New Epstein pics put heat on DOJ for December deadline

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1:12Now, this is part of 95 ,000 images that were lawfully provided under these further transparency pushes. And these came from Epstein's estate, from his computer emails and other documentation under, as I mentioned, a lawful subpoena from Congress, specifically the House Oversight Committee. These are newly coming to light. We're going to give you context as you see them. It is one thing to read about and hear about some of these relationships. There's Steve Bannon, Trump ally with Woody Allen. Another thing to see them with your own eyes and make your own judgments. House Democrats released about 85 images.

1:48Some include Trump. One includes former President Clinton. Trump surrounded by women who were in, I should say, Hawaiian leis. Their face is redacted by the committee. Another one shows Trump with an unidentified woman. We don't know, without further context, why the Epsteinist state had or saved these, what Jeffrey Epstein's interest was in them, whether or not they relate to something that Trump's own cabinet official has called alleged blackmail. The answers and context for that kind of question, those kind of issues, would come up, of course, when we get the Fuller Epstein files, which DOJ must turn over with a looming deadline.

2:26I'll get into that shortly, but the estate did not have written context with these images. The mirror selfie now seen around the world shows what you see here. Very simply, sex trafficker Epstein holding the phone next to, close to him, flanking him, longtime Trump ally, former White House official, Steve Bannon. We've reported on their extensive relationship, including their furtive secret efforts to, according to Bannon, help rehab Epstein's reputation. That included during a period where Trump was not having known contact with Epstein, and yet here was his ally helping him. And I have more on that later this hour as we dig through the context of some of these photographs.

3:14Here's a photo of President Bill Clinton. Signed. You can see Epstein and his now convicted and imprisoned associate, Jelaine Maxwell, and Jimmy Buffett and his widow, we should mention. Now, one thing that's important about these photos and anyone who's followed any type of journalistic investigative reporting where you have, say, one person accused of wrongdoing or convicted in the case of Maxwell and then other people is being in the email, in the photo, or at the event, depending especially on the size of the event, does not tell you whether the other people are part of the alleged criminal activity.

3:50And that's an important distinction, both in law and in fair journalism. And many of the prominent people listed here had been previously tied to him in some manner. They have denied wrongdoing connected to Epstein. Several have said they didn't know about the extent of Epstein's now convicted crimes back then. The White House says that the Congress is cherry picking these photos. The Democrats on the committee made what they view as, quote, random redactions, and all of it is to, they allege, quote, try and create a false narrative. Now, one point on that. I want to show you, of course, what the White House is saying, because that's part of the story and the reporting.

4:29And they, like other entities and individuals caught up in this, have every right to respond and explain the context. But when they say that releasing the evidence creates a false narrative, that is, of course, a contradiction with Trump's own claims. He spent 2024 vowing to release the files. That includes written files, photographic files, video evidence, includes all of it. And so he claimed he would do it. He failed to do it. And then, as you probably know, if you follow the news, was forced into doing it by signing that law with the deadline looming. So for his own White House to come around and say they're against the thing that he claimed he would do, then recently signed a law to do, is at a minimum rich.

5:11And it raises questions of its own. Will they comply with the new law they signed? And of course, why are they afraid of all this evidence and video? As for a top Democrat on the committee, he says there's more to come. Our plan is to demand that the president release the files and we'll see what he does on the 19th. But I think, again, these pictures, some of these photos are really disturbing. And I know we've put some out today. There are many others. And some of the other photos that we did not put out today are incredibly disturbing.

5:47That's an assessment from a lawmaker who has seen more than anyone because they got the materials under subpoena. We also have reporting that a source who knows where the House probe is headed says, quote, fewer than 1000 images actually contain any nudity. That's from MS Now reporting. And again, if that makes this sound less salacious or exciting, so be it. But we want to fact check some of the claims and vows we've heard with what others say could be less than an explosive cachet coming. MS now has obtained the cover letter from Epstein's estate. It said it was unable to confirm whether they were taken at the property owned rented operator used by Epstein.

