00:06Mr. President, nobody in our country should be above the law.
00:12Not a politician, not a celebrity, not a billionaire, no one.
00:19The principle of equal justice under the law is so powerful that if you walk outside these doors
00:26and you look across to the Supreme Court, you will see them carved into the facade above the pillars.
00:35Equal justice under law.
00:39No matter how powerful someone is, if they commit a crime, then they need to be prosecuted.
00:48And the American people have a right to know as information is being held related to the conduct of crime.
00:56So, in regard to the Epstein files, there's only one right answer.
01:03Complete and total disclosure of everything, all the details, while protecting the names of the victims.
01:14Whatever a person's political party shouldn't matter.
01:18Level of power shouldn't matter.
01:20Their net worth shouldn't matter.
01:22Equal justice under law is the vision of our nation.
01:26And if an individual is a pedophile, if an individual has raped a young girl,
01:33then they need to be held accountable.
01:36Let the chips fall where they may.
01:39Jeffrey Epstein was a monster.
01:43He groomed and abused, raped, and coordinated the rape by others of underage girls.
01:50He trafficked these girls to rich and powerful men.
01:55And as I speak here tonight, the Department of Justice has files detailing a tremendous amount of information about his operation.
02:07And in those files, we have heard from Pam Bondi, and she informed the President, that the President's name is among them.
02:15Well, that doesn't mean that he was somebody who participated in a crime.
02:21He could be listed as an associate.
02:23He could be listed as a friend.
02:25He could be listed as somebody who attended a gathering.
02:28We don't know, in fact, we don't know about any of the names that are in those files, what they did.
02:34But that is the point.
02:36Names of powerful people who were associated with an individual, Jeffrey Epstein,
02:44who was running an international sex trafficking ring.
02:49All of that information must be disclosed.
02:52Full disclosure is the only option.
02:57Every detail should be brought to light.
03:01And anyone who committed egregious crimes should be held accountable, no matter who they are.
03:12My colleague from Oregon, Senator Ron Wyden, and the Senate Finance Committee have been investigating Mr. Epstein's financial network for years.
03:24They've been seeking disclosure.
03:26I have a letter that Senator Wyden wrote.
03:30It reveals that more than 4,700 suspicious wire transfers, adding up to more than a billion dollars from just one of Mr. Epstein's bank accounts.
03:45And hundreds of millions of dollars in other bank accounts.
03:48What would that information show us about who they went to?
03:53What questions would it lead us to ask?
03:56And what questions would that information answer?
03:59The American public has every right to know the questions that Senator Wyden and the Finance Committee are asking.
04:08And let me be clear.
04:10That work was bipartisan work.
04:13Democrats and Republicans together calling for disclosure and accountability.
04:20In this letter, Senator Wyden notes, and I quote,
04:26Epstein clearly had access to enormous financing to operate his sex trafficking network.
04:32And the details on how he got the pass to pay for it are sitting in a Treasury Department filing cabinet.
04:39For years, so many people across America, in both parties, have been demanding the release of the Epstein files.
04:53But we heard a lot from a few folks who are in the administration now.
04:58December 15, 2023, Kash Patel said that Mr. Epstein's, quote, black book, quote, was, quote, under the direct control of the FBI.
05:10Well, Mr. Patel is now the director of the FBI.
05:13On October 22, 2024, he wasn't Vice President yet, but now he's Vice President, J.D. Vance said in a podcast, quote,
05:23seriously, we need to release the Epstein list.
05:26That's an important thing.
05:28On February 25, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was in office, said, Mr. Epstein's client list was, quote, sitting on my desk right now to review.
05:45But suddenly we're hearing a different tune from people in the administration.
05:51We're hearing, there's nothing to see here, they're saying.
05:57Go look somewhere else, they're saying.
06:01This is not important, they're saying.
06:06But not everyone agrees with that.
06:09Let's take the Speaker of the House.
06:11July 15, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN, quote, we should put everything out there and let the people decide.
06:20On July 16, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Fox News, quote, I'm always a believer in transparency.
06:30I think more is better.
06:33Well, I agree with the Speaker, Mike Johnson.
06:39I agree with the Majority Leader, John Thune.
06:43I agree that the right principle about this information is to put everything out there.
06:53Let us not forget that as the Senate Finance Committee is pursuing those information about the file transfers and what they show, that ultimately it's not about money itself, but about what money tells us.
07:11And the case it builds for who did what.
07:15Because what really matters here is this.
07:18The victimization of young girls.
07:22That's what this is about.
07:25The abuse of young girls.
07:28The rape of young girls.
07:30That's what this is about.
07:32That's what transparency is about.
07:37So whether the information in the Department of Justice files or about flight and travel records.
07:44Names of people who were involved in various ways.
07:47Names of businesses or nonprofits.
07:50Other organizations.
07:51Other organizations.
07:52About meetings held or communications made.
07:55Whether it was by email.
07:56Whether it was by text.
07:57Whether it was by phone call.
07:59Any immunity deals.
08:00Any non-prosecution agreements.
08:02Any plea bargains.
08:03Any settlements.
08:04Whatever it is.
08:06The American people demand transparency.
08:09Just as the Speaker of the House demanded transparency.
08:14Just as the Majority Leader of the Senate has demanded transparency.
