Special Report on Trump’s Epstein Missteps and Secrecy

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1:00John Flannery:Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melber. And this week, President Trump is spotlighting his war diplomacy while the Republican Congress presses on with its Epstein Probe, a partial rebuke to Trump's demands to drop the issue. Congress depors in Trump Attorney General Barr, who was in charge when Epstein died in custody. And tonight, we actually start our program with a new Beat special report for you, tracing the sordid path of crimes, investigations, corruption, deals with government insiders, often Republicans, the suspicious death of Epstein in custody of the Trump administration's first term, the secretive responses we've been seeing for years across these issues.

1:38John Flannery:We're going to show you the new beat timeline that we've created reporting for the first time tonight, raising fresh questions for Trump and other government officials. We are going to explain this, what you see here coming up in this first segment of the show. A timeline that actually will make more sense, we think, when you recall the facts, how Epstein first presented as an elite, wealthy person with ties to other important people, but then his whole facade showed sudden cracks when local police investigated a report of Epstein molesting a 14-year-old, leading to government plans to charge him, which were then watered down into a lesser charge under a secret deal with a Republican appointee, Alex Acosta.

2:21Jeffrey Epstein went to jail just before 10 this morning. He pleaded guilty in open court. There is no argument that Epstein got an extraordinary break. A backroom deal, some have described it. What was so important to the government that sex crimes described in this agreement were treated so lightly? Because of apparently some very high-powered attorneys, they've treated Mr. Epstein much differently.

2:48John Flannery:Very differently. The Bush prosecutor who did that largely let the co-conspirators that were under investigation go and Epstein off the hook with a brief sentence. A prosecutor later promoted by Trump. We'll get to that. But the evasion of accountability there under public pressure was a problem. And so as the pressure built later, career prosecutors in DOJ, one of whom who was later fired by Trump, then brought the case during Trump's first term, which changed everything. And then we had Epstein suddenly dying in federal custody. NBC News has learned that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is dead.

3:30His body in that van you see there seen heading for the medical examiner's office. Found dead by apparent suicide in his jail cell. Jeffrey Epstein's attorneys questioning whether his death was a suicide. Whatever happened with Jeffrey Epstein in prison back in mid-July still has not been fully explained.

3:49John Flannery:that death has spurred more questions and theories than just about anything in this case and many of the questions are valid the trump doj was in charge everyone knew epstein was a notorious high-profile defendant and yet he died the trump doj prison their system there lost the key video footage of epstein's cell door it's never been recovered they also oversaw other blatant failures compounded by more secrecy from the top all the way up to Trump. And then Trump A.G. Barr told everyone to take his word that Epstein had just killed himself. That didn't silence the questions that built as years went on.

4:25John Flannery:And Trump campaigned for his second term, basically running against his own Epstein secrecy in his first term. A.G. Barr's successor vowed to fix the Trump DOJ's own past secrecy. Would you declassify the Epstein files? Yeah, yeah, I would. Will that really happen? It's sitting on my desk right now. This is not the breaking news that you would expect. The FBI and Justice Department say they've found no credible evidence of an incriminating client list. Everybody knows what came next. Trump DOJ, breaking its vow to release more material, then trying to distract by releasing, after the memo there, an alternative hallway video, which has been criticized, but of course wasn't the original correct video that remains missing.

5:15John Flannery:All of that stoking the more recent questions we've heard this year. Trump's Epstein summer with blowback from the MAGA base, elected Republicans, Democrats, victims advocates. So now let's apply the full facts so that we can look at these questions. I'm going to show you a timeline here and what we are learning in this case. We're going to look at the recent secrecy, the failures by the Trump administration, why this case has been a failure for justice and governance and transparency. And the history helps reveal links to the current issues, the questions facing Trump as president and as a civilian, because before he was president, he had a sordid history with Epstein.

5:57John Flannery:And when we're done walking you through this timeline, you're going to see why so many questions endure to officials linked to Trump, to officials carrying out his priorities at DOJ, all of which has drawn this backlash. The current DOJ under Pambandi is covering up crimes, very serious crimes. Last week, she put out a two page memo effectively declaring the Epstein case closed, which is convenient given the speculation that Trump might be in the so-called client list. Three times I voted for this man. This is by far the biggest fumble of the administration they've had thus far. It's indefensible.

6:34It's indefensible that the answers aren't there when so much was promised. He and his administration keep acting like they've got something to hide.

6:44John Flannery:The Epstein case has many details and open questions. Our timeline today focuses on the key facts and developments starting in March 2005 when local police in Palm Beach, Florida began a probe into Epstein, investigating reports of abusing victims as young as 14. The local case led to Epstein's indictment for a single count of soliciting prostitution in 2006, not the more serious alleged conduct. In fact, the lead detective in the Palm Beach office referred the case to the FBI to look at the more serious crimes, and those federal investigators began probing allegations. In 2008, Epstein reached a deal with the Bush administration's federal prosecutors to take that local Florida conviction for soliciting prostitution with an adult and a minor.