6:26Now, that matters because Epstein is dead. Those lawyers have a legal obligation to comply with subpoenas and tell the truth. Of course, you're always on the lookout for any potential cover up. But that information could be helpful to some of the people pictured. Because again, as I mentioned, in fairness, if you are at an event in New York randomly or Miami or L.A. randomly that's not the Epstein estate and you're in one photo, that could be different than flying out to meet him. Some photos we can identify the location. And if you are at a very small group gathering or intimate thing, that again could be different from other elements of how he lived his life.

7:06And in fairness, it is clear there are some people who seem to very clearly know about what he was up to, the birthday book incriminating for that reason. There are others who, in passing, may have been at these fancy events and been at wrong place, wrong time. It's easy to go on the internet or a podcast and paint everyone with one brush. The harder work, but the work that does matter to get the case and the story right and deal with accountability, is for the government, the investigators, as well as other investigative journalists, and try to determine what is the truth. The photos are a piece of that.

7:37Now, the DOJ faces the big deadline, Friday. If you remember when this law was passed, well, time keeps ticking on. You see on the calendar, the Epstein files deadline is Friday, December 19th. That is because they gave them one month to comply from when it passed in November, putting huge pressure on the DOJ and the Trump White House to comply with the law they signed or be caught in another Epstein debacle of their own making. I'm joined by contributing writer from the New York Times, Mala Jong-Fast. Welcome to you. If you look at, say, here's a Bill Gates photo, which does not have a date. He has already been linked to Epstein and discussed.

8:18This is from getting on the jet, but he's discussed what he says was a mistake to ever meet with the guy. He says it was only about philanthropy. Woody Allen, who has his own long history, seen here. The House has obscured the woman's face at that table. What does a picture worth a thousand words mean with evidence like this coming public for the first time tonight? What I think is really important, Ari, is what you said. Again, a picture can mean any number of things. And none of these people are guilty being in a picture, right? We just don't know. We don't have enough information. One of the things that I think is really important to remember about this is we're getting this information because Oversight has really been doing its job.

9:03And Robert Garcia, who you showed before, is the ranking member of Oversight. And I have to say, like, I've been really impressed. You know, they subpoenaed the Epstein estate and got these pictures. These are not part of the law that Donald Trump signed, you know, into law. That stuff will get released, you know, legally should be released by Friday. Again, who knows? But I do think it's really important to see that these photos are coming out. It doesn't necessarily mean anything about the people in them, but it also is, you know, obviously they had some kind of, you know, even very peripheral relationship.

9:39And and the truth is that, you know, there was a lot, you know, when I think we'll see more information in these photos. And again, Garcia talked about how, you know, they are very worried about keeping a lot of this redacted and not injuring the victims. And that should be where everyone's mind is at. And you'll see, you know, a lot of those photos are redacted. Maybe they don't even need to be redacted, but they've been very careful, which I think is good. And and I think they're really trying to be careful about what they release. And I just want to push back on what the White House said. You know, the White House said, well, these are partisan pictures.

10:15But, you know, they did release a picture with Bill Clinton, who is known to have been a Democratic president. true true and and this involves how you release material as you get it the ultimate cachet in the files will be voluminous just like the emails were um it really comes down to order i mean we live in a in a culture now where not everyone finishes the article let alone a book length uh set of epstein files so they did release for example those early emails and there was a lot of discussion that the first ones mentioned Trump, but we got all the emails. I have more to remind people about the Bannon relationship because we got the emails that blew the lid on things.

10:57They were in email saying, let's keep this a secret, private entrances, cloak and dagger. Now we have the selfie photos. I have more on that later tonight, but to the point of selectivity, yeah, you get more of it. The deadline looms. And it is interesting that the house is trying to sort of say, if you play games on this, we already have some of this stuff. So these photos and more can come out. And it's not going to work. That dog won't hunt, as they sometimes say, to over-redact. Obviously, there are fair redactions. I think any honest person can agree with that. To your point, and we can show again, there's a photo where women's faces are redacted.

