LIVE: House Dems react to billionaire Les Wexner's Epstein files deposition

Well, first of all, thank you all for being here. My name is Robert Garcia. I am the ranking member, the lead Democrat on the Oversight Committee, and I'm here with many of our colleagues from the Oversight Committee. We're all going to make some brief remarks. I'll introduce them all, and then I'll open it up for a couple questions. And then we've got to, our deposition is continuing, so we've got to continue that throughout the day. So let me just first of all just give a couple overviews. So we are right now in the middle of a deposition of Mr. Les Wexner.

We are doing the deposition at his estate here. Right now we are just now about two hours into that deposition. We are on a break and we will be going back into the deposition for the rest of the afternoon. So to be very clear, I will be providing an update now but there are many many questions that we have to ask of Mr. Wexner that are important to our investigation and so that questioning

will happen throughout the day as this day moves forward. We're here because we want to talk to anyone that has information about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crime, abuse, and trafficking of women and girls. There is no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner. That is already,

as we all know, in the public record. We've also directly heard from survivors about Mr. Wexner, about his involvement, and their concerns as to the enormous amount of money that was essentially transferred

over and paid to by Mr. Epstein. To be very clear, we know of approximately over a billion dollars it looks like. It's about a billion dollars that was either transferred, provided in stocks, or given directly to Mr. Epstein by Wexner. Now, it's important to note that Mr. Wexner appears to be unaware of much of the money, as he claims,

that was given over to Mr. Epstein. In fact, it's interesting that Mr. Wexner has already begun to clarify in his mind that somehow he and Mr. Epstein weren't even friends. We should be very clear that the two were very close per reporting. They spent a lot of time together.

He, uh, Mr. Wexler admitted that he traveled to both Epstein's Island as well as, uh, his other properties. Mr. Wexler also admitted that Jeffrey Epstein had access to a lot of Mr. Wexler's wealth. And when asked even simple questions, even as it relates to Mr. Epstein being the co-president of the foundation that established the area that we're in today, Mr. Wexler had little to say. In fact it's clear that Mr. Wexler

is trying to downplay how close Jeffrey Epstein and Mr. Wexler actually were. And we should be very clear that there would be no Epstein Island, there'd be no Epstein plane, there'd be no moneystein Island, there would be no Epstein plane, there would be no money to traffic women and girls. Mr. Epstein would not be the wealthy man he was without the support

of Les Wexner. I think it's very important for us to note at this moment. There's a significant amount of questioning that has gone on, but I want to say one other thing and then I'm gonna turn it over to ending this cover-up

Right now as we speak over 50% of the Epstein files have not been released

to the public and to the Congress

Donald Trump and Pam Bondi are leading a White House cover-up to protect billionaire wealthy benefactors whether it's Mr. Wexner or whether it's anybody else and that has to end now which is why we're here and why we're willing to go anywhere and to speak to anyone with information about Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes and so we have a lot of questions for Mr. Wexner and we look forward to sharing those with all of you as well today. So with that let me turn this over to Congressman Steve Lynch. Thank you Robert, thank you for your leadership. It's important to remember that all the evidence, the

documentary evidence that we've received so far, much of it points to this witness and Les Wexner's involvement. As Robert has laid out, the financial wherewithal for Epstein to operate in New York City, to operate in Florida, the Virgin Islands, the ability to travel, and in some cases his own credibility. There was a period there where Epstein was saying that he was closely involved with Wexner's operation, several of his Victoria's Secret, that he was involved in that process as well. So in a very real way, Les Wexner gave Epstein credibility and gave him the ability to to commit some of the crimes that he did. One of the one of the witnesses,

one of the victims, the survivors has has already indicated that that that she was assaulted at this facility at at at the mansion here. Wexner's home here, that she was refused permission to leave that house until security had cleared that, that she was kept there for several hours. So in an investigation, you usually follow the documents and you follow the money.

And much of that evidence and all of that money leads us to this location. During so far and I'm just speaking generally, the more this deposition goes on the less Les Wexner knows about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. There was a deep trust between these two men. There was a deep friendship there, not only in a business sense, but Les Wexner gave Epstein the ability to handle his children's and his family's money.

So at least that part of it, that part of it makes it hard to believe Les Wexner's testimony thus far. It may be a question as to whether Les Wexner was involved in the crimes directly, but there is no question in my mind, given the evidence so far, that Les Wexner knew about this and failed to stop it. And gave Epstein license and the ability to commit these crimes.

And I'll yield. Okay.

We've done something that the Department of Justice has failed to do. We have actually sat down and listened, not once, not twice, but on multiple occasions to the survivors. As you saw last week, AG Bondi wouldn't even turn and look at the survivors, let alone allow her DOJ to do their job, which is to investigate. So here we are as the legislative branch doing our jobs and trying to do oversight. Let me tell you, the survivors have said over and over and over, follow the money.

That was the one thing that they told us, as well as their attorneys. follow the money. That was the one thing that they told us as well as their attorneys, follow the money. Well we're following the money but I'm going to be perfectly honest with you and tell you that we are running into dead ends at this moment. On yesterday I was asked about this particular deposition and what I anticipated I would hear. As a trained attorney and litigator, once they told me he wasn't taking the fifth, I thought that the record would be full of I don't remembers. I will tell you that once this record comes out, you will see that you

most likely will be left with more questions than answers. It is almost inconceivable to be missing the amounts of money that are missing. And somehow, Mr. Wexner have no idea. The other thing that I want you to pay attention to, because again, as a trained litigator, think about some of the themes that we keep hearing. We know that there were supposedly these fraudulent modeling agencies that were set up all over

the country and girls would go in thinking that they were going to get their chance at modeling. Victoria's Secret, we know Victoria's Secret was known specifically for their fashion shows. We know that there are reports of girls that went in thinking that they were potentially going in to model. These are not coincidences. There's two things that have been clear, is that there were always young girls

seemingly looking for an opportunity to model, and there were always rich and powerful people on the other side, dangling a carrot, saying, I will give you the life that you're seeking. Yet ultimately, the stories are the same. They're stories of abuse. They're stories of trafficking at the highest level and I will tell you one thing that was remembered for sure

was when asked about Donald Trump, Donald Trump and Epstein and whether or not they had been in the same room and what that looked like he didn't quite remember but he imagined that yes that possibly happened because he did remember that Donald Trump also would like to show up to the Victoria's Secret runway shows. Now that was a little odd to him he said because Donald Trump was not engaged in fashion whatsoever.

