was we don't have the majority of the intel
(05:40):
that we've been demanding because there are bad actors in
the deep state who were refusing to give it to us.
In fact, what they said was even more shocking was
Pambondi did an interview with Waters last night on Fox
and she was talking about the quote two hundred pages
that she had there in essence of whistle blower that
(06:01):
saw the interview and said, I need to tell you
right now that you're missing a lot of pages and
they're not giving them to you from New York FBI.
And that's how fast this all came about. So you're
thinking about when you're the attorney of the United States
of America. You're going on TV and only because you
gave a page number which was about ten percent of
(06:21):
apparently what is actually out there based on what the
whistle bober said. This is insane that this is our
government right now and there's that many people fighting against
the will of the people who elected the president, who
had put Pambondi and Cashpit telling to these positions.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Well, and from the letter, there may be audio and
video recordings. There may be some issue that some of
the materials were seized illegally. I mean, there's a suggestion
there that regardless of how it was accessed, I want it.
But look, I got to say, listen, I worked in
the Department of Justice twenty five years ago. I have
(06:59):
been been working in and around law enforcement for virtually
my entire adult life. I have never seen something like
this happened. So understand, the FBI reports to the Department
of Justice, Cash Patel, his boss is Pambondi. The FBI
is in the ORG chart reporting to the Department of Justice.
(07:21):
So when the Attorney General orders the FBI, I want
to see these files. In every instance, I'm aware of
the FBI complies they're supposed to be law enforcement. If
the Attorney General says I want to see something, you
give it to the Attorney general and look, presumably we
will find out. And we'll find out I guess within
(07:42):
two weeks when Cash Pateel prepares his report saying here's
what happened. But it is astonishing if you have rogue
agents in the New York office of the FBI who
are just defying the Attorney General. That is a level
of open warfare that I've never seen, and it really
(08:06):
does indicate the need to clean house in a major way.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
There was also another aspect of this, and again this
is coming from Chad and he was meeting right with
the president and the vice president and these other cabinet
members pam Bondi, Cashpateel, and he said they were also
the letter has been basically just completely misconstrued as if
there's some sort of disagreement or wedge between Pambondi and
(08:31):
cash Ptel. But when you understand the backstory, he said,
their lockstep. She's giving this letter out to give him
the power to then go get the answers from the demands.
And yet the media was reporting this tonight all over
the place like oh, there's a big rift between the
Attorney General and the FBI director. That is also not
the case at all. Another lie.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, and I think that's very clear from the letter
where it says when you and I spoke yesterday, you
were just as surprised as I was to learn this
new information. And so Cash Betel has just been confirmed.
As you know. I went to Cash Betel's swearing in
at the White House last week. He's brand new on
the job. He has a mandate to restore integrity to
(09:15):
the FBI. And I guess the whistleblower, whoever the source was,
contacted the Attorney General directly, and she's the one, the
Attorney General who told Cashpateel about this documents. I am
sure he is pissed off at what the New York
Field Office apparently did, and I fully expect he will
(09:37):
get to the bottom of it, and I expect they're
going to make the results of that public. I think
we're all going to know exactly who's responsible.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And why let me ask about accountability here, because you
would understand this the law more than I certainly do,
and that is, if you've been directed by the FBI
director or the Attorney General to turnover documents, and you
work in the government, you deliberately hide those documents and
do not turn them over. Are you committing a crime
(10:04):
or is it basically worst case scenario, you'll lose your
job and they fire you for insupportination.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Likely the latter. There's not anything it would There's not
an immediate crime that comes to mind. It's just defying
your boss. I suppose you could try to characterize it
as obstruction of justice. But but I think that the
simplest explanation, the simplest remedy would be termination. And I
(10:31):
expect any FBI agent that that deliberately disobeyed a direct
order from the Attorney General, I expect anyone involved in
that to be terminated.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's an incredible story, and I think one of the
things that we should make clear is there's clearly significant information.
We've been told that Pambondi has said that there is video,
there is audio, there's a lot of recordings.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Will be clear. To be clear, we don't know that.
At the least, the letter doesn't say that. It just
says deliver the full and complete files, including audio and
video recordings. And look, lawyers tend to be pretty broad
she may not know that their audio and video recordings.
She may she may there may be, or there may
not be, but she hasn't definitively said that there are
(11:17):
audio and video recordings.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, that's what the letter said. But
what's interesting is from the people that were in the meeting,
they were told that this was in essence the tip
of the Iceberger that they do have audio and video
recordings that apparently have been withheld from the New York office.
And that's part of the reason why I think you're
seeing the demand come out this way is that there
must be a lot that the deep state doesn't want
(11:40):
us to see, which goes back to my final question
for you center on this. Why is it they don't
want us to see this? Is this because they're trying
to protect people in the political world? What would be
the reason you wouldn't want to know or for everyone
to see what it is they're desperately trying to hide
(12:00):
from not only us, but literally from the Attorney General
in the FBI director.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So look, I don't know, I can only speculate it.