11:31I'll put that back up. From an investigative view, it wouldn't be fair to just list all these women's faces if you don't know whether this is a case where some are alleged as victims, some are alleged as sex workers, Others might be bystanders. So you don't just put someone's face out on TV and the Internet and half the audience thinks that they fit a category. That's not fair to them. And this case shouldn't resolve with transparency that smears women. I don't think that's additive. I don't think that's what honest brokers would do. I want to play a little bit of Republican Massey talking about the deadline.

12:10Take a listen. if doj doesn't release the files it has by next friday is there anything congress can do to compel that to happen well i mean it's a crime if they don't it's not like they're in in contempt of congress and because they didn't respond to a subpoena this is a new law with you know criminal implications if they don't follow it that's some of the heat they're putting on, the truth is a bit more nuanced. You can go back to Watergate. There are fights about evidence where even a lawful subpoena or a law from Congress signed by the president takes a lot of time if the executive chooses to fight.

12:53But what does it tell you that some Republicans aren't going along with the usual, oh, I hope Trump does the right thing line? They're already saying, no, you better. Right. And again, this is a consequence of Trump, Right. Mike Johnson was the speaker that Donald Trump wanted. Mike Johnson did not have a ton of experience. Mike Johnson has alienated a lot of Republicans in the House. And so we have discharge petitions like the discharge petition that got this Epstein information signed into law. I mean, we you know, it's funny. So often we see Donald Trump do something that he thinks will help him that ultimately ends up being very problematic for him.

13:33And you have Thomas Massey is just out there freelancing and he is not you know, he does not. You feel that the speaker does not have the faith of a lot of these Republicans because they're doing these discharge petitions. So it is really interesting to see the caucus has really left him. Yeah, I want to play another Democratic member talking about what else they have that hasn't come out. This was in a statement to CNN. Do you have pictures of people engaged in sexual acts as part of this? As part of this release, yes, there are pictures of people engaged in sexual acts.

14:18molly again there has to be a serious fairness about how that information is used and other laws are implicated having said that there are a lot of open questions about whether mr epstein kept extra records videos and otherwise for the purpose of blackmail which then raises questions about whether government officials in either party um were blackmailed or responding to other powerful people who were blackmailed. And if so, there could be extra crimes to review. Your view of what I think is a rather extraordinary statement by that member of Congress, either it's true, see above the blackmail issue.

14:57If it's not, we would eventually learn that, and that would be quite a false claim. So it's a big deal. What do you think of that? Yeah. I mean, look, there were video cameras in a lot of these rooms. We know the FBI had hundreds of hours of videos and tapes. I mean, this makes a lot of sense. And we've heard Congressman Garcia say something to the same effect, right? That there's blackmail material, that they're all pretty traumatized by whatever it is they've seen. And they're very worried about redacting the faces of the victims in order to not create more damage for these women who have been through hell.

15:31So I do think it's fair to say that there's certainly some terrible stuff. It has to be released in a way that is so careful for these women who have been through so much and where it does not make, you know, it does not re-traumatize them or make them, you know, some of these women are scared for their lives and or make them, you know, give them more public scrutiny because that is not what anyone wants. And so I think they're really trying to walk a line here. But the reason why oversight is doing a good job here is that they are keeping the pressure on the DOJ to release this information and to show that they can run a check on it to some extent.

16:10Because otherwise, you know, we just don't have a lot of faith in the Trump DOJ for obvious reasons. Yeah. Molly, stay with me. Michelle Goldberg, who's been reporting on this, writing about it in The Times, when we return in 90 seconds.

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18:02I'm back with Molly and we are joined by The New York Times op-ed columnist Michelle Goldberg. Michelle, your thoughts on what we learned from this new evidence. So I don't think, you know, as Molly said before, I don't think we learned all that much. It was no secret that Jeffrey Epstein had relationships with a lot of these men. What I do think some of these photos at least underlined is the relationship with Epstein. I mean, sorry, the relationship was Epstein's relationship with Steve Bannon, I think, has been really underscrutinized. You know, there's a lot of other people found these files whose reputations have been reevaluated.