7:36John Flannery:Epstein got a lenient, short prison sentence and an unusual agreement that the Bush DOJ would not prosecute Epstein further or four of his co-conspirators or any others. Bush DOJ prosecutors also agreed to keep the deal secret and not inform Epstein's victims about it. A judge later found the Bush DOJ's secrecy deal was... illegal, violating those victims' rights. So the facts show, from the start, Epstein got this unusual protection from the government in this period, a Republican administration, Bush, and Epstein was a rich, powerful figure. He had ties to people in business and politics. He hired a Republican-connected lawyer, former independent counsel Ken Starr, and served just one year in that deal.

8:24John Flannery:Now, another nine years went by, and then the Miami Herald reported an Epstein expose on the allegations of his conduct and that Bush-era prosecutor who cut the sweetheart deal. That investigative report gained traction, partly because of a tie to Trump, who promoted the very prosecutor, Alex Acosta, to his cabinet. The headline at the time hammering how a now Trump official gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime. And that public pressure from the Herald drove a new federal pro. Internal DOJ reviews would show Acosta had poor judgment in the case and that the blanket immunity offers for Epstein and others were just indefensible, leading to a fairly swift federal indictment of Epstein on far more serious sex trafficking charges.

9:16John Flannery:And the pressure drove the original prosecutor Trump had promoted Acosta to resign around this time. And in a key decision, a judge denied Epstein bail, forcing him to be incarcerated before any trial. It was just over a month later, August 2019, when Epstein was found dead in his cell. The situation was suspicious. Officials there broke several protocols. Epstein was a high-profile detainee. He'd been placed on suicide watch, which was then quickly lifted. Guards failed to do required inspections the very night of his death. And a lot of questions were hanging over all of this. So let's go even further ahead, all the way up to 2019 and what happened after that.

9:59John Flannery:Because key videos went missing. Trump Attorney General Barr even admitting the prison made mistakes then, but claiming that he personally reviewed prison video which showed no one entering the cell. And with Epstein dead, prosecutors turned to a co-conspirator who might have benefited from that original Florida case being shut down, what I told you about. They went ahead and indicted Jelaine Maxwell for helping Epstein's sex trafficking, a case brought by a career prosecutor, Maureen Comey, daughter of former FBI Director Comey. And her work continued on when the Biden administration took over.

10:32John Flannery:She won Maxwell's conviction and this 20-year prison sentence. Then, during the 2024 campaign, the questions and theories about Epstein's crimes and special treatment were heating up on the right. It was a problem for Trump, given that he promoted the original prosecutor, that he oversaw the DOJ, which failed to answer questions or have transparency about whatever happened in that prison cell. So Trump tried to go on office, vowing to declassify and release Epstein's files. And his attorney general took over that message and advanced it in office. now infamously claiming that she had the client list on her desk, which she later contradicted because shortly after, the DOJ released an alternate video from the prison, but the key video that shows Epstein's cell door is either lost or hidden, it's never been released, and Bondi released the now infamous memo that said they wouldn't provide any other Epstein documents.

11:31John Flannery:So Bondi went from saying there was a client list to there wasn't, she was lying then or lying now. The DOJ memo then said there was no other Epstein info that was going to be released, which ignited that firestorm of criticism we all lived through. And given the broken vows, that couldn't hold. Trump soon contradicted his own DOJ's memo in saying he would try to get grand jury material released. But those are limited transcripts. A lot of the big Epstein information is in the Trump DOJ. They could release it any time. One judge has denied this. And as the Trump administration's contradicting claims drew more heat on its secrecy, the DOJ then sent this former Trump criminal defense attorney to interview Maxwell in prison and then transferred her to a better prison, an apparent reward for the one person doing any time for Epstein's indicted federal crimes.

12:24John Flannery:In July, Trump's DOJ also fired the top prosecutor, but won the case against Maxwell Comey, an unusual ousting of a career prosecutor with no public explanation. So what does this timeline show? That Epstein got help and special treatment and sometimes unlawful benefits from the very federal government that claimed to be investigating him. It happened under the Bush administration, with officials later promoted by Trump. The Trump DOJ only picked up the case in the first term after journalists reported those revelations. Epstein's unusual death met with total secrecy by the first Trump term. And the prosecutor who busted Epstein's co-conspirator ousted in the second term, while Trump and other officials made false, sometimes knowingly false statements about this public history.