It may be that they want to protect people who's
whose misconduct or criminal conduct is suggested or or demonstrated
in the files. I don't know that, but that certainly
could be a reason. We do know that Jeffrey Epstein
was very close to a number of Democrats, that he
(12:26):
was very very close to Bill Clinton. Bizarrely enough, Jeffrey
Epstein had a painting in in his his New York
townhouse of Bill Clinton in a dress wearing pumps. Is
really bizarre. A blue dress, right, a blue dress, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, And a lot of people may they believe that
was clearly the painting and reference to Monica Lewinsky in
the blue dress. And you got to think to put
that up and hang it in your in your home
and have that relationship, It's like, well, you must feel
pretty powerful to be to do that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So we don't know. It may be, you know, the
reference to Regardless how the information was was accessed, that
may mean some information was acquired illegally. That's a possibility.
It may be. Look, there's there's speculation that that that
Jeffrey Epstein worked with intelligence operatives, either from from the
(13:24):
United States or other nations. I don't know that to
be the case, but that there's a host of things
that could be in there, and That's one of the
reasons why I think the Department of Justice should have
released this a long time ago, because without the information,
all people are left to do is speculate.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
There was another shocking headline that also came out today
and that deals with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
and Butler, Pennsylvania. The headline for the New York Posts
is quote would be Trump assassin may have had an
accomplice and data shows as in investigators say FBI suppressed info.
(14:04):
I wouldn't believe that headline if I wouldn't have just
had the conversation with you for the last ten minutes
that we just had about the FBI covering up at
Epstein information as well.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well. This is a stunning article. I do not know
if it is true, but if there is evidence that
the attempted assassin, the man who shot Donald Trump and Butler, Pennsylvania,
had an accomplice or multiple accomplices, that would be a
big damn deal. And you know, I got to say,
(14:35):
it has been a long time. It has been two
hundred and twenty nine days since President Trump was shot
at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and yet we know
next to nothing about the shooter. It's almost as if
it just dropped into a memory hole and disappeared. And
I want to read some of this article from the
(14:56):
New York Post because it it has some incredible information
in it. It's not clear, it's not clear what's true
or not. But let me read from the New York Post.
Quote it's been almost nine months since a seemingly mild
matter twenty year old attempted to assassinate then Republican presidential
nominee Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, and we
(15:19):
still have no good reason why, sources told the Post.
The FBI has obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of
why Thomas Matthew Crooks, who left no manifesto, did what
he did. It's left local law enforcement, as well as
Crooks's former friends, classmates, and teachers frustrated. Those who may know.
(15:41):
Crooks's parents, Matthew and Mary, have refused all interviews and
remain in their small, three bedroom home, sealed off from
the world. Like Hermit's neighbors say, they only leave the
house at three am to buy groceries. Quote, By the way,
why do we know nothing about that guy in Butler?
(16:02):
Elon Musk yelled out to the audience at Seapac last
week before warning that FBI Director Cash Battel is going
to get to the bottom of it. A veteran private
investigator from Erie, Pennsylvania, who was hired shortly after the
fateful July thirteenth event at Butler Farm to look into
crooks by a private client, told The Post he believes
(16:25):
a quote criminal network was operating with him at the
time of the assassination attempt, is still in existence and
still wants to kill President Trump. Doug Hagman, whose team
of six other investigators had been working the case for
months and have interviewed more than one hundred people, said
(16:48):
they also conducted extensive geofensing analysis of cell phones and
tablets not belonging to Crooks that were found with him
at his home, at the rifle range where he took
target practice, at the rally, and at Bethel Park High School,
where he graduated in twenty twenty two. Quote. We don't
think he acted alone, Hageman told the Post. Quote This
(17:12):
took a lot of coordination. In my view, Crooks was
handled by more than one individual, and he was used
for this assassination attempt, and I wouldn't preclude the possibility
that there were people at the rally itself helping him.
Hageman said. One of the electronic devices geolocated with crooks
at several different places at the time of the shooting
(17:35):
is still pinging today at Bethel Park High School. Look,
I don't know if this is true or not. I
don't know any background about this private investigator, and I
don't know if his allegations are are right or not.
But it is frustrating that the American people. Look, I'm
(17:56):
on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have no information that
isn't public about who this would be assassin was, what
is motivation was what evidence there is of anyone else
being involved? And I'll tell you when when I sat
down with both Cash Betel and with Pambondi when they
were preparing for their confirmation, I had an extensive conversation
(18:18):
with both of them about the need for transparency that
when you've had four years of both the Department of
Justice and the FBI politicized and weaponized, the result is
that people don't trust the FBI. I mean. This article
in the Post repeatedly argues that the FBI is an
(18:39):
obstructing efforts to get to the bottom of what happened.
