STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has subpoenaed Justice Department documents on Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender who died in jail in custody in 2019. The House Oversight Committee is the name of that group. They also issued subpoenas for documents and depositions with former heads of the Justice Department, State Department, FBI, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Barry Levine is following all of this. He's reported on Epstein for decades and is the author of "The Spider: Inside The Criminal Web Of Jeffrey Epstein And Ghislaine Maxwell." Welcome to the program.
BARRY LEVINE: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: What are some questions you have that you think these documents might reveal, assuming the public gets a look at them?
LEVINE: Well, I think it's super important that we finally get a look, as we've been promised transparency in this initially from Attorney General Pam Bondi. And it's been clouded, of course, over the past several weeks with the fact that they said they were not going to release any documents. I do support the fact that we have lawmakers who are moving ahead, trying to get the Justice Department to release these documents. I mean, we're talking here 300 gigabytes of material. That's hundreds of thousands of pages. I am concerned that there'd be grandstanding based on these subpoenas. I would rather see investigators who are familiar with this material go over those files and then generate questions for individuals we think that are involved.
Some of the things that's most important, I think, in seeing the files is determining were there financial crimes involved with Jeffrey Epstein. You have to remember that after his slap-on-the-wrist conviction in Florida in the early days...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
LEVINE: ...He primarily moved his operation to his home in the Virgin Islands. And he was bringing young women and children there, having them sent by plane, and then ferrying them to his island by boat. According to the Attorney General in the Virgin Islands, some of these girls were as young as 12 years old. Now, there were men in other countries - in Russia and Turkey and some places - where he was importing his victims from. We need to find out through the documents exactly who might've been involved in this and possibly bring them to justice here.
INSKEEP: Senator Ron Wyden has been on our air talking about evidence of financial crimes or questions about financial crimes, and particularly a large number of wire transfers. What do you know there?
LEVINE: Yes. I mean, Senator Wyden has been doing a terrific job trying to get to the bottom of this. And, you know, they - there's a thousand victims in this case, and all of them want answers to all of this. And we know from Senator Wyden that there were almost 5,000 wire transfers, totaling $1 billion that was money moved through not only U.S. banks but also Russian banks. And we need to find out exactly what the purpose of that money was, how it exchanged hands, who are the individuals that received that money, and really fine tune and take a very sharp focus at - on any other individuals who might've been involved in this. You know, not only the men that the public seems to be interested in, in terms of a, you know, quote-unquote, "client list." But we need to go beyond that, and we need to look at other individuals who are enablers who supported Jeffrey Epstein over two decades of his sex trafficking.
INSKEEP: During the presidential campaign, President Trump was asked a question about whether he would release the Epstein files. He said, sure, I would, and then went on to make a curious addendum that wasn't initially broadcast. He said, sure, I would release these files. But, of course, you got to be careful. You don't want to catch somebody who's innocent who's named in a document. I'm paraphrasing here, but that was the substance of what President Trump said. Are you actually worried that somebody who's innocent might be smeared by these files?
LEVINE: Well, I have to tell you, Steve, I'm most interested, not so much in them releasing those names of third parties. And I agree that both victims and third parties have to be protected, but we need to find out exactly what the FBI did over the years to investigate these men. And if they weren't investigated properly with possible evidence and cooperation, then what are they hiding? And is this some type of a cover up? That's what we need to find out.
INSKEEP: Accountability for the government. Barry Levine, thanks so much.
LEVINE: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: He is author of "The Spider: Inside The Criminal Web Of Jeffrey Epstein And Ghislaine Maxwell." Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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