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Ari Melber (0:44)
Easy50OFF welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melber, and we are following actual investigative developments in how Congress is dealing with the Epstein files. There's a billionaire, and if you don't know his name, you certainly know his business background. Les Wexner will be grilled tomorrow. This is part of what has become a bipartisan rebuke to Donald Trump over and over on the Epstein files. He said, no new files. Congress made him release them. That's the story we've been following. He said, let it go. It's an old story. Congress said, no, there's more to do. And so it stays in the news because of these actual investigative developments. Now, Wexner had a long and very big kind of business relationship with Epstein. The question is what kind of business? But tens of millions of dollars were exchanged. This deposition will occur in Ohio. That's part of an accommodation of the witness, who is 88 years old. Now, when I mentioned business, what these two men did in business is part of what's invest under investigation. So on the one hand, we could tell you that Wexner was a successful businessman, a billionaire, and that he was also a benefactor of Epstein that he helped him find financially. And maybe that's all there was to it. We want to be careful and follow the facts, but lawmakers, investigators and independent journalists have raised the question of just why so much of Wexner's money ended up in Epstein's pockets. At one point, Epstein was managing Wexner's finances. Then they did sever ties, and that was in 2007, as more heat came on Epstein. What we're learning from the files, though, is that Wexner is in there over a thousand times. Emails Lawsuits that seem to involve potentially both of them. And the DOJ has even modified some of the redactions to the 2019 FBI file that showed they were looking at whether Wexner had exposure related to the crimes they were investigating. Epstein, for now, we want you to understand what Wexner has said, and this is prior to even the new files release. He maintains that they had a kind of professional relationship and that ultimately he became disenchanted with what he viewed as Epstein's failures or misconduct with regard to finances. Now, Wexner will be only the second person to speak before Congress since the files were released. You can see a lot of the pressure on many of these individuals we've been tracking while Trump Commerce Secretary Lutnick, caught lying to minimize his visit to Epstein island, remains in the Cabinet. So there is a kind of a clash between accountability for some and not others. Congress has some efforts to investigate, and we've seen that in a, at times bipartisan way, while there's also been an effort to distract or look at certain individuals. For example, the calls to investigate powerful men, some of whom might be implicated in this, are a long ways from going after Hillary Clinton. Here's what she's saying. What we're seeing, I think it's fair to say, is a continuing cover up by the Trump administration. There's something about this administration's attitude toward this which I think really leads us to conclude they have something to hide. They are slow walking it. They are redacting the names of men who are in it. They are stonewalling legitimate requests from members of Congress. That has nothing to do with us. Something is going on. They know it, I know it. That's Hillary Clinton, who of course, as I mentioned, has been targeted by some of the Republicans. Although when you go looking for rich, powerful men who may have gotten away with something, she wouldn't really be on the list, not based on the files or the information we have now. Republican Thomas Massie, who has been really seen as a good faith bipartisan collaborator here working with Democrats to get to the bottom of this, says, on any given day, I need one or two of my own co conspirators to get something done. Once we get past Republican primaries, I think you're going to see defections. That's his reference to the fact that Trump still has, of course, more sway in primary season, but there is a lot more that they can do if they get the votes. Now, what's happening out there, what has happened in places where we've seen that the Files show prosecutors and investigators might have been pressured out of doing a full investigation or fallen down on the job. And the things we've shown you on our timeline. Well, this is interesting. The state of New Mexico now has a new probe into Epstein's ranch. There survivors have said they were abused. That ranch has been known for a long time. What we're seeing is how information, investigation and public pressure can lead to investigations that otherwise were not going to happen. Columbia has now sanctioned two individuals that they think helped Epstein's girlfriend gain admission there again through how his largesse may have distorted things long far away from his own accused sex crimes, but just the sort of way he wielded influence. Two prominent business people facing consequences over their ties to Epstein, who we reported, for example, on the Wasserman issue. His ties to Maxwell, not to any alleged crimes per se, have led to him having to sell off his entire talent agency. Others across the spectrum facing subpoenas or these pressure points we've shown you. The New York Times asks, why didn't anyone say something? And that what we're learning again from this unusual transparency effort shows how a group can collude with dark secrets if they serve their interest. The price of admission to Epstein's world was the Times says, silence. And so when you look at this entire issue, it has really gone topsy turvy. It started as something that was so under investigated with so little accountability that that became part of the scandal. And the question over years, would he really get away with it forever? And then of course, he was. Ultimately, Mr. Epstein was indicted. He died in prison awaiting trial. Maxwell later indicted and convicted. So you had some baseline accountability, though very delayed. And the idea was, well, leave it there. And Donald Trump repeatedly said, leave it there. It's old news, nothing more to see here. But he was overruled by some of his own supporters who for whatever their reasons, wanted to get to the bottom of this and agitated, put pressure on Congress, which then late, but finally came up with this bipartisan effort to get the files out. And one of the questions, remember, it's very easy to stand in judgment and look at things in hindsight, what they call, of course, Monday morning quarterbacking. But what you see now is that there was important information in the files. Doesn't mean it's going to lead to a bunch of indictments or convictions. We have a process that we have to follow in this country under the rule of law, even if some wish it otherwise. But what I showed you in the accountability, that having learned information about some of these individuals, other people in the public marketplace of accountability said, no, I don't want to be in business with them, or no, that's not okay, or no, short of indictment, which is a government process. The public said, we are reacting. And that's in the early days, as I've told you. We and other outlets have been going through these files. It takes time to do it right. There are millions of revelations. We are seeing a move for accountability. And this isn't a screenplay, this isn't a movie. If it were a movie, you'd say it's a little rich that there's accountability everywhere. But in the White House of the president who claimed in his most recent election that he wanted to get to the bottom of this, and finding that the bottom or the involvement of this includes people in his own cabinet, he won't lift a finger to even publicly say they shouldn't have consorted with Epstein, let alone fire them, which is a far, far lower level than whether you're ever going to have the wider calls for accountability as mentioned. So there is something happening and the information is having real world consequences. It's just everywhere. But in Trump's administration, we're going to get into exactly these issues with civil rights lawyer Nancy Erica Smith when we return in about 90 seconds.