That that's infuriating if true, and it is very much
my hope that we'll see Pambondi and Cash Battel make
significant information about this assassination attempt public. The American people
have a right to know, have a right to know
(19:01):
if anyone else was involved with this, And I don't
know if the FBI, if they didn't put a priority
on it, I don't know, if they didn't investigate, I
don't I guess it is possible this kid acted alone.
But the absolute dearth of information is is it frustrating
(19:21):
and infuriating.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, and it goes back to the point that I
think Pambondi made at the White House with many of
these conservatives, which is we're doing everything we can now
to be transparent, but there is still a very deep
state rebellion and they are hell bent on not when
the American people know what's going on. They're above us,
(19:44):
they think they're more important than us. They don't believe
they have to play by the rules, they don't have
to be transparent, and until you get that fixed, there's
going to be a lot of doubting in the American
from the American people in these institutions.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I think that's exactly right. You know, the the article
says that Hageman, this private investigator, said that he was
personally escorted to the Butler County line and told to
leave twice during the course of his team's investigation. The
people who did so were either federal agents or some
type of private security and so look, and I actually
(20:23):
I can understand an FBI investigation that they would be
frustrated with having a private investigator interviewing the same people.
So that actually the fact that the FBI was telling
this guy, you know, buzz off, that's not shocking to me.
But I don't know what investigation the FBI conducted. I
certainly don't know the results of the investigation. They haven't
(20:46):
made anything public to the American people, and I think
the FBI's attitude has been in recent years. They don't
know the publican answer, You don't get to know anything
if they don't want to tell you.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, great point. I want to move also to another story,
and this goes back to the issue of trust. Elon
Musk and Doge. New poll numbers are out saying that
the majority of American people actually approve of what Elon
Musk is doing, and they think that Doe is having
a real impact in a positive way for this country
and for taxpayers and the waste, fraud and abuse. They
(21:19):
want them to keep moving forward. What we're also seeing
centered at the exact same time is I would now
describe it as a clearly well organized orchestrated effort by
the media and the Democrats to ramp up their smears
against Trump early on, or I should say against Elon,
(21:40):
and early on, they were trying to drive a wedge
between Elon and trust Trump. You could see it in
their rhetoric where it's like, well, you know, Elon, it
thinks he's the president, and oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
The Time magazine cover story that put Elon at the
resolute desk in the Oval office was obvious at a
clumsy attempt to piss Trump off and get Trump mad
at Elon, And it was so transparent that that that
I think it did not remotely have the effect they
were trying to have.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, backfired, but that was where you could tell they
were The first step was, well, maybe we can drive
a wedge here. That hasn't worked. So now what we're
witnessing is just a full on smear campaign against Elon Musk,
even on the View. And this was an interesting moment
for me because it's like you're getting real close to
(22:28):
slander and libel when you do what the View does
against Elon Musk. I don't know if they care that
they have to apologize pretty regularly now for things they
say on the air with legal notes they keep having
to make. But Joe Bahart had this to say on
the View about Elon Musk, and I want to play
it and then get your reaction to it.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And an Elon Musk kisses his butt and strokes his
his tiny ego or big ego, whatever it is, and
he doesn't get to do he can take a nap
while the guy was not born in this country, who
was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that
mentality going on. He was pro apartheid, as I understand it, right,
(23:12):
he's a natural. Oh really, how did he do that?
Did he come over the board? Believe yeah, he allegedly
overstate that vs subject. But I think this is just
perfectly but wonderful for Trump. He's been taken nap and
let this foreigner, foreign agent, you know, an enemy of
the United States do his job.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I mean, not only does she say he's an enemy,
but then she says in favor of apartheid, by the way,
not true. Came back on the air later in the
show and tried to undo that and said, Elon, don't sue.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Well, look, I mean the View they are unhinged lunatics
and they don't care about truth. But they know, you know,
the crazy thing is Joi Biharr believes what she says.
You know, it's a It's amazing. Apparently Elon Musk is
the only immigrant that Joi Bihar and the crazies on
(24:05):
the View dislike. If you're an MS thirteen gang member,
if you're a murderer or a rapist, they're perfectly fine
with you. They don't have a problem with Joe Biden,
the Democrats releasing millions of criminals into America, that they
have no problem with. But if someone comes legally to
this country, if someone builds multiple incredible companies, creates thousands
(24:27):
and thousands of jobs, is an incredible innovator and then
volunteers his time to serve as nation that merits being
called a foreign agent and an enemy of the United States.
