good morning glad you could join us
Glenna is off today we are going to
begin with a much closer look at the
disturbing case of Jeffrey Epstein he is
the Palm Beach millionaire who lured
dozens of teenage girls to his mansion
where he sexually abused them girls as
young as 14 the story has been reported
before but the Miami Herald discovered
80 victims and wrote about them in a
riveting series called perversion of
justice it is one of the most disturbing
revelations was that then US Attorney
Alex Acosta agreed to a secret fee deal
that lent epstein off easy to easy for
many he served just 13 months in a
County Jail when he might have spent his
life in a federal prison so why did
Acosta make that deal should he resign
Julie Brown is the Miami Herald reporter
who investigated the Epstein case on you
and wrote that series perversion of
justice she discovered the names of 80
girls Jeffrey Epstein assaulted spoke
with eight of them who he had assaulted
David Marcus is a respected criminal
defense attorney in Miami he describes
himself as a liberal Democrat but this
week he wrote an op-ed in the Miami
Herald defending Alex Acosta who is a
Republican
Kendall Coffey is a former US attorney
in Miami he served in that post from
1993 to 96 now he is a partner in the
coffee Burlington law firm good morning
to all of you glad you could come in
Michael Julie Brown when he asked you
set the scene for us there are some
people I suspect who are only vaguely
aware of the Jeffrey Epstein case tell
us a little bit who he is what he did
and where it stands now Jeffrey Epstein
is a Palm Beach multi-millionaire hedge
fund manager who began his career in New
York working for Bear Stearns and he
made a lot of important connections of
people that were very very wealthy and
he managed to get some clients that had
been in invested a lot of money with him
made them a lot of money and made
himself a lot of money around on a 727
we had a number of private
Johnson he has an island in the
Caribbean of ranch in New Mexico
this guy is extremely wealthy right and
it's always been a little bit of a
mystery on how he got all his money but
in any event he he had a he still has a
home in Palm Beach and he came up with
this idea where you know he would have
people go to some of the places in Palm
Beach where girls congregate malls
yeah teenage girls young girls and he
would offer them money to come give him
a massage and what happened what's a
euphemism massage really meant sex right
as far as you know he would keep trying
as much as he could some of these girls
were very uncomfortable with it and if
they were uncomfortable with once they
got there realized what it was all about
he said okay well you don't have to do
anything but bring me more girls so he
set up this pyramid scheme sort of where
these girls would then say okay and then
they would bring other girls so it was
this revolving door at his mansion he
would pay them $200 or maybe even more
that's right that's right and he did
this for quite a few years before police
caught up with him and realized what he
had been doing right Kendall coffee
you're a former US Attorney you know
this case inside and out I'm sure you
didn't prosecute it but you know Alex
Acosta was then the US attorney when the
Palm Beach County State Attorney seemed
to be fairly disinterested in the case
the the Palm Beach Police Chief brought
it to the u.s. attorney's office did
Alex Acosta do enough with it well if
you read julie's frankly masterful
reporting it raises a lot of questions
but here's a here's some things that we
should keep in mind when federal
prosecutors bring an indictment they
give you the whole explanation it's
right in the indictment when they decide
not to indict you don't have all the
answers as to their reasons why they
don't issue for example a detailed
public statement explaining why they
didn't prosecute the the other thing
that that I think we should keep in mind
is whatever the considerations are in a
US attorney and I frankly announce it
cost of him
it's not a politically expedient thing
to fail to prosecute prosecutors get
points for being tough they get three
winning and four winning it takes a
little bit more difficult to say no
especially when you've got very very
good hearts charging police officers who
want somebody indicted yeah but David
Marcus you are an expert criminal
defense attorney the US Attorney's
Office we know thanks to Julie Brown had
36 victims it knew of had prepared a 53
page indictment of Jeffrey Epstein and
then pulled back well I'd say this
Michael it's very important and this is
what's troubling to not attack the
prosecutor we should be attacking the
pedophile and I have no problem exposing
all the terrible things he did but
blurring the lines between the good guys
and the bad guys Acosta was one of the
good guys here he's the guy who went
after him he's a dedicated public
servant and and he's the person who
actually got Epstein to plead guilty go
to prison pay restitution so so we have
to be really careful about blurring the
lines between the good and the bad all
right well let's take just a second and
listen to Alex Acosta last year when he
was nominated to be Secretary of Labor
he was asked at a judiciary or I think a
Senate hearing about this case and
here's what Alex Acosta had to say based
on the evidence professionals within a
prosecutor's office decide that a plea
that guarantees that someone goes to
