Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi 20190710 :

MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi July 10, 2019

Intervene in a state matter and say stop the state plea because it is insufficient . Sara lynch with reuters. I want to ask you about a question about the office of professional responsibility. Earlier this year it was disclosed that theyre doing a review into how you and other prosecutors in your office handled this matter. What is the status of that . What exactly are they looking at . Will you submit to an interview, even though youre no longer with the justice department, and if they find any misconduct, will you resign . Um, first i dont know what the status of that is. I would refer that to the office of professional responsibility. I dont speak for them. I will clearly submit for an interview, even though i dont have to. I think what they do is important. The office of professional responsibility will have access to the full record. They will have access to all the facts. They will have access to the fbi reports and the victim interviews. They can look at this matter in its totality. And so i think it is important that they proceed. I will gladly be part of it. And i think what they will find is that the office acted appropriately. Maam . Hi, sir. Pbs news hour. At labor secretary, you have tried repeatedly to cut a program that deals with Human Trafficking in the Labor Department by up to 80 going before congress advocating for that. Why should people trust you to focus on Human Trafficking and protect victims if youve done that . And id like a followup question. So youre referring to grants that go to Foreign Countries for foreign country laborrelated work as part of the budget every year those grants have been removed, as have other grants for Foreign Countries. Let me just add as part of the budget every year, those grants are put right back in in, congress. This is what happens in washington, and i fully suspect that those grants will remain in, in this year. Your followup . Um, my followup question is sources have told me that the president encouraged you to hold this press conference. Can you speak a little bit about what the president told you ahead of this press conference and whether youre here to give a message to the president . Are you fighting for your job . Or are you trying to send a message to victims . And if so, what is the message to victims who say they dont trust you anymore . So, first im not about to talk about conversations with the president , and im not here to send any signal to the president. I think its important a lot of questions were raised, and this has reached the point that i think its important to have a public hearing. I think its important that these questions be asked and answered. And as to a message to the victims. The message is you need to come forward. I heard this morning that another victim came forward and made horrendous, horrendous allegations. Allegations that should never happen to any woman, much less a young girl. And as victims come forward, these cases can be brought, and they can be brought by the federal government. They can be brought by state attorneys. And they will be brought. We have seen in the last few years cases brought against individuals that got away with things for well over a decade. Its important to realize that people were getting away with these. People were not going to jail at all. And were aware of those highprofile cases. And weve seen as victims come forward how the Justice System deals with it. And so the message to victims is come forward. Final question. Secretary . Let me take a few more. The. You just said im sorry, richard . Madden with cv television. You just said a moment ago the victims should come forward. But you still havent offered an apology to them. Why is that . So the victims should come forward because the Justice System needs to hear from them. And what the victims went through is horrific. What the victims continue to go through is horrific. Ive seen these videos. Ive seen the interviews. Im sorry, i have seen the interviews on television of these victims and their stories. And so its hard. But i also think its important that we understand that the men and women of my office going back to 2006 and 2007 and 2008 have spent their career prosecuting these types of cases. And in their heart, in our heart we were trying to do the right thing for these victims. And so this is horrific, this is awful. Each one of these cases is just devastating and saddening. But i also think its important to realize that the prosecutors were trying to do the right thing. Sir . Yeah, jeff from daily mail. How are you . Are you aware of alleged obstruction of justice by mr. Epstein . It seemed to have been mentioned in a memo by new york prrz. Did he take efforts to intimidate prosecutors or harass witnesses, if he did that, why would he get whats been called a sweetheart deal . I cant comment on the new york case. That would not be appropriate. Sir . Im talking about in florida sir, there is a pending case in new york. I cant comment. Sir some. Im curious who at main justice reviewed this case or your decision, and did you have any interaction with Robert Mueller at the time . Um, so i shared a letter that i wrote to one of epsteins defense attorneys. And i shared that letter in part because it shows much of the timeline. It shows how initially the meetings that took place were between the in july between the first assistant, the criminal chief, the Palm Beach Office chief, and the attorney with two attorneys of epstein. Youll notice all of these were career attorneys how they presented the terms, how epsteins attorneys were dissatisfied and asked for a meeting with me. How i went with their attorneys along with all the career officials, how at that meeting we then invited the chief of the Child Exploitation obscenities section from the department of justice to travel down because one of them one of the things we wanted to make sure of was that we had going back to the earlier question about the aba rule that we had sufficient evidence to proceed ethically. And then it details a little bit on how epsteins counsels appealed the decisions to washington. Id refer you to the record. One of the really disturbing things about this case