It you know, at the end of the day, what
the view was saying doesn't say much about Elon Musk,
(24:47):
but it says a lot about the media and the
left and how terrified they are of him. And I'll
tell you tell you. Marci Captor, a Democrat congresswoman, I
had very similar comments. Listen to what she said about
Elon Musk. Apparently she enjoyed Baharror reading from the same
talking points.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, and this was in front of the United States
Capital where she said it.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Mister Musk has just been here twenty two years, and
he's a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself
the question, with the damage he's doing here, when push
comes to shove, which country is he loyalty to? South Africa,
Canada or the United States? And he's only been a citizen,
I'll say again, twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
By the way, I thought it was Democrats for the
last four years that were obsessed with the legal immigrants
coming into this country and saying, who is anyone else
to say that they aren't Americans and we don't even
call them illegal as you must call them immigrants, and
they're just like you and I. But all of a sudden,
a guy by the name of Elon Musk is actually
getting things done, and now they're just going to slander
him and say which countries are really little too, like
(25:53):
he's some sort of secret agent or bad actor for
another nation.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Well, look, I spent a good chunk of the morning
with Elon over at the White House and he met
with a number of senators talking about what he's doing
on DOGE, and it was a very interesting meeting. And
it's stunning some of the things that they're finding. They're finding.
For example, they're going into agencies and finding agencies that
(26:18):
have more electronic subscriptions than they have employees. Wow, And
in many instances thousands and thousands more like like thirty
thousand licenses for different electronic applications, thirty thousand licenses and
fifteen thousand employees that order of magnitude. And so they're
(26:41):
going in and canceling the ones that aren't used. They
also went and checked and they said hundreds and hundreds
of them had never been open, had never even been installed.
So even of the employees, not everyone is using them.
They've never logged in, and so they can go and check,
all right, and so anyone who's not using it they're
canceling those those are the sorts of things they're finding. Uh,
(27:05):
they're really just astonishing.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, when you met with him today, does it seem
that he's even shocked by what he's finding.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You know, there are things like he talked today about
ghost payments, about the Treasury has computers that that that
transfer funds that make federal payments and and he says
that that that there are ghost payments that are going
out that a program officer puts in for for for
a payment to to a contractor to to to somebody,
(27:36):
and then the program officer retires, dies, leaves is gone,
and the payments just keep on going and and you
know it, he said, it's stunning. The Treasury. Uh, the
the Treasury computers have have a field where where where
you categorize, okay, what is this payment for and and
(28:00):
what in the congressional appropriation is it going for? And
he said, routinely that field is left blank. He said, usaid,
they always left it but blank, he said, So there's
no way, he said, in many ways, it's incredibly difficult,
if not impossible, to audit the billions of dollars that
(28:21):
are going out the door because they don't keep the records,
and it was interesting Elon's comments. He said, if any
public company did this, he said, they would be massively
fined and the executives would be put in jail.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
But hey, federal government just a normal way of doing business.
I think the best part is the polls are showing
that the media propaganda against Musk so far has not
been working against the president. The majority of the American
people love what Doge is doing, and as long as
he's got the people behind him, it's going to be
really interesting to see how this works out, and we're
going to keep covering it here. Don't forget we do
(28:54):
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Welcome. It is Vernic was center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
with you as well, and Senator. It was a very
big day Thursday, as we got part one of the
Epstein files that were released the public by a lot
of conservatives that were at the White House. And then
Pam Bondi came out afterwards and dropped a bomb that
(00:21):
was pretty much, Hey, I may be the Attorney General
in cash, but tell maybe the FBI director, but there
are people in New York that are hiding documents from
us that deal with Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well that's exactly right. And let me start by saying
thank you to Pam Bondy for honoring the promises she made.
I have been calling on the Department of Justice to
release the full Jeffrey Epstein files, and she is working
to do that. And so she released the first tranch
of information today. That was good, although a lot of
(00:53):
the observers who saw the information were underwhelmed by what
was in it. She released it to a group group
of conservative influencers online and gave them a binder with
the information and there were no no big smoking guns
and what came out initially. We we do know that
the the The new Jeffrey Epstein contact list included Alec Baldwin,
(01:17):
Michael Jackson, and Mick Jagger. But it was for people
who want to know who were Jeffrey Epstein's clients, who
was who was complicit and and and who is guilty
as he was of sexually abusing teenage girls. There was
(01:39):
relatively little information in the files that were released, But
then there was a bombshell because Pambondy accused the New
York FBI office of with holding significant parts of the
Epstein files. That that's a big, big deal, and she
(02:02):
did so in a formal letter that she sent to
Cash Pattel. So she sent a letter on February twenty seventh.
I'm going to read you the entire letter because this
letter's a big deal. February twenty seventh, twenty twenty five.
Dear Director Patel, before you came into office, I requested
the full and complete files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In
(02:22):
response to this request, I received approximately two hundred pages
of documents, which consisted primarily of flight logs, Epstein's list
of contacts, and a list of victims' names and phone numbers.
I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of
documents responsive to my request, and was repeatedly assured by
(02:43):
the FBI that we had received the full set of documents.
Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI
Field office in New York was in possession of thousands
of pages of documents related to the invent instigation and
indictment of Epstein. Despite my repeated requests the FBI never
(03:07):
disclose the existence of these files. When you and I
spoke yesterday, you were just as surprised as I was
to learn this new information. By eight am Tomorrow, February
twenty eighth, the FBI will deliver the full and complete
Epstein files to my office, including all records, documents, audio
(03:29):
and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and
his clients. Regardless of how such information was obtained. There
will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access.
The Department of Justice will ensure that any public disclosure
of these files will be done in a manner to
(03:51):
protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law,
as I have done my entire career as a prosecutor.
Also directing you to conduct an immediate investigation into why
my order to the FBI was not followed. You will
deliver to me a comprehensive report of your findings and
(04:13):
proposed personnel action within fourteen days. I appreciate your immediate
attention to this important matter. I know that we are
both committed to transparency for the American people, and I
look forward to continuing to work with you to serve
our President and our country. Sincerely, Pamela Bondi, Attorney General.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
This letter was incredible, and I actually talked to someone
that you and I both know, Chad Prather. He was
invited as one of the fifteen. He's a fellow Texan
that went to the White House, and as soon as
he left, we actually talked on the phone and he said, Ben,
he said, none of us that were invited up here
knew we were going to get the Epstein files. Number one.
(04:57):
We were actually brought up to the White House to
talk about communitys and we were going to meet with
the Vice President. We didn't know we're going to be
meeting with the people in the cabinet. We didn't know
we were going to be meeting with the president. We
certainly didn't know we were going to be given these
Epstein files, and he said there was two parts of
this that the big mainstream media clearly didn't understand. Or
(05:17):
they were angry that we got the files before they did,
and so they wanted to say that today was a
nothing burger. He said. When they gave them to us,
they said, look, there's really nothing new in here that
you're going to find. This is why we're calling it
Part one. And then they said what we want you
to know is exactly the letter that you just read,
which was we don't have the majority of the intel
(05:40):
that we've been demanding because there are bad actors in
the deep state who were refusing to give it to us.
In fact, what they said was even more shocking was
Pambondi did an interview with Waters last night on Fox
and she was talking about the quote two hundred pages
that she had there in essence of whistle blower that
(06:01):
saw the interview and said, I need to tell you
right now that you're missing a lot of pages and
they're not giving them to you from New York FBI.
And that's how fast this all came about. So you're
thinking about when you're the attorney of the United States
of America. You're going on TV and only because you
gave a page number which was about ten percent of
(06:21):
apparently what is actually out there based on what the
whistle bober said. This is insane that this is our
government right now and there's that many people fighting against
the will of the people who elected the president, who
had put Pambondi and Cashpit telling to these positions.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Well, and from the letter, there may be audio and
video recordings. There may be some issue that some of
the materials were seized illegally. I mean, there's a suggestion
there that regardless of how it was accessed, I want it.
But look, I got to say, listen, I worked in
the Department of Justice twenty five years ago. I have
(06:59):
been been working in and around law enforcement for virtually
my entire adult life. I have never seen something like
this happened. So understand, the FBI reports to the Department
of Justice, Cash Patel, his boss is Pambondi. The FBI
is in the ORG chart reporting to the Department of Justice.
(07:21):
So when the Attorney General orders the FBI, I want
to see these files. In every instance, I'm aware of
the FBI complies they're supposed to be law enforcement. If
the Attorney General says I want to see something, you
give it to the Attorney general and look, presumably we
will find out. And we'll find out I guess within
(07:42):
two weeks when Cash Pateel prepares his report saying here's
what happened. But it is astonishing if you have rogue
agents in the New York office of the FBI who
are just defying the Attorney General. That is a level
of open warfare that I've never seen, and it really
(08:06):
does indicate the need to clean house in a major way.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
There was also another aspect of this, and again this
is coming from Chad and he was meeting right with
the president and the vice president and these other cabinet
members pam Bondi, Cashpateel, and he said they were also
the letter has been basically just completely misconstrued as if
there's some sort of disagreement or wedge between Pambondi and
(08:31):
cash Ptel. But when you understand the backstory, he said,
their lockstep. She's giving this letter out to give him
the power to then go get the answers from the demands.
And yet the media was reporting this tonight all over
the place like oh, there's a big rift between the
Attorney General and the FBI director. That is also not
the case at all. Another lie.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, and I think that's very clear from the letter
where it says when you and I spoke yesterday, you
were just as surprised as I was to learn this
new information. And so Cash Betel has just been confirmed.
