A (3:50)

We actually, I don't want to steal Aaron Parnas's like usual thing, but like, we've got actual breaking news. Prince Andrew was taken into custody this morning in the UK on his birthday, his 66th birthday, which is pretty savage move on the part of the police and his brother, King Charles, who's essentially said no one is above the law. Can you tell us a bit more about, you know, what the charges are and the scene, like what happened today?

B (4:20)

I mean, it's pretty stunning. So Andrew, formerly known as Prince, he lost that title, thank the Lord. He was arrested this morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office. That's kind of the overarching charge. Guess he's not technically indicted yet. British law is a wholesome, I mean, it's a mess. But anyway, so British authorities are investigating Andrew for allegedly giving over confidential information when he was trade representative to Jeffrey Epstein. So confidential British docs to Jeffrey Epstein. It has really nothing to do with sex trafficking or abuse of minors or any of that. It's specifically the trading of confidential information. That's kind of the baseline here, is

A (5:04)

that, I mean, like, there's so many directions that I want to go. I guess the first is somewhere that we've been before, which is that it feels like there is accountability going on everywhere else in the world but here.

B (5:17)

Yeah.

A (5:18)

And do you think that this is going to matter in the trajectory of the Epstein files or the Epstein case in the United States?

B (5:27)

I hope so. I don't, I don't think so. I mean, truthfully, we have a Department of justice in the United States that hasn't moved, that hasn't wanted to move. I mean, but I will say this, it's interesting that this charge had nothing to do with the sex trafficking or abuse because him handing over confidential documents as the UK's trade rep, the US isn't going to indict him for that, has nothing to do with the United States of America. So if British authorities go ahead and say add charges later on in the investigation for abuse of minors, for sex trafficking, whatever, then the United States of America really has, I mean, is put under a significant pressure to indict him because presumably that trafficking also occurred in the United States of America. Right. So I guess we'll have to see how this investigation goes on to see whether or not it's going to have a big impact in the United States.

A (6:11)

How are the survivors feeling about this? I realize as you just said, this is not related to the sex trafficking or Virginia Giuffre or anything that happened with the women. But there must be some sigh of relief that such a major player in the Jeffrey Epstein ring is potentially going to be brought to justice.

B (6:31)

Oh, 100%. I mean the survivors are very, I mean, I wouldn't say happy, but I mean they are. This moment is a step forward towards justice. Virginia's family released a statement saying essentially that for survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you. At last. Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty. What I think people forget here is that without Virginia, today's charges would never have happened. The charges may not have been related to the abuse of Virginia per se, but had she not spoken up, had she not shared her story today would have never happened. So, and I've seen a lot of comments online saying, oh well, this has nothing to do with sex trafficking, this has nothing to do with abuse. Well, my answer to that is the way these legal systems work. And I knew this as when I was an attorney here in the United States it's similar in the uk, they go after the low hanging fruit, right here in the United States the low hanging fruit is tax evasion or any tax charges. Like you can get someone easily on money related charges and then you continue the investigation and usually it opens the doors to a whole lot more. And so this is the same thing. In the uk, there are emails showing that Andrew was giving over this confidential information. That's low hanging fruit. Now, further investigation, in my opinion, will likely reveal something more serious. We'll see what happens.

A (7:46)

Is the expectation that there will be further investigation and that they knew that they were doing this kind of tip of the iceberg stuff, or do you think that to some degree the fact that he was Prince Andrew will kick in and they'll be satisfied with this kind of charge and say, you know, justice was served and we're not going down that path?

B (8:08)

I think it's both, honestly. I mean, I think, yes, it's going to shield him from some accountability for sure. But I also think like this morning when they arrested him, they also at the same time searched all of his properties. Right. So those properties had never been searched before. If there's evidence of further criminal activity that will come out of these properties, there are also plenty of steps before this case ever gets to a trial in a British court. And so you're gonna have continued investigation. Now, will they indict him on sex trafficking or any of those related charges? I don't know, and probably honestly not, given the fact that he was so connected to the Royal Family. But to me, and I think to a lot of survivors, seeing Andrew behind bars for a lengthy period of time, because this is, I mean, this is treason in a lot of ways, right? He's giving over confidential government documents to someone who has no ability to access them. It's going to go away for a very long time. And that is a form of justice, in my opinion.