13:13John Flannery:This is a damning account of President Trump's approach to this case in government. Now, this is a serious governing problem for President Trump and the DOJ and obviously the impacted victims. Even if we learn nothing else about this, it's an open scandal for this administration. And then there are the glaring and inconvenient facts that go back even further before Trump was in government, before the lengthy timeline we just saw because as a civilian, Trump had a long relationship with Epstein, who had bought property near Mar-a-Lago, socializing with Trump, engaging in activities, and both men then referring to Epstein's sexual controversies.

13:55John Flannery:The two men partied together. They appeared in public and before cameras. This is footage from a Mar-a-Lago event in 1992. Epstein went to Trump's wedding in 1993. And while Trump famously likes his own jet with Trump branding, he found the time and reasons to fly on Epstein's private jet at least seven times, per the New York Times. Trump photographed with both Epstein and Maxwell in 2000 again at Mar-a-Lago. And the Journal reported about how Trump drew those body sexual references in a birthday card for Epstein, citing, quote, wonderful secrets. Trump denies this and is suing the Journal over it.

14:33John Flannery:He now claims his Epstein friendship was shorter than reported, that they clashed over an employee Epstein had poached from Mar-a-Lago, while other accounts say Epstein was a Mar-a-Lago member until 2007, over a year after that original indictment we showed you. Trump breaking the vow to release more Epstein files, but he's also in them, according to recent journal reporting. And as for Epstein, he was secretive about any time that the two men might have spent with minors when pressed under oath. He ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?

15:17John Flannery:Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today, I'm going to have to accept my 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendment rights, sir. Legally, these social links alone are not evidence of a crime. They are evidence of a conflict of interest. the kind of link that requires a judge or prosecutor to recuse from a case. But Trump has been doing the opposite, commenting and intervening, his DOJ's actions on Epstein repeatedly putting secrecy over facts, politics over accountability, and, as we saw in the recent controversy, a special transfer and leniency for an actual sex trafficker over justice for the victims.

16:05John Flannery:There has been a lot of talk about Epstein, and at the core, this is a case that matters so much to the many people, many victims, whose lives were forever altered by Epstein and Maxwell. But you don't need even more Epstein documents, though people are pursuing them, or more facts to understand the raw outline of this case. Some of it predates Trump, with Bush-era prosecutors cutting a deal with a powerful person and cutting out the victims from even learning about it. But much of it involves Trump, from the personal social links to a government that he is overseeing, that after all of the talk and claims for justice and demands for truth in this sex trafficking case, the big thing the Trump administration has done is continue the secrecy, continue to cut the victims out, and most astoundingly help and serve an Epstein sex trafficking co-conspirator over truth or justice for the victims.

17:13John Flannery:He ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18.

17:26John Flannery:though i'd like to answer that question at least today i'm going to have to assert my fifth sixth of what is amendment right sir jeffrey epstein now deceased refusing to answer questions about any such socializing allegedly involving donald trump our two expert guests are on hand to respond to our new timeline we walk through what we have seen from the very first investigation and special treatment and government connections that ultimately benefited first Epstein and later Maxwell in this recent Trump era. For a special discussion on this new report, we're joined by Nancy Erica Smith, a civil rights attorney who's represented victims of sexual assault and harassment, and former federal prosecutor and congressional counsel, John Flannery.

18:10John Flannery:Welcome to you both. Nancy, given your experience in this area. What does this now fuller timeline tell us about what's happened? Well, it tells us that victims of sexual abuse, even pedophilia, don't matter in our justice system, and they never have, especially when the perpetrators are rich, powerful, connected politically. The law enforcement community has ignored victims since the beginning of time and continues to do so. And even in this story, the victims, except for what you just did, are rarely even commented on. It's the intrigue of what happened to Epstein and who was involved. But it doesn't, I hope it matters.

18:58The reason it matters is because a lot of Trumpers went down the rabbit hole of QAnon and conspiracy theories about Democrats being pedophiles and having a pedophilia ring in some Washington DC piece.

19:12John Flannery:Let me jump in and have you continue that the political part in a way has boomeranged on one party. And you say sometimes it doesn't matter. That's clear. Other times it could matter. We'll show some of the timeline again. From the very beginning, the first deal cut by the Bush federal prosecutor, later promoted to the Trump cabinet that you see there on that far left was cut as a secret deal where the victims were not even informed. And many of them feel and say they feel re-traumatized by the last few months where Maxwell and other activities have gone down with this Trump administration again without them, Nancy.

19:54Yeah. And all victims of sexual violence and pedophilia are damaged here, not just Epstein victims who are clearly damaged by what's going on here. I mean, if Maxwell ends up at Club Fed, it's outrageous. It violates even the prison system's own rules. But, you know, Karl Rove, I think, started it, accused them of what we're doing. So they swift boated a war hero for a draft dodger. And now they've accused Democrats of pedophilia when they've really covered up and protected one for the past 20 years.

