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The Epstein Chronicles
Leon Black Storms Out Of His Epstein Related Congressional Interview (6/29/26)
00:17:13
Leon Black was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee in the middle of his closed-door testimony about Jeffrey Epstein after he refused to answer questions about possible non-disclosure agreements involving women connected to Epstein. Chairman...
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what's up everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein chronicles. On Friday 26 June, Leon Black appeared before the congressional committee overseeing the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. And in the middle of that hearing, Leon Black ended up getting up and walking out when he found out that he was going to be hit with a subpoena to be under oath instead of just giving testimony. And according to sources, this all went down in the middle of the hearing. So Leon Black was being asked questions about NDAs, and he didn't want to answer them. So in the middle of the hearing, according to sources, we weren't there, obviously. But according to sources, Leon Blackness legal team decided enough was enough. And I think it really goes to the heart of what we've been talking about, right? This committee has no teeth. If a guy like Leon Black can get up and walk out in the middle of a congressional hearing, does that signal to you that it's serious that there's consequences if you lie, if you don't tell the truth? Because from where I'm sitting, it does the opposite. And it just confirms everything I've been saying about this committee since the beginning. And this is why this voluntary nonsense is a bunch of bs. Everybody should be subpoenaed, Everybody should be under oath. And if they don't respond to the subpoena, they don't show up. Well, guess what, they go to jail. We had no problem sending people to jail for not showing up for subpoenas previously. Right? So what's the problem here? Why is this committee doing everything it can to continue to protect Jeffrey Epstein's friends? Today's article is from the New York Post and the headline House Committee Subpoenas Leon Black Midway through the Jeffrey Epstein testimony. And look, there's no doubt that that's a bit odd. That's not something you see all the time. Someone giving testimony and then getting subpoenaed in the middle of that testimony by the same people that you're giving the testimony to. Not exactly confidence inducing that Leon Black is telling the truth, is it? This article was authored by Josh Christensen and and James Franey. Billionaire investor Leon Black was hit with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee midway through testimony on his relationship with late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The move came after Black, the co founder of Apollo Global Management, refused to answer lawmakers questions about whether there are any non disclosure deals between him and women connected to Epstein. Lawmakers said, now why wouldn't he answer that? I'm sure it has nothing to do with incriminating himself, right? Leon Black has paid close to $200 million when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein. Not to Jeffrey Epstein himself, but 200 in total. When we're talking about fines, when we're talking about settlements and NDAs, does that sound like a man who's innocent, who didn't do any of this stuff, who wasn't around Epstein, who knows nothing, who gets up and walks out of a congressional testimony? I'll tell you who. Somebody that is scared shitless of telling the truth, that's who. And maybe, just maybe, if James Comer and his buddies would have went and sat down with Les Wexner, they would have come to the same conclusion. But they couldn't be bothered to do that. Black's now set to come back to Congress for videotape testimony under oath on July 16, per one of the subpoenas. The other one demands the NDAs. Look, Leon Black stepped in it. This dude directly stepped in it. Now do I think he's going to be held accountable? I don't. They're never held accountable. What would make this different? I mean, maybe that there's a little more publicity and people are paying attention, but besides That I don't think anybody in Congress really cares. And I think that the litmus test is going to be after midterms, if people keep talking about the subject, the topic, cool. But after the elections, my guess is all these people who have been riding the wave, trying to use this politically against their enemies, etc. Etc. Those people, they're going to fade into the background and they're going to start talking about all the other they were talking about previously. And then whatever becomes profitable, they'll jump on that. And that's the same cycle we've seen over and over when it comes to the Epstein story. People aren't built for the long haul. People don't have the patience, people don't have the, you know, willpower to see it all the way through. And I get that there's a lot going on in the world. I completely understand. But for me personally, there's no issue bigger than this one. And that's why we're going to continue to harp on it no matter what. I don't care if we have a million listeners or 5. The importance doesn't change because interest is fading away. So we're going to really see who's about it after this election cycle. And I want you to pay attention to the people that use this as a vehicle to get where they're going. And then after they get to their destination, they abandon the topic. Because believe me when I tell you, it's coming. We need the NDAs to be able to move forward with the Investigation Oversight Committee. James Comer told