At today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray about the Jeffrey Epstein tapes.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Okay, so in fairness, Senator Kennedy.
00:03 Sorry, Martin.
00:05 Mr. Director, welcome.
00:07 I bet you just love talking about where to put the FBI building, don't you?
00:13 Probably one of your favorite topics.
00:16 I've got two questions.
00:17 Number one, if you took the major Mexican drug cartels,
00:29 which also traffic people into the United States,
00:34 and turned them upside down and shook them,
00:38 President López Obrador would fall out of their pockets, wouldn't he?
00:44 Well, I don't know that I can comment on a specific individual's corruption
00:51 other than through cases that we bring,
00:54 but I understand the point that you're making, for sure.
00:57 We're not getting much cooperation out of Mexico, are we?
01:02 Let me put it this way.
01:04 While we have had some successes here and there
01:08 in terms of extraditions and so forth, and I appreciate those,
01:11 and I'm grateful to our Mexican partners for those,
01:13 especially at the working level,
01:15 we need a whole lot more from Mexico than we've gotten
01:19 in terms of shutting down the cartels and stopping the flow of the precursors.
01:23 I mean, I could go on and on.
01:24 So I'm grateful for the successes we have had,
01:29 but we need a heck of a lot more, is the way I would answer that.
01:34 Why don't we use leverage of what I call NAFTA II
01:41 to try to encourage the president of Mexico to cooperate more?
01:47 Yeah, I mean, NAFTA, of course, is a trade agreement,
01:51 and I'm not really an expert on trade relations.
01:55 Certainly from an FBI perspective, we welcome every tool in the toolbox
02:00 to try to improve the relationship and the cooperation,
02:04 and I'm hopeful that the Mexican government will see the value
02:09 of building on the successes we have had
02:12 and take it to the level that it needs to be,
02:14 because it's not where it needs to be.
02:16 Okay, here's my second question.
02:21 We know that Jeffrey Epstein, who is now deceased,
02:28 and Ms. Maxwell, his associate, who's in prison,
02:34 were engaged in a conspiracy of sex trafficking with minors.
02:46 So were others.
02:49 It's been widely reported.
02:52 What's the FBI doing to investigate the other people
02:58 that were involved in these sex trafficking ranks?
03:03 Well, I'm not sure that I can confirm any specific individual.
03:08 Well, let me put it this way.
03:09 Let me give you some facts, widely reported.
03:12 Jeffrey Epstein had video surveillance in all of his homes
03:18 and on his private island,
03:20 and there have been articles after articles from witnesses
03:25 who have said he videotaped sex acts with prominent people
03:34 because he was trying to --
03:37 with young girls that he had procured
03:39 to try to incur favor with those prominent people
03:44 and potentially to be able to blackmail them.
03:48 Now, that's a fact,
03:51 and the FBI and other federal agencies
03:55 have raided his house.
03:56 Do you have those tapes?
03:59 -Again, I can't discuss the specifics
04:01 of our law enforcement operations
04:03 related to Mr. Epstein or Ms. Maxwell,
04:05 but obviously we had very active investigation
04:08 related to both of them.
04:09 But whether it extends to other people,
04:11 I'm not sure that's something that I can comment on.
04:13 -A suit was filed yesterday
04:16 against one of those prominent people
04:18 by one of the young women sex-trafficked,
04:22 allegedly, said he was part of the ring.
04:25 It's on the front page, I don't know,
04:27 is this the New York Times, Wall Street Journal?
04:29 And we keep seeing article after article after article,
04:32 and we keep hearing about prominent person
04:35 after prominent person after prominent person.
04:39 I just want to know if these prominent people
04:42 are above the law and aren't being investigated,
04:48 or is the FBI investigating them?
04:52 -Well, no one is above the law, number one.
04:56 As to whether specific people are being investigated,
04:58 that's not something that I, as I'm sure you can appreciate,
05:01 can engage on here.
05:02 We've devoted significant resources to the investigation.
05:05 -Is it ongoing?
05:08 -I'm not sure there's anything I can share with you on that,
05:09 but let me see if we can get back to you
05:11 and provide a little more information.
05:12 -Well, for example, these allegations in this lawsuit,
05:15 the civil action, is it --
05:18 -I haven't seen the article.
05:20 -It'll trigger your gag reflex.
05:22 Is the FBI gonna investigate that?
05:27 -Well, again, I haven't seen the article,
05:29 but I would be happy to take a look at it and take it back
05:31 and see if it's part of something we're working on.
05:33 -I'd just like to know -- -I share your --
05:36 -Yeah, is the FBI still investigating this,
05:39 or are these prominent people gonna go scot-free?
05:46 -I'm not sure that I can tell you whether or not
05:48 there is ongoing work being devoted to this.
05:51 I would be happy to take a look at the specific article.
05:53 I share your disgust at Mr.
05:59 Epstein's conduct and Ms. Maxwell's conduct.
06:02 -And others.
06:04 -The whole operation.
06:06 -Okay. Thanks, Madam Chair.
06:07 Sorry, Martin.
06:09 You're a fine American, anyway.
06:11 -Thank you, Senator Kennedy.