20:32John Flannery:John Flannery, we'll put the timeline back up and tell us what you think is important here, because as we've done in past reporting with you, the facts sometimes are covered up and lied on, but they can still be powerful when presented. True. I think that the synthesis that you put together is among the inventory of breaking news stories that you've organized in the past. And I think that the answer to Nancy is that she makes a difference. We all make a difference whenever we clear out these people who take advantage of their positions so that somebody can be above the law, as is the case here.

21:13There are two special facts in these cases that I think tell us how the government was concealing what was going on here in terms of conspiracy for trafficking of minors and also protecting individually Epstein. Notice that Epstein originally, in the Florida case, ended up pleading guilty to a single charge that did not involve general trafficking. and then they excluded all the people who were involved in his conspiracy. And then they sealed it and they probably made an argument to themselves that, hey, you know, if he's only involved with a prostitute and it's just a John, we should get away with this.

21:57And Acosta, as you mentioned, became a secretary of labor as a result of being, shall we say, clumsy in his ethical judgments. Now, going forward, we see that the Southern District of New York, my old office, I think made a mistake here because the case is really divided in between a man who's selling sex to others, a pimp really, and a person who's a John. They only prosecuted the John. They only prosecuted Epstein and Maxwell, and that's their conspiracy. But the conspiracy that's ignored is what Nancy was referring to, all of these other victims, besides the six that were identified at Maxwell's trial.

22:41And there's no doubt that the government at the time thought that she was a severe, severe offender because while she got 20 years, the government said they thought that the range went from 30 to 55 years. That's how serious they thought, but not this Justice Department. And this Justice Department goes out and has 1 ,000 people, go through 100 ,000 pages and do what they did is spoilation. How can we trust any document that would come out of that injustice department? We couldn't. And that's all part of it. And the final thing I would say, forgive me for going on, but the final thing I would say is when Hillbilly Vance was going to have a meeting at his home with certain people, and maybe Trump was concerned that they were going to talk about the 25th Amendment, They may have decided then, hey, let's give them the Maxwell case because the Maxwell case is only about Maxwell and Epstein.

23:41It's not about anything else, whether the judge keeps it away from us or gives it to us. No harm, no foul. And we've already taken care of everybody at Justice. And a logical witness on the Hill would be Comey. She prosecuted the case. Bring her up and talk to her. Bring up the people who are not on the 6th. This is a case. I would say with a point to this. And you, Eric.

24:05John Flannery:Well, I'll jump in and I appreciate what you said and you made a lot of connections. And to that point, Nancy, we don't have firm reporting on why Comey was fired. Ms. Comey. The government didn't provide a reason, which itself is a bit suspicious for someone as decorated as her. It could be she was fired because her last name was Comey. And Donald Trump suddenly found out about it from reading articles and said, this person still works here? It could also be that I didn't know we read. Yeah, it could also but it could also be read. Well, you know, maybe a news alert of some kind. Sorry. But it could also be, Nancy, that that as they dug more into this Maxwell case and allegedly, according to some critics, are trying to rewrite it, holding unusual interviews with her, trying to clear the sitting president from a link to this rather than doing law enforcement work.

24:52John Flannery:that having her around was it was an interference because she's still the lead prosecutor. It's still in DOJ terms. It's still her prisoner and that it's her case. For example, a transfer or any other hard to imagine giving a commutation or pardon to this sex trafficker. But if you did, it's her defendant and now convict that you would check the case on. So, Nancy, to ask you the question where the timeline ends, What does it say about this current Trump administration on the substance of justice for these victims? And we'll we'll put up that that image again to remind people there are real human beings involved in this, as we've endeavored to do throughout the coverage.

25:30John Flannery:This is Ms. Farmer, Ms. Michaels, Ms. Ransom, the people affected here. What does it tell you that the only living incarcerated individual linked to some of their victimhood is getting leniency and the prosecutor who busted her is out? Yeah. And Trump's DOJ is, I agree with John, I have no faith in this DOJ. Fighting for these records that the DOJ has already been through is a farce because they're corrupt. They're Trump protectors. They are not representing the people of the United States. And the oversight committee led by James Comer, you know, has thanked the Trump administration for its transparency and subpoenaed Clinton instead of Ms.

26:23Comey, the prosecutor, or the victims that are still alive because - Or Mr. Acosta, yeah. Or Mr. Acosta or other victims. There are more than six victims, and there are victims that are still wanting to come forward and testify. So the joke that is going on between the executive branch and the oversight committee in Congress is only exacerbated by the fact that now we have a judge saying the DOJ can't release the files. Since when did the Trump administration care what judges say? They said they were going to release the files. They didn't. They found out that Trump is all over them. And we know that you showed us that.