reporters, mentioning that they concerned women, possibly in Epstein's orbit. Not possibly for sure. Like, this isn't new to us, and it shouldn't be new to Congress either. And I think that's one of the biggest problems that people have. If all of us knew about this for all these years, how did all of these folks miss it? Or was it that they knew and they just looked the other way? I know that's uncomfortable, but a lot of these people that are in office, they don't have any tenable ground to stand on. They knew what was going on. We want to know, was Jeffrey Epstein involved in the NDAs? Was he involved in writing? Was he involved in awarding funds to the women for the NDAs? What was the reason for the NDAs? We want to know everything about the NDAs, added Comer. And look, that's well within Congress's purview. And if the DOJ ever files charges against Leon Black, those NDAs go out the window. Criminal court is where NDAs go to die. And we saw it with Diddy, we saw it with Epstein several times, and we'll continue to see it. The NDA has no bearing when it becomes a criminal case. The investor earlier told the committee in a closed door deposition that he played no part in Epstein's sex trafficking scheme. A lawyer for Black voiced outrage over the subpoenas. Well, of course, that's the last thing they want to do, be under oath, have to tell the truth, God forbid. And why a guy like Leon Black was given the option to appear voluntarily is a mystery for the ages. Every single person that was even considered a co conspirator at some point, they should not be given voluntary interviews. They should be under oath and forced to tell the truth. And if they don't, there should be serious consequences. Mr. Black came here voluntarily to assist the committee. This was nothing more than a planned political stunt. Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not. Attorney Susan estrich said in a statement. Let me reiterate, the committee did not ask a single question about the legitimate payments to Epstein for professional services on tax and estate matters. Let me reiterate, your client isn't there to set the terms. Your client's there to answer questions. And if you guys don't like that, nobody gives a anymore. I'm so sick of these ultra rich people thinking they can do whatever they want and then people showing up and acting like, yeah, you know, he's being unfairly targeted. No, he's not. No, he's not. The guy's an absolute liar. And it's my opinion that if a competent prosecution took over and they looked into Leon black and they looked into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, well, they'd come to find that there was a lot of money laundering going on. But I guess we're not going to follow the money trail, right? Not salacious enough. Bunch of clowns. One of Epstein's biggest clients, Black, told the committee he had been deceived by a man he hired for tax advice. Imagine hiring Epstein for tax advice. What is the H and R block? Yeah, I'm Jackson Hewitt over here. What does Jeffrey Epstein know about taxes Besides how to hide money and launder it? Oh, that's right. Nothing. But let me give him hundreds of millions of dollars, and for my next trick, I'm gonna pay a mechanic 500 million to cook me food. I've never abused a woman, he said. I have never been with an underage woman. I've never engaged in sex trafficking. Black also Denied paying Epstein for access to women, insisting he had never been blackmailed. Well, I thought Jeffrey Epstein was the greatest blackmailer in the world, and that's how he got Les Wexner and Bill Gates to get on board. Or maybe hear me out. They didn't need any convincing. You ever think about that? I was not involved with and had no knowledge of any of Epstein's heinous conduct. He said the 74 year old, worth an estimated 13 and a half billion, according to Forbes, paid Epstein 158 million over five years for estate and tax planning. 30 million a year. Bro is making more than Jalen Brunson. Okay, think about that. So do you think that Jeffrey Epstein's advice about taxes was worth that kind of money? Worth more than Jalen Brunson's contract? I'm not buying it. Now, if you want to believe it and you want to buy it, I really don't care. I don't care what anybody else thinks, what anybody else does, what anybody else says. He told the committee that he thought he was paying far less. Black's drafted testimony claimed that Epstein falsely promised the fees were tax deductible or 60 cents on the dollar. Oh, yeah, I'm sure he promised that. Easy to blame everything on him, right? Epstein's gone. Nobody can say. Oh, well, that's a lie. What Black believed was 95 million in net fees turned out to be 158 million. He said, while admitting that the late pedophile solved a massive estate problem that lawyers could not. Yeah, I'm sure he did. Illegally backdoor channels, doing things he shouldn't do. By the way, Leon Black, have you declared your art? How much of that art have you declared? How much of it's taxable? Where is it stashed? Do you have it hidden overseas? How many accounts do you have? We can go all day. The problem is the committee doesn't have the stones. He fired the financier in 2018 after a dispute over fees and unpaid $30 million loan. Black stepped down as Apollo's chief executive in 2021. The company is now led by Mark Rowan. Black's testimony cited a review by the law firm Deckard, which found that he paid Epstein the massive sum, but uncovered no evidence he took part in any crimes. Oh, of course not. But it was bad enough he had to step down, right? Forced out by Josh Harris, forced out by Mark Rowan, but sure. Nothing to see here. Keep in mind that Leon Black's son is part of the Trump administration.