As you know. I went to Cash Betel's swearing in
at the White House last week. He's brand new on
the job. He has a mandate to restore integrity to
(09:15):
the FBI. And I guess the whistleblower, whoever the source was,
contacted the Attorney General directly, and she's the one, the
Attorney General who told Cashpateel about this documents. I am
sure he is pissed off at what the New York
Field Office apparently did, and I fully expect he will
(09:37):
get to the bottom of it, and I expect they're
going to make the results of that public. I think
we're all going to know exactly who's responsible.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
And why let me ask about accountability here, because you
would understand this the law more than I certainly do,
and that is, if you've been directed by the FBI
director or the Attorney General to turnover documents, and you
work in the government, you deliberately hide those documents and
do not turn them over. Are you committing a crime
(10:04):
or is it basically worst case scenario, you'll lose your
job and they fire you for insupportination.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Likely the latter. There's not anything it would There's not
an immediate crime that comes to mind. It's just defying
your boss. I suppose you could try to characterize it
as obstruction of justice. But but I think that the
simplest explanation, the simplest remedy would be termination. And I
(10:31):
expect any FBI agent that that deliberately disobeyed a direct
order from the Attorney General, I expect anyone involved in
that to be terminated.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
It's an incredible story, and I think one of the
things that we should make clear is there's clearly significant information.
We've been told that Pambondi has said that there is video,
there is audio, there's a lot of recordings.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Will be clear. To be clear, we don't know that.
At the least, the letter doesn't say that. It just
says deliver the full and complete files, including audio and
video recordings. And look, lawyers tend to be pretty broad
she may not know that their audio and video recordings.
She may she may there may be, or there may
not be, but she hasn't definitively said that there are
(11:17):
audio and video recordings.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, that's what the letter said. But
what's interesting is from the people that were in the meeting,
they were told that this was in essence the tip
of the Iceberger that they do have audio and video
recordings that apparently have been withheld from the New York office.
And that's part of the reason why I think you're
seeing the demand come out this way is that there
must be a lot that the deep state doesn't want
(11:40):
us to see, which goes back to my final question
for you center on this. Why is it they don't
want us to see this? Is this because they're trying
to protect people in the political world? What would be
the reason you wouldn't want to know or for everyone
to see what it is they're desperately trying to hide
(12:00):
from not only us, but literally from the Attorney General
in the FBI director.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So look, I don't know, I can only speculate it.
It may be that they want to protect people who's
whose misconduct or criminal conduct is suggested or or demonstrated
in the files. I don't know that, but that certainly
could be a reason. We do know that Jeffrey Epstein
was very close to a number of Democrats, that he
(12:26):
was very very close to Bill Clinton. Bizarrely enough, Jeffrey
Epstein had a painting in in his his New York
townhouse of Bill Clinton in a dress wearing pumps. Is
really bizarre. A blue dress, right, a blue dress, yes.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, And a lot of people may they believe that
was clearly the painting and reference to Monica Lewinsky in
the blue dress. And you got to think to put
that up and hang it in your in your home
and have that relationship, It's like, well, you must feel
pretty powerful to be to do that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So we don't know. It may be, you know, the
reference to Regardless how the information was was accessed, that
may mean some information was acquired illegally. That's a possibility.
It may be. Look, there's there's speculation that that that
Jeffrey Epstein worked with intelligence operatives, either from from the
(13:24):
United States or other nations. I don't know that to
be the case, but that there's a host of things
that could be in there, and That's one of the
reasons why I think the Department of Justice should have
released this a long time ago, because without the information,
all people are left to do is speculate.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
There was another shocking headline that also came out today
and that deals with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
and Butler, Pennsylvania. The headline for the New York Posts
is quote would be Trump assassin may have had an
accomplice and data shows as in investigators say FBI suppressed info.
(14:04):
I wouldn't believe that headline if I wouldn't have just
had the conversation with you for the last ten minutes
that we just had about the FBI covering up at
Epstein information as well.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Well. This is a stunning article. I do not know
if it is true, but if there is evidence that
the attempted assassin, the man who shot Donald Trump and Butler, Pennsylvania,
had an accomplice or multiple accomplices, that would be a
big damn deal. And you know, I got to say,
(14:35):
it has been a long time. It has been two
hundred and twenty nine days since President Trump was shot
at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and yet we know
next to nothing about the shooter. It's almost as if
it just dropped into a memory hole and disappeared. And
I want to read some of this article from the
(14:56):
New York Post because it it has some incredible information
in it. It's not clear, it's not clear what's true
or not. But let me read from the New York Post.
Quote it's been almost nine months since a seemingly mild
matter twenty year old attempted to assassinate then Republican presidential
nominee Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, and we
(15:19):
still have no good reason why, sources told the Post.
The FBI has obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of
why Thomas Matthew Crooks, who left no manifesto, did what
he did. It's left local law enforcement, as well as
Crooks's former friends, classmates, and teachers frustrated. Those who may know.
(15:41):
Crooks's parents, Matthew and Mary, have refused all interviews and
remain in their small, three bedroom home, sealed off from
the world. Like Hermit's neighbors say, they only leave the
house at three am to buy groceries. Quote, By the way,
why do we know nothing about that guy in Butler?