jail that guarantees that someone
registered generally and that guarantees
other outcomes is a good thing a good
thing well the victims of Jeffrey
Epstein don't think it was a good thing
at all no no and and here's the thing it
was really done the one question that
mr. Casas has never really answered is
why was this kept secret this deal they
sealed it they never told the judge
about it the judge just sort of said
okay you're pleading guilty he pled
guilty by the way to to state
to char jizz and he got a cushy deal
when he was in jail he got a private
wing of the county jail and and this was
all done secretly the the women girls at
the time were never told about it they
learned about it on the news they're
lawyers they a couple of them had pretty
strong lawyers their lawyers had been
telling the US Attorney's Office let us
know my clients ready to go in court you
she wants to prosecute him and they were
never told about this Julie let me ask
you about one specific moment that you
reported and that is when Epstein
appeared before the state court judge
who was seemed to have done a pretty
good job
she asked have the victims of these
crimes been aware are they have been
notified and I think he reported that
the assistant US attorney who was there
in court I believe it was Maria D afonya
told the judge in fact they had been
notified but they had right right well I
think that it was a little bit
misleading what they did what they did
was they they notified a couple and I'm
no means that they notify all the
victims but what they said was by the
way in fact the lawyer for one of the
girls was called like one day before he
was supposed to be in in court and said
he's going to be in state court he's
gonna plead to state the state
indictment and never mentioned that that
meant it was going to end the whole
federal prosecution so they were under
the and some of the victims had gotten
letters from some of the federal
prosecutors saying this federal
investigation is still ongoing so it was
very misleading they were they were told
he's going to plead guilty to state
charges but they were led to believe
that the federal probe which involved
the wider sex trafficking accusations
was still ongoing yeah David I
understand there is something called I
believe the federal crime victims Act
which requires that victims of a crime
in a federal setting being notified but
this non-prosecution agreement seems to
have set that aside I know there's a
lawsuit now over the fact that the these
victims were not fully notifying right
what Kendall alluded to the fact that
there is no requirement to inform
victims of declination but putting that
aside I mean we can debate about that
and maybe there is he could have done
better on the notification the the
problem that I have Michael is that when
you hear the reporting and what Julie is
saying is there must be some sort of bad
motive associated with what accosted it
I think that's the problem that I have
were Monday morning quarterbacking 10
years later and saying Acosta must have
done it for the wrong reasons he is a
body of work his body of work is very
very good he was no softy on the rich
and well and I'll know one other thing
off as you noted in your up there our
Jared Ken Jenny yeah terrorists the
Swiss bankers he was no softy on the
rich to think that he would throw away
his unblemish career for a pedophile is
frankly absurd well let me just say
neither I nor any one of us can look and
Aleksic us it's heart or mind and see
what he was thinking but we can look at
what he did and what he didn't do and
there are calls coffee gentle for Alex a
constant to resign well and I don't
think he should I think because he's got
an outstanding career in public service
unless there's something that in my
opinion that was bad faith that was
corrupt that was improper about his
decision-making here then I don't think
even if it's a mistake I don't think a
single mistake should completely destroy
the public service career of somebody
who's done so many things that are
positive for the community and and for
the country it look it bears fair
questioning it may be that the
Department of Justice should authorize
more in the way of explanations for what
happened here
but Alex Kosta is indeed one of the good
guys
even if the decision here was a bad one
truly I like you and following your
fantastic series I've called the Justice
Department I've called the Labor
Department trying to get and try to get
to alex ikonn stuff personally to say
would you respond we want to give you a
chance
and Alex Acosta isn't talking well I
think that says a lot I mean if you're
confident in the decision that you made
back
you should be able to stand up and say
and say that I don't I don't understand
why he there's been total silence on
this it's an important story especially
in the era of me too there's a lot of
other women I think that are looking at
this story and thinking you know he's a
member of the Trump administration is
this another example of how the Trump
administration doesn't value women and
many many questions all right hold your
thoughts everybody back to talk more
about the Epstein case in just
[Music]
welcome back our focus this morning is
the Jeffrey Epstein case and the secret
plea deal agreed to by then US Attorney
Alex Acosta of Miami we are with Julie
brown of the Miami Herald Kendall Coffey
former US Attorney and David Marcus
David speak to the point here that Julie
