We had a brief audio issue at the top, but Tara Palmeri and I quickly moved into a story that sounds like a spy thriller — and may be one of the biggest corruption scandals of our time.
We talk about Tara’s recent encounter with Acting AG Todd Blanche: “A Simple Question About Epstein Triggered Todd Blanche's Security Detail,” but most of our conversation centered on her recent report: “EXCLUSIVE: John Kerry’s Uncomfortable Epstein Connection”
Newly reviewed Justice Department files reveal Epstein’s apparent fixation with Kerry and his eagerness to cultivate connections to the secretary of state and senior officials in his inner circle, including his then-deputy secretary of state William J. Burns. The documents show Epstein offered introductions and dangled access to both men to a rogues’ gallery of people including Donald Trump’s advisor Steve Bannon, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, tech entrepreneurs Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman, disgraced Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen and tarred Emirati shipping executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
Meanwhile, in private, he gamed out presidential shakeups and scenarios in which Kerry could re-emerge as a national political force and potential president as late as 2016. The messages read less like strategy than the musings of a man who imagined himself hovering just outside the realm of Kerry’s power.
I’ve been reporting on the Epstein story since 2019, when I first met Virginia Giuffre, with whom I would become close when we traveled the country in search of witnesses to Epstein’s crimes. Last year she died by suicide. Giuffre revealed to me that, while trafficked by Epstein, she had been sexually abused by Barak, Maine Senator George Mitchell, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Governor Bill Richardson, among others. It was through her that I first learned about Kerry’s place in Epstein’s world. It’s something largely overlooked in the millions of pages of files. When she recalled that she encountered Kerry, I was in shock that he would be so closely associated with Epstein at the height of his sex trafficking operation, and just a few years before Kerry ran for President in 2004.
Since then, I’ve pored over thousands of documents and interviewed many knowledgeable witnesses—including victims, corroborating sources, and others with valuable information and insight.
What Epstein received from the Kerry relationship is obvious. What Kerry seized is not yet available publicly…
Thank you Nancy Kohn, Greg Rogers, Pat Eisenberg, joyjoy82, Krista Martin, and many others for tuning into my live video with Tara Palmeri! Join me for my next live video in the app.
