Adrienne Bankert (00:00):
... back to that trove of court filings connected to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Those pages released overnight, the more than 900 pages of documents from Virginia Giuffre's defamation suit against Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, offering new insights on old allegations of sex abuse.
Speaker 2 (00:19): And it's also revealing more people linked to the disgrace financier, many of whom had already been made public. We were expecting some of these names, some of them we weren't. The names of those mentioned in court documents range from politicians. You've got entertainers, some of the nations most rich and powerful, people like Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump like Adrian mentioned off the top. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson also mentioned a couple times along with celebrity magician David Copperfield, and Hollywood Star Leonardo DiCaprio. But of course, just to reiterate this warning, you have to make it clear, people are in the documents for a variety of reasons, even as simple as their name came up in a random question. Dray Clark is live in New York with more on these documents. Dray, good morning.
Dray (01:03): Good morning. Yeah, we're finally seeing the first set of documents with more on the way in the weeks to come. But as expected, there are some pretty high profile names listed in those 900 plus pages of court documents that were released last night. Names like former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, along with Prince Andrew. That's just a few in a long list of many. (01:22) Now, many of these names belong to individuals who had already been publicly connected to Jeffrey Epstein as his longtime associates or friends. This list does not imply that everyone listed is accused of wrongdoing or illegal and immoral behavior. The unsealed names were mentioned in court documents for various reasons as part of a civil lawsuit brought by Epstein's alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, who sued Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell for sexual abuse. Giuffre claims Epstein and Maxwell pursued her as a teenager to engage in sexual relationships with powerful men like Prince Andrew. The Prince is mentioned 67 times in the unsealed documents. And although he denies Giuffre's allegations, he settled a lawsuit with her out of court. (02:09) Former President Bill Clinton has mentioned at least 50 times in the filings, but nowhere does it say he did anything wrong or illegal. Mr. Clinton has acknowledged he used Epstein's private jet for trips overseas, but denies he's ever been to Epstein's private island in the Caribbean, or had any contact with young girls. One document says in a deposition taken under oath in 2016, one of Epstein's victims said Epstein once told her that, "Clinton likes them young," referring to girls. Former president was never criminally investigated as part of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, so at this point, it's hearsay at best. (02:49) Former President Donald Trump also listed a few times, but there is no reference of any illicit behavior. Meanwhile, another unsealed document features an email that appears to be from Epstein to his fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, asking about trying to pay off Giuffre's family and friends to refute her allegations that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage sex act. Hawking was seen in pictures with Epstein in 2006 on his private island. Also famous attorney Alan Dershowitz, who helped the disgrace financier get a sweetheart plea deal is named 137 times. Dershowitz pushed hard for all of the court documents to be released to clear his name. Giuffre claimed Dershowitz was one of the men who sexually abused her and that he was an eyewitness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein, claims he strongly denied and sued Giuffre for. She later acknowledged she may have made a mistake in identifying him as one of her abusers. (03:53) Now, Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to sex acts against children in 2008 and again was given a sweetheart deal of only 13 months in custody. He died in 2019 by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021 for her crimes involving young girls in sex acts. And again, this doesn't really, in here there are many more documents that we are expecting to see in the days and weeks to come, and that includes more names. Markie?
Adrienne Bankert (04:28): Thank you for watching. Go to newsnationnow.com to find NewsNation on your television provider. And don't forget to click the red subscribe button below to get more of news fact-driven, unbiased coverage.