(16:02):
Elon Musk yelled out to the audience at Seapac last
week before warning that FBI Director Cash Battel is going
to get to the bottom of it. A veteran private
investigator from Erie, Pennsylvania, who was hired shortly after the
fateful July thirteenth event at Butler Farm to look into
crooks by a private client, told The Post he believes
(16:25):
a quote criminal network was operating with him at the
time of the assassination attempt, is still in existence and
still wants to kill President Trump. Doug Hagman, whose team
of six other investigators had been working the case for
months and have interviewed more than one hundred people, said
(16:48):
they also conducted extensive geofensing analysis of cell phones and
tablets not belonging to Crooks that were found with him
at his home, at the rifle range where he took
target practice, at the rally, and at Bethel Park High School,
where he graduated in twenty twenty two. Quote. We don't
think he acted alone, Hageman told the Post. Quote This
(17:12):
took a lot of coordination. In my view, Crooks was
handled by more than one individual, and he was used
for this assassination attempt, and I wouldn't preclude the possibility
that there were people at the rally itself helping him.
Hageman said. One of the electronic devices geolocated with crooks
at several different places at the time of the shooting
(17:35):
is still pinging today at Bethel Park High School. Look,
I don't know if this is true or not. I
don't know any background about this private investigator, and I
don't know if his allegations are are right or not.
But it is frustrating that the American people. Look, I'm
(17:56):
on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have no information that
isn't public about who this would be assassin was, what
is motivation was what evidence there is of anyone else
being involved? And I'll tell you when when I sat
down with both Cash Betel and with Pambondi when they
were preparing for their confirmation, I had an extensive conversation
(18:18):
with both of them about the need for transparency that
when you've had four years of both the Department of
Justice and the FBI politicized and weaponized, the result is
that people don't trust the FBI. I mean. This article
in the Post repeatedly argues that the FBI is an
(18:39):
obstructing efforts to get to the bottom of what happened.
That that's infuriating if true, and it is very much
my hope that we'll see Pambondi and Cash Battel make
significant information about this assassination attempt public. The American people
have a right to know, have a right to know
(19:01):
if anyone else was involved with this, And I don't
know if the FBI, if they didn't put a priority
on it, I don't know, if they didn't investigate, I
don't I guess it is possible this kid acted alone.
But the absolute dearth of information is is it frustrating
(19:21):
and infuriating.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, and it goes back to the point that I
think Pambondi made at the White House with many of
these conservatives, which is we're doing everything we can now
to be transparent, but there is still a very deep
state rebellion and they are hell bent on not when
the American people know what's going on. They're above us,
(19:44):
they think they're more important than us. They don't believe
they have to play by the rules, they don't have
to be transparent, and until you get that fixed, there's
going to be a lot of doubting in the American
from the American people in these institutions.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I think that's exactly right. You know, the the article
says that Hageman, this private investigator, said that he was
personally escorted to the Butler County line and told to
leave twice during the course of his team's investigation. The
people who did so were either federal agents or some
type of private security and so look, and I actually
(20:23):
I can understand an FBI investigation that they would be
frustrated with having a private investigator interviewing the same people.
So that actually the fact that the FBI was telling
this guy, you know, buzz off, that's not shocking to me.
But I don't know what investigation the FBI conducted. I
certainly don't know the results of the investigation. They haven't
(20:46):
made anything public to the American people, and I think
the FBI's attitude has been in recent years. They don't
know the publican answer, You don't get to know anything
if they don't want to tell you.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, great point. I want to move also to another story,
and this goes back to the issue of trust. Elon
Musk and Doge. New poll numbers are out saying that
the majority of American people actually approve of what Elon
Musk is doing, and they think that Doe is having
a real impact in a positive way for this country
and for taxpayers and the waste, fraud and abuse. They
(21:19):
want them to keep moving forward. What we're also seeing
centered at the exact same time is I would now
describe it as a clearly well organized orchestrated effort by
the media and the Democrats to ramp up their smears
against Trump early on, or I should say against Elon,
(21:40):
and early on, they were trying to drive a wedge
between Elon and trust Trump. You could see it in
their rhetoric where it's like, well, you know, Elon, it
thinks he's the president, and oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
The Time magazine cover story that put Elon at the
resolute desk in the Oval office was obvious at a
clumsy attempt to piss Trump off and get Trump mad
at Elon, And it was so transparent that that that
I think it did not remotely have the effect they
were trying to have.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, backfired, but that was where you could tell they
were The first step was, well, maybe we can drive
a wedge here. That hasn't worked. So now what we're
witnessing is just a full on smear campaign against Elon Musk,
even on the View. And this was an interesting moment
for me because it's like you're getting real close to
(22:28):
slander and libel when you do what the View does
against Elon Musk. I don't know if they care that
they have to apologize pretty regularly now for things they
say on the air with legal notes they keep having
to make. But Joe Bahart had this to say on
the View about Elon Musk, and I want to play
it and then get your reaction to it.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And an Elon Musk kisses his butt and strokes his
his tiny ego or big ego, whatever it is, and
he doesn't get to do he can take a nap
while the guy was not born in this country, who
was born under apartheid in South Africa, so has that
mentality going on. He was pro apartheid, as I understand it, right,
(23:12):
he's a natural. Oh really, how did he do that?