18:43I mean, Larry Summers has had to step down from his position or his responsibilities at Harvard. Whereas Steve Bannon, who was deeply involved in this kind of rehabilitation project and who still has 15 hours reportedly of video footage of Epstein that he hasn't released, he has kind of gotten a pass, maybe because he has close relationships with some of the right wing influencers who've pushed the stories and other fora. I mean, that I can't say. I just think, again, the closeness of that relationship. Like, I don't think I have mirror selfies with my very best friend.

19:26yeah i mean go on because you're speaking to one aspect that photos and certain types of evidence fact checks which is we get denials that minimize well this was a business meeting or and i did mention in fairness some people including some women could be in photos with him in public places that have nothing to do with um the criminal activity at his residences But on the other hand, to your point, Michelle, for some people in Trump world and other business officials who said, oh, well, it was only this, the photos help undercut that. It looks like actually there's quite a bit of socializing, not just, quote unquote, networking.

20:06Right. And again, I mean, I think we knew this from some of the from the emails that have been released. And we saw that Bannon's relationship with Epstein was extraordinarily close, that, you know, Bannon was giving him all kinds of advice, maybe sending a plane to pick him up at one point. I mean, these were two, you know, these these were men who were working very closely together at a time when Bannon was still very much in Trump world. And so, you know, again, I mean, it's just the for some reason, I think Bannon has successfully pivoted on this issue and he was able to then sort of make a lot of hay about being someone demanding the truth about Epstein, saying at one point that Epstein was the key that picks the lock of all sorts of, I think, globalist conspiracies.

21:00And yet there's not been any real public demand that he give up all of the information that he's that he's been able to collect. Molly. Yeah, I mean, I think Michelle has a really good point. And there are a lot those photos do they sort of they they speak to a certain level of intimacy. Right. It's not just the pilot and someone. It's like two of them hanging out together. But yeah, for sure. I mean, those videos should be released. And again, you know, this is just to make the case again that this is Democratic leadership doing actually a really good job here because they are put this pressure is out there now.

21:42And look, if Steve Bannon releases all that video, that could be extremely helpful for any number of reasons, right? Just like a lot of this is a case that just needs to be solved, right? Like what happened to these women? And, you know, and I do think that this would be really helpful. So I do think that the the push from the oversight committee to show we have these photos and we can run a check if you try to redact everything just to protect powerful men, which is not what anyone I think who signed that that discharge petition wants. and michelle you've written about the almost politically psychic or psychological ballast of this story for different individuals and uh i'm not i'm not sure where we are in a very unpredictable story but something larger has been uncorked where some of the people fomenting it have clearly lost control of it where do those sort of issues in the public interest in this go as we head into what is, of course, the holiday season.

22:48I mean, you could probably duck out Christmas at New Year's, but this doesn't seem like something that people would stop caring about in January if they think that the Trump DOJ is now, and I say this potentially, not currently, but potentially illegally hiding the material. And this would be, my guess is that one reason that Oversight is releasing these photos and kind of dribbling out more and more is just to keep this in the news so that if Trump decides to do something shady with this deadline, they're able to marshal public pressure to just remind them that there are still all of these, you know, sort of unsolved mysteries about this case and there's still huge amounts of information that are out there but that the public hasn't seen.

23:38Yeah, and as you say, there are many different efforts to get stuff into the news. The public relations industry has that goal all year round. But when you drop hard, real evidence of a Democratic president and a Republican president with a deceased sex trafficker, yeah, it's going to make news. I want to thank both of you as we've gotten into all of this in detail. Michelle Goldberg and Molly Jong-Fast, my thanks. And Michelle rightfully mentioned Mr. Bannon has at times not gotten full scrutiny for his strong links, some of them previously hidden links to Epstein. Well, that's our special report coming up.

24:23Is that not a sop because of all the depravity you've done against young women? Your new sop is that women's thinking is the future? No, I've always believed that women would in fact be able to take over. I'm a firm believer and supporter of Time Zone. A clip from their collab that still has not come out. Many hours of video as mentioned. And other big political news today. The head of the Republican Party says they are facing a disaster in the midterms, kind of the opposite of hyping. We're going to tell you what he said and why it's making waves and has Trump nervous. And by the end of the hour on The Beat tonight, 50 set.

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