is there is a record. The documents weve shared today, weve shared previously with media. Yet ive seen no reference to any of these documents and the perspective of some of these prosecutors. There is a record of these documents are publicly available and couldve been pulled up by anyone in this room. And so and so, you know, there is a record that i wasnt a main justice, i dont have a full list. I can tell you the individuals referenced in this letter. And i would refer you to the record because this was 12 years ago. I do not have a full list of the individuals that reviewed this at main justice. Well, as the record makes clear individuals at main justice who are involved fairly early on and were certainly aware of it. And i think if you look at the record, it will become clear that our decisions were appealed again and again to main justice. From the financial times. So the deal you negotiated resulted in two things. One is that the case ended with mr. Epstein pleading to state prostitution charges and another thing that it did was it immunized his coconspirators. Did you consider his victims in that case to be prostitutes, and why did you immunize his coconspirators . So the answer to were the victims prostitutes . No. The victims, they were victims. End of story. They were victims. The second part of that is the purpose of this case was to bring epstein to jail, to put him behind bars. And so there were other individuals that may have been involved that in any type of conspiracy there are individuals around someone. The focus really is on the top player. And thats where our focus appropriately was. Let me also Say Something because a lot has been said about this 13month. When we proceeded, the expectation was that it would be an 18month sentence, and the expectation was that it would be served in jail. And so this work release was complete b. S. Ive been on record as far back as 2011 saying that it was not what was bargained for and it was not what we expected. But this was a state court plea, and because it was a state court plea, the terms of confinement were under the jurisdiction of the state of florida. And so the outrage over that 13month getting to leave jail is entirely appropriate. When we entered into this, we i at least fully thought that he would be spending the time in jail. Thats what we mean by someone going to jail. Secretary, glenn. If i can get a brief statement in spanish, i would really appreciate it. Ill tell you what. If you answer if you ask me a question in spanish, i will answer in spanish. Is that fair . I was trying to get a brief statement, i mean, so that i could go over with what everyone already says. [ speaking spanish ]. [ reporter asking question in spanish] acosta answering in spanish. ] whats your message specifically to those who did come forward and felt let down by you . Look, the victims came forward, and there were several victims. I believe that in one of the filings the department of justice talked to several of the victims. And some of the victims just didnt want any public notoriety. Other victims have provided interviews and said they felt let down that they were let down. These are really hard cases. The prosecutors in my office and i were focused on putting him in jail. I have provided the information from the career attorney as to why there were concerns if we went to trial. And it became clear that they were going to receive money if he was convicted, how that would impeach their credibility. And today that would proceed very differently because victimshaming is just not accepted. But the circumstances of trials and what injuries would consider 12 years ago was different. And so these were the judgments that were made. I understand that individuals will look at these judgments and say, well, maybe a different judgment shouldve been made. You can always look at a play after the fact and say should it have been the safe play or should you have gone for the big score. Ask which is the right outcome. But i provided these documents so that you could hear from the prosecutors themselves how this was being weighed. Sir . Jesse sagmam vice news. The did the miami herald reach out to you . The media has reached out to me over the years. I think its important the department of justice is the entity that is litigating all these matters. Quite honestly until recently i havent commented on this since 2011 because i think its important for the United States to litigate cases through the department of justice. And if former u. S. Attorneys responded to Media Inquires about pending cases and this is a pending case, there was a live and there still is a live civil matter. The former u. S. Attorneys responded to Media Inquires all the time, wed have havoc in our Justice System. You cant have a department of justice as a litigating entity with u. S. Attorneys giving press statements. Now your followup question may be why am i talking today . And the answer is this has clearly reached a level where i thought it was important to have this kind of press conference to take questions and to provide these facts and these perspectives. And i understand that individuals may say this was not enough. But this is the way it was viewed not only by me but by many back in 2008. Secretary, just one more question. Doug christian from talk media news. Yes. You said that the victims were not prostitutes, but the agreement was he was jailed for prostitution charges, not for sex trafficking. Can you just state what the distinction was . The agreement was this was a state heres why this is hard. This was a state case. He was arraigned. A state grand jury returned a prostitution charge against him, a solicitation charge, if i recall. That was a state grand jury. He was allowed to surrender by the state Attorneys Office. As a result of that single charge that would have resulted in no jail time. Ultimately what the agreement did was say you have to go back and you have to plea to a more serious state charge that requires jail time, that requires registration, and under this agreement you will have a mechanism for restitution. But the agreement itself, you know, ultimately the state of florida and the state Attorneys Office in florida is a separate sovereign. The u. S. Attorney does not determine how those offices run themselves or what