Did he come over the board? Believe yeah, he allegedly
overstate that vs subject. But I think this is just
perfectly but wonderful for Trump. He's been taken nap and
let this foreigner, foreign agent, you know, an enemy of
the United States do his job.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I mean, not only does she say he's an enemy,
but then she says in favor of apartheid, by the way,
not true. Came back on the air later in the
show and tried to undo that and said, Elon, don't sue.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Well, look, I mean the View they are unhinged lunatics
and they don't care about truth. But they know, you know,
the crazy thing is Joi Biharr believes what she says.
You know, it's a It's amazing. Apparently Elon Musk is
the only immigrant that Joi Bihar and the crazies on
(24:05):
the View dislike. If you're an MS thirteen gang member,
if you're a murderer or a rapist, they're perfectly fine
with you. They don't have a problem with Joe Biden,
the Democrats releasing millions of criminals into America, that they
have no problem with. But if someone comes legally to
this country, if someone builds multiple incredible companies, creates thousands
(24:27):
and thousands of jobs, is an incredible innovator and then
volunteers his time to serve as nation that merits being
called a foreign agent and an enemy of the United States.
It you know, at the end of the day, what
the view was saying doesn't say much about Elon Musk,
(24:47):
but it says a lot about the media and the
left and how terrified they are of him. And I'll
tell you tell you. Marci Captor, a Democrat congresswoman, I
had very similar comments. Listen to what she said about
Elon Musk. Apparently she enjoyed Baharror reading from the same
talking points.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yeah, and this was in front of the United States
Capital where she said it.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Mister Musk has just been here twenty two years, and
he's a citizen of three countries. I always ask myself
the question, with the damage he's doing here, when push
comes to shove, which country is he loyalty to? South Africa,
Canada or the United States? And he's only been a citizen,
I'll say again, twenty two years.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
By the way, I thought it was Democrats for the
last four years that were obsessed with the legal immigrants
coming into this country and saying, who is anyone else
to say that they aren't Americans and we don't even
call them illegal as you must call them immigrants, and
they're just like you and I. But all of a sudden,
a guy by the name of Elon Musk is actually
getting things done, and now they're just going to slander
him and say which countries are really little too, like
(25:53):
he's some sort of secret agent or bad actor for
another nation.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Well, look, I spent a good chunk of the morning
with Elon over at the White House and he met
with a number of senators talking about what he's doing
on DOGE, and it was a very interesting meeting. And
it's stunning some of the things that they're finding. They're finding.
For example, they're going into agencies and finding agencies that
(26:18):
have more electronic subscriptions than they have employees. Wow, And
in many instances thousands and thousands more like like thirty
thousand licenses for different electronic applications, thirty thousand licenses and
fifteen thousand employees that order of magnitude. And so they're
(26:41):
going in and canceling the ones that aren't used. They
also went and checked and they said hundreds and hundreds
of them had never been open, had never even been installed.
So even of the employees, not everyone is using them.
They've never logged in, and so they can go and check,
all right, and so anyone who's not using it they're
canceling those those are the sorts of things they're finding. Uh,
(27:05):
they're really just astonishing.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, when you met with him today, does it seem
that he's even shocked by what he's finding.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You know, there are things like he talked today about
ghost payments, about the Treasury has computers that that that
transfer funds that make federal payments and and he says
that that that there are ghost payments that are going
out that a program officer puts in for for for
a payment to to a contractor to to to somebody,
(27:36):
and then the program officer retires, dies, leaves is gone,
and the payments just keep on going and and you
know it, he said, it's stunning. The Treasury. Uh, the
the Treasury computers have have a field where where where
you categorize, okay, what is this payment for and and
(28:00):
what in the congressional appropriation is it going for? And
he said, routinely that field is left blank. He said, usaid,
they always left it but blank, he said, So there's
no way, he said, in many ways, it's incredibly difficult,
if not impossible, to audit the billions of dollars that
(28:21):
are going out the door because they don't keep the records,
and it was interesting Elon's comments. He said, if any
public company did this, he said, they would be massively
fined and the executives would be put in jail.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
But hey, federal government just a normal way of doing business.
I think the best part is the polls are showing
that the media propaganda against Musk so far has not
been working against the president. The majority of the American
people love what Doge is doing, and as long as
he's got the people behind him, it's going to be
really interesting to see how this works out, and we're
going to keep covering it here. Don't forget we do
(28:54):
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Ben Ferguson
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