A (9:01)

Do you think that? I mean, we are talking about this doj, so I'm guessing the answer is going to be no. But it does seem like a bit of a blueprint that the American justice system could use, because it's very clear from emails from the files that have been released that a lot of people were doing bad things in a number of different ways with Jeffrey Epstein. So do you think that there is an opening to go after people on, you know, confidential information or dirty business dealings, etc. Instead of focusing on the sex part, which clearly this doj, Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, and certainly President Trump don't want to focus on.

B (9:41)

Yeah, 100%. I mean, there is a blueprint there. It's just a matter of whether or not they want to go after it. The survivors, for the longest time, if you listen to any of their interviews, all they say is focus on the money, follow the money. The money is really the big thing here. And there was a ton of money laundering going On. I still want to know how Les Wexner gave Jeffrey Epstein tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars. As they said yesterday during the deposition, there would be no Epstein island without Les Wexner. The money trail needs to really be kind of fleshed out, and it's not just who's giving the money and when the money's being transferred, but also what did the banks have to do with this? Because a lot of. Over the past many years, the banks really concealed a lot of the money trail going to and from Epstein. So if investigators can really dig down the timeline regarding how much money, when he got it, where he's sending it to, all this stuff, I guarantee you there's money laundering there. I guarantee you there's tax evasion there's. I mean, they're easy crimes to prove there, in my opinion.

A (10:39)

Can you talk a little bit more about Les Wexner's testimony? I mean, I saw that he said that he had no idea which every Epstein was up to and that he was duped. I mean, it's a lot of very smart people that made billions of dollars that somehow got duped by this guy like Leon Black, who was the head of Apollo, someone like Les Wexner, who even gave control of one of his companies over to Jeffrey. I see what you think. He would have done some due diligence if you were going to do that. So what did you make of his testimony overall?

B (11:09)

I mean, based on what I understand, and I spoke to Congresswoman Ansari after she got out of the deposition, and kind of what she told me was that he. The words I don't recall were said often. Right. He was.

A (11:19)

He's 88 years old, but he didn't plead the Fifth.

B (11:21)

He didn't. Please.

A (11:22)

Just kept saying, I don't recall, but.

B (11:23)

But saying I don't recall is, in the legal kind of world, a cop out. Right. Because you can't getting indicted on perjury for saying, I don't recall is difficult because you have to prove that they do recall at the time, and that's very difficult. So lots of. I don't recall. I think that something she said that was interesting to me and something I've seen in the files, that there could have been a possible romantic relationship between Wexner and Epstein, which is why Wexner got. Gave Epstein all of this money and was control of the company, etc.

A (11:52)

Interesting.

B (11:52)

So there is a lot more to be fleshed out there. They say that they want, like, a public hearing. I think I want to See the full deposition transcripts first. But there is more to me than meets the eye when it comes to Wexner.

A (12:07)

Will we get a full readout of the deposition? Okay, great. And just quickly, next week, the big testimonies will be coming from former first lady Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton. They're testifying on different days, I think on Thursday and Friday, respectively. What do you expect to go on there?

B (12:25)

I still don't think those depots are going to happen. I don't know. Part of me thinks that. Yeah, part of me thinks that they're not. The comer doesn't want a public spectacle.

A (12:34)

I mean, not with Hillary Clinton.

B (12:35)

Not with Hillary Clinton. Like she's going to eat him up.

A (12:38)

Well, especially because she has nothing to do with this. That's what's so frustrating about it.

B (12:42)

Correct, Bill? That's a whole different story. But Hillary, I mean, there's really not much there, so I think they're going to be fireworks if they. If they do happen. I'm still kind of holding out. I don't. I don't know that they're going to end up happening.

A (12:54)

Okay, well, we will keep following it, obviously. Prince Andrew taken into custody this morning. Big news. Thanks for jumping on with me, Aaron. I'll see you later.

B (13:03)

See you later. Hey, folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple, Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow. Subscribe. See you soon for more.