Grand Jury documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case have finally been released after almost 20 years, and these documents are somehow even more disgusting than anyone could have predicted. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Grand jury documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case have finally been released after almost 20 years. These documents are somehow even more disgusting than anybody could have predicted. When this story first started surfacing, I think you might’ve been the first to be talking about it on a regular basis. I mean, I look back, you were at the edge of this story. It was a friend of mine actually, that initiated some of these first cases. You picked up on the story and you reported on some of the first things that ever happened on Epstein, even back, how long have we been in this together, 20 years?
Farron Cousins: Yeah, 20 years.
Mike Papantonio: 20 years, even back when you were talking about this, you were saying, what the hell? Why is this man not being seriously prosecuted? Pick it up from there.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And obviously when Epstein was first arrested and all this happened in 2006, he was given his prison sentence, 13 months, you can leave six days a week, just basically come back here to sleep. Keep doing what you’re doing. And the whole thing stunk from top to bottom. But we never got our hands, because we weren’t allowed to, on any of these documents. Well, last week, these grand jury documents came out and when you look at these grand jury arguments, or statements, the things these individual people said to the victims, suddenly it becomes clear. Like, okay, that’s why he didn’t get punished. Because this grand jury looks like it was people that were selected by Epstein himself. They were horrible. And the prosecutors were horrible to the victims.
Mike Papantonio: And you, to your credit, I remember we’re saying, why won’t they release these documents? Time and time, that’s what you said on the show. Why won’t they release these documents? All of a sudden, DeSantis of all people comes along and he says, yes, you will release these documents because any grand jury hearing that takes place, if it involves sexual abuse, then you’re gonna have to release it. And all of a sudden you had your wish. Talk about some of the things that you were talking about back then that were probably gonna be in these articles, in these documents.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. You know, a lot of victim blaming. Right. These young girls, 13, 14 years old, we knew at the time before we got these documents, this is gonna be turned around on these young girls who didn’t know what the hell was going on. They’re offered hundreds of dollars just to show up at his place. Don’t question what he tells you to do. And then of course, they turn that on these young girls, the grand jury themselves, and the prosecutors did.
Mike Papantonio: What was some of the stuff they asked them? I thought it was.
Farron Cousins: Oh my God. They said, you’re aware that what you’re doing to your own reputation, to the 14-year-old girl that was repeatedly raped, what you’re doing to your reputation. Um, you are aware that you, you 14-year-old girl, you committed a crime. You’re a prostitute, they told her. It makes your blood boil to go through these.
Mike Papantonio: When you read the questions that the prosecutor, Lanna, what is it? Belohlavek.
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: Read these documents. Take a look at what the prosecutor that had control of the grand jury, a grand jury will do whatever you want them to do. Very rare does a grand jury not do what that prosecutor is asking them to do. This Lanna Belohlavek thought it was so important that she asked these ridiculous questions, making these kids feel like little minor prostitutes, like they’re gonna be prosecuted. Like by God, they had control of everything. They knew what they were doing. These were kids who were 14 and 15 years old. This pig knew that they were in high school. It was very clear, junior high and high school, but he did this anyway. But Belohlavek, oh no, my God. She says, well, kid, child, don’t you understand what you were doing? Making ’em feel guilty, telling ’em this is what you’re gonna face if you come to trial. We better talk about it now.
Farron Cousins: Which is why as these documents tell us, a lot of the accusers decided I’m not gonna testify.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. She scared the hell out of ’em.
Farron Cousins: I’m not gonna name the names. I’m not gonna tell who these other men were, which to this day, we still don’t have a list. But this prosecutor did this intentionally. Right. It’s almost like she’s trying to protect Epstein for some reason.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. That’s the way it looked. I mean, it looked like that. I don’t know whether thats true or not, but.
Farron Cousins: When you read the documents, right.
Mike Papantonio: When you read this, you’ll say, well, what was going on here? Was she trying to protect Epstein? And oh, by the way, Epstein had huge political influence. Massive political influence. At the end of the day, here’s what they were able to do. They were able to punish him like this. He got 18 months in prison, 18 months in prison, 13 months were in special headquarters. Talk about the special headquarters where they put this freak.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. The special headquarters, which by the way, the 13 was the only, he didn’t serve the remaining five.
Mike Papantonio: Oh, yeah, that’s right.
Farron Cousins: So, 13 months, he’s basically in a special little apartment that is located adjacent to the prison. Every morning at 6:00 AM he’s allowed to leave. They say you’re on work release six days a week. So Epstein goes off for 12, 13, 14 hours a day. I think he has to report back by seven or eight o’clock at night after leaving at 6:00 AM, brushes his teeth, goes to bed, wakes up the next day, does the same thing. So he’s not actually in jail. He’s just staying in a crappy hotel for 13 months, essentially.
Mike Papantonio: When you read this transcript, you conclude that there was a, I mean, it looks like, I don’t know whether it was or not, but anybody looking at would read and say, it was almost like you were setting out to discourage these kids from going after him. Very disturbing story.