charges they bring. I do not consider the victims prostitutes. I think that is insulting to them. These were victims. They were not just women victims. They were children victims. Mr. Secretary, im Deborah Sanders with the Las Vegas Review journal. Since mr. Epstein left jail, hes been a public figure. Hes been a man about town. He hasnt seemed particularly contrif about what he did. What have you thought when you seen him . You know, what i thought is i keep reading newspaper articles about pending investigations here or there. You know, if someone does a google search, they will see that there were rumors of investigations going on for the last ten years. And new york finally stood up and they took one of those investigations and they brought charges. And i wish it wouldve happened. Im glad to see that its happening now. Hes a bad man, and he needs to be put away. And, you know, based on additional allegations that i saw this morning, there are multiple jurisdictions, whether federal or state, that hes going to have to answer to. The a few more questions. Yes . With miami herald. I wanted to follow up to your question about the potential coconspirators. Were you confident at the time that any potential coconspirators didnt commit abuse against underage girls, because some of those victims have accused others of doing similar acts to them. So, um, let me see how i can address your question without running afoul of the department of justice guidelines. Um, if my office had been aware of individuals who committed acts such as sexual abuse, you know, my office, it would not have been my position that those individuals should have been part of that kind of immunity. Its not even immunity. Should not have been part of that paragraph. And so i know that there are a lot of rumors about who those individuals may or may not be. I think those rumors are misconstruing the acts of the office with respect to that particular paragraph. Richard lardner from the associated press. Secretary, were you ever made aware at any point in your handling of this case if mr. Epstein was an intelligence asset of some sort . Um, so according to that effect . There has been reporting to that effect. And let me say theres been reporting to a lot of effects in this case, not just now but over the years. And again i would you know, i would hesitate to take this reporting as fact. This was a case that was brought by our office. It was brought based on the facts. And i look at that reporting. And i cant address it directly because of our guidelines. But i can tell you that a lot of reporting is just going down rabbit holes. A few more questions. Have you asked a question yet . I have. How about then in front of you. Sorry. Im trying to do a onequestion per person. Can i go ahead . Hi. Katie rogers with the new york times. Im just wondering what makes you so confident that the president is going to continue to have you serve. He stands up for initially, but youre about at the level where he has backed away before. So what makes you so confident . Look, i am here to talk about this case. I am doing my job. If at some point the president decides that i am not the best person to do this job, i respect that. That is his choice. I serve at the pleasure of the president. I thought yesterday he was kind, and he showed great support. But we have to remember we are here because we are part of an administration that is creating jobs, that is creating growth, that is really transforming our economy and focusing it on, you know, the forgotten man and woman. If at some point he says, look, youre not the right person for this right now or, you know, youre standing in the way, i respect that. Secretary . Thanks. Do you really have nothing else to say to these victims beyond you should come forward . That places a lot of burden on children. What else do you have to say . Youve avoided addressing these people directly. Why is that . So, to be clear, that is not all i said. I think, if i recall, and i obviously dont have a transcript here, but what ive said previously is i have seen these interviews and i generally cant begin to fathom what these victims have been through. I dont think that anyone that has not been in this situation can begin to fathom. The closest i can come is to think what would i feel like if one of my girls was going through this. And i would be im not sure i can say the way i would feel on television. But even that is different than what the victims themselves went through. And so the point im trying to make is everything that the victims have gone through in these cases is who imic. And their response is entirely justified. At the time i think its important to stand up for the prosecutors of my former office and make sure that what they were trying to do was help these victims. They should not be portrayed as other individuals that just didnt care. Because they have spent a lifetime of bringing cases like this. They are individuals who really, really do care. Maam, yes . Hi. Nikki schwab, new york post. How much do you think this was epstein getting special treatment because of his enormous wealth and also political connections . Ive heard a lot about that, and if you go through the record you will see that in july he was presented with certain terms. And i laid this out in a letter, an open letter that i wrote, to address some of these questions in 2011. And he was presented with terms. And the office, throughout this entire negotiation, and it took several months from july to, what, december, through these five months of negotiations stuck to those terms. You go to jail, you register and you provide restitution. The original term was two years. The office ultimately agreed to 18 months. It had to be an offense where there was registration because the world needed to be on notice that he was a sexual predator. And it had to be a situation where the victims could seek restitution. Because it wasnt just enough for him to go to jail. Let me also say, restitution is also not enough. You can never put victims in the place they were before they were victimized. You cant unwind history. But restitution is important. Thank you very much. Senator accosta, one quick question. You mentioned to this legal team how powerful his lawye

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