just raised about whether Alex Acosta
should speak out and explain himself
well I think it's unfair to say that
he's been totally silent this was no
secret to Congress in the Senate when
they vetted him when the FBI did a full
vetting and he was questioned
extensively under oath about it and
answered whatever questions that were
put to him to say that he's been silent
I think is is wrong and so I you know I
think we have to be careful again we
heard Julie talk about Trump and these
sorts things this has nothing to do with
Trump
what Acosta did ten years ago Trump
wasn't on anybody's radar LeBron James
was still a Cavalier so this is a long
long time ago his first round with a
caveat I would also say Julie Brown in
this amazing series isn't rehashing old
information she uncovered you know
eighty girls who had been abused so
you're not sort of digging up old news I
mean you created new news I don't know
Alex Acosta apparently wants to be a
federal judge now you've got 34 members
of Congress who are asking for an
investigation senator Ben Sasse has said
that this is a pathetic example or a
just as perverted there are problems for
him well I would argue that he wasn't
fully vetted and he certainly wasn't
questioned very thoroughly or
aggressively by members of Congress when
when his appointment or his confirmation
hearing happened I am Feinstein tried I
think during that hearing but and Tim
Kaine did too there were a couple of
people that did but again what I would
say is number one this was a case that
was kept secret this was a deal that was
done and these girls had to fight for a
whole year to get all the details of
this non-prosecution agreement
the US government fought fought them
tooth and nail they wanted to keep it
secret so and there were in this
agreement Kendall as I agree you know
understand it forgive me not a lawyer
but there were approximately four maybe
five people who received immunity from
prosecution in the non-prosecution
agreement for Epstein and we don't know
who those people are we'd love to know
who they are but he hung out with some
very powerful people well and I think
that the question that the Julie very
properly has been emphasizing why
weren't they notified what with the
efforts made to notify that's going to
be developed as we've talked about in
federal court we're going to get answers
on that I think from a very
distinguished and respected federal
federal judge other aspects of this are
also appropriately questioned but one of
the things to keep in mind is that a US
Attorney
although the principal decision-maker
here doesn't work by himself or by
herself there's a whole series of levels
of input and discussion and deliberation
that are received in the office of the
team it's a team and a case like this
would certainly be reviewed at different
levels by the Department of Justice in
Washington so how did this end up with
the outcome it had fair questions and
perhaps DOJ can be a little more
forthcoming and explaining some of this
well as Julie explained
David Marcus one of the reasons may have
been a real powerhouse legal defense
team that Jeffrey Epstein hired and
included J Lefkowitz and Alan Dershowitz
Roy black I mean some really excellent
attorneys and they seem to have
prevailed here great lawyers and great
lawyer but again to think that Acosta
would bend over backwards for
high-powered lawyers is just wrong you
have to look at his body of work he's he
hadn't done that with the high-powered
lawyers before or after in other cases
there's no reason to think he would do
it here and so when you pick out a one
case and say this is what happened and
ascribed some bad motive I saw this week
scaramouche II attacked Julie on Twitter
and ascribed bad faith to her and her
art
without any evidence and that was wrong
to do that seems great trumpian to me
very Tribune so it's the same should
apply to dedicated public servants we
shouldn't attack them without evidence
that they did something with bad faith
well we're not saying that Alex Acosta
did it in bad faith I think that what
you're simply saying is it happened and
let me ask you a little bit more about
the situation when Epstein got sentenced
the Palm Beach County State Attorney
very Krisher at the time when the Palm
Beach Police Department brought him this
case and a pretty good case was
developed the state attorney just was
not aggressive why was that well he's
another person it's been pretty silent
on this I tried multiple times to get
him to talk about this and he has been
really quiet and his actions should be
questioned it's hard if not harder than
Alex Acosta Denbighshire and the Palm
Beach County Sheriff who allowed for
this you know private wing of the Palm
Beach County stockade and then 12 hours
a day Jeffrey Epstein was out at his
office right and you know I just want to
address the issue of about this being
this case being 10 years old yeah but
reporters do this all the time and and
it's important that sometimes we look
back on cases and not forget them
because it's the only way we're going to
really learn from them and if nothing
else can come up this case and this
examination of it then perhaps there are
some things that have to change so that
this doesn't really happen again and it
that things aren't done under the cloak
of secrecy a good point in which to stop
we could go further but that's the time
we have Kendall concrete Julie brown
David Marcus thanks all for coming in on
this side