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Black said that Deckard examined 60,000 documents and interviewed 20 people over three months. He called himself the only public figure in Epstein's orbit to commission an independent investigation and make the results public. Oh yeah, independent investigation is it? You mean internal investigation, stupid. The Wall street bigwig said that he met Epstein in the mid-90s and gave him a second chance after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. These people are so fucking dumb that it's not funny. And furthermore, Alan Dershowitz in his big fucking mouth running around yapping all the time about how he doesn't have anything to do with anything. Yeah you do. Yeah you do. What's up with the npa? How many backroom deals were made to have that happen? How deeply were you involved? How many times did you do the end around the local Southern District of Florida to go to Main Justice? Stop the bullshit. The whole entire point of that first prosecution was so we'd be here now. So later on down the road these idiots could point to that prosecution and say, oh, we had no idea. We thought it was a girl with a fake ID. She was 17. You, them and that narrative. He said Epstein told him the case was an isolated incident involving a fake id. I knew Jekyll, black said. I didn't know Hyde. Oh no, sure you didn't. Just had him involved in calling the FSB to press Guzel Ga but no big deal. I had no idea who he was. He said he didn't learn of Epstein sex trafficking of minors until the financier was charged for the crime. In July of 2019, the Justice Department alleged that Epstein created a vast network of girls, some as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse between 2002 and 2005. FBI files released by the Trump administration Released by the Trump administration Kicking and screaming. Is the author for real here? I'm getting sick of this shit too. And if you haven't noticed, like Cersei Lannister, I woke up today and I chose verbal violence. I've had enough. Enough of the gaslighting and enough of the bullshit. One Epstein victim told agents in 2019 that Epstein directed her to give massages to Black and others, but New York prosecutors examined the claim and ever charged them. Yeah, the whole idea was to control the blast area, just like I told you. Black devoted much of his Friday statement to three civil suits brought by the Wigdor law firm, calling them baseless and fabricated. The first two were dismissed with prejudice. In the third, the ex Apollo CEO said a federal judge issued a 76 page ruling last month sanctioning the plaintiff, her lawyer and the firm for submitting false evidence. He said that the plaintiff testified she bore four of Epstein's children, three of them kidnapped at birth. As a result of this torrent of lies and misrepresentations, I've received death threats and my family now feels unsafe. For the first time in my life I've had to deploy a bodyguard, black said, according to the prepared remarks. These people are all the victims now. The whole idea, what they're trying to do here is throw a lid on the conversation. They don't want you talking about Leon Black. They don't want you talking about Les Wexner. For the first time ever, these dudes are in the spotlight. And guess what? Welcome to the show. Before the session began, Comer told reporters he believed it might be the most groundbreaking hearing yet in the committee's nearly year old Epstein probe. What? Stop it. Give me a break. James Comer, okay, this could be a pretty significant deposition as we try to get answers, he said. The committee is investigating how the federal government handled Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite daughter of a British newspaper tycoon. Epstein died by suicide, allegedly in August 2019 while awaiting trial. I'm glad the author is so confident in that. Well, he died by suicide. The government told me so. And it was backed up by Nicholas Tartaglioni. The panel previously interviewed former President Bill Clinton and billionaire Bill Gates, who both denied wrongdoing. Black and his family own about 14% of Apollo. Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, voiced support of subpoenaing Black. There are numerous allegations of real abuse by women, by survivors against Mr. Black, Garcia said. We understand that Mr. Black may also be connected and had a relationship with President Trump. Always President Trump thrown in and that of course causes more division. Like we get it, okay, Trump is overseeing this cover up, but if you try to connect every single piece and thread directly back to Trump, this is gonna fail. Trump certainly played his part here with a cover up and certainly had a relationship with Epstein in the past. But the whole story isn't about Trump and the more people like Garcia try to make it all about Trump and not about the overall empire. Notice he doesn't talk rico. Notice he doesn't talk the npa. Notice he doesn't talk. Holding people accountable from the first negotiation, no. What does he do? Same old shit. So I told you from the beginning about Garcia and the thoughts I had about him and how I didn't think he was being honest. And I feel the same way now. In fact, worse. Him and Comer, Two peas in a pod. And this committee. Absolute joke. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.