But he does recall that. He also said something that I feel like we've heard over and over and over, which is that Epstein liked to drop people's names, so he'd imagined that that may have been one of the names that he dropped. Listen, I want the American people, but more specifically, I want the survivors and anyone who is struggling right now to know that we see you, we feel

you and we are fighting for you. We will not stop. If Mr. Wexner is honest about his intentions in helping us, then we're asking him if he doesn't remember, then go ahead and turn over all your financial records. Because we need to follow the money, because that is exactly what the survivors told us to do. And we know that the Department of Justice is either inadequate or just not interested in doing justice as it relates to this particular scenario. We in America

deserve better. We are looking around the country and we're seeing CEOs that are having to leave their own companies. We're seeing people that are having to leave their board positions. We're seeing princes being dethroned. We're seeing all kinds of stuff everywhere except for right here at the highest levels of federal government. Whether we're talking about Donald Trump himself or whether we're talking about Secretary Lutnick and the list goes on. We deserve better in this

country and we will get it.

Good morning. You know, over the course of the last year, the American public has been witnessing what I can only call the most egregious cover-up in American history. And today was a critical part of our investigation to try to end this cover-up once and for all. We have met with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the rich and powerful people that helped to perpetuate these crimes. And we have heard over and over from these victims the name of Les Wexner and the importance of following the money.

Because the story of Jeffrey Epstein is one that can almost, you know, almost is the plot of a movie that is turned into a nightmare. And the real reason Jeffrey Epstein was able to get away with raping and abusing children, young women, boys, young men for so many years was because of the vast amounts of money that he was able to acquire and that largely came from Les Wexner here in Ohio. So we're here to ask Les Wexner the critical questions and it's been very interesting to see

the types of responses that he's giving and his demeanor throughout the interview. He claims to wanna provide information and to be helpful in the investigation, but then quickly follows up by saying that he does not recall details around a relationship with somebody that he had for decades. Les Wexner handed his power of attorney to

Jeffrey Epstein. He allowed Jeffrey Epstein to live in his homes, to have hundreds of millions of his dollars, to use his yachts and his planes. This was obviously a very, very close relationship and so far what we have seen is a denial of that relationship. Another important theme that has come up today is that Les Wexner is actually tied to other

sex trafficking and child abuse scandalsals here in Ohio around the country There are reports of payments that were made to a gynecologist at Ohio State University And that money went through Jeffrey Epstein But came from Les Wexner and he has been asked about this with no real response No recollection. And again as my colleagues have said I don't think it is feasible or understandable or conceivable that any individual would not

have an understanding of millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money and can't answer to those questions. So it is clear that this cover-up is vast. It goes as high as the White House and the Department of Justice that still has not released the majority of the Epstein files, still has illegally redacted information, still has not begun any indictments or prosecutions for the very credible allegations that are in the files that we already have seen all the way to

people at universities and companies and vast networks of elite individuals across this country and what I can tell you very clearly is that oversight Democrats on this committee will not back down until we get every detail until every person who enabled and perpetrated these crimes is held accountable. Thank you.

Hi everyone, Dave Men, freshman member of Congress at Orange County, California. And before getting into office, I was a law professor, a graduate of Harvard Law School, and earlier in my career I was an SEC enforcement attorney. so I've done quite a few of these types of depositions and witness interviews and while I don't want to comment on an ongoing deposition we're going to go back in there and ask more questions I can basically say that he has basically alleged that he saw no evil heard no evil despite being in the

room with Jeffrey Epstein over and over and over and it's really just not credible I realize he's an elderly gentleman, memories fade, but the reputation of Jeffrey Epstein is very clear. Everyone around Jeffrey Epstein knew exactly what he's up to and to spend that much time to give that much trust to Jeffrey Epstein and then to say I don't remember seeing any young girls. I didn't hear anything about Jeffrey Epstein.

It really is just not plausible. And so we're going to keep digging, but I want to just echo the comments earlier. This is a bit frustrating because we're not getting real answers to the questions that the American people deserve answers to. I also just want to give kudos to my colleagues behind me right here. Robert Garcia and and democrats on the oversight committee have led the effort to try to expose this cover-up what we've seen is foot dragging we've seen if you remember back to pan bondi saying that this was all a hoax

and a cover-up uh... that there were there were no epstein files uh... due to the efforts of of raking member garcia we have been able to pierce that myth we're getting more answers but we got a lot of work to do and We're getting more answers, but we've got a lot of work to do. And we'll just add, it is very frustrating the fact that there are no Republicans here

today. I wish there were Republicans because sex trafficking should not be a D versus R issue. It should be a bipartisan issue. Everybody should be invested in finding the truth right now. And the fact that we've had so little cooperation from the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, that the DOJ

has actively tried to obstruct this investigation. That is shameful and it will go down as a permanent mark on the records of people like Pam Bondi and Donald Trump. Now I'll just close with this. When I got off the plane, I saw Wexner's name all over the place. His name is on buildings, it's on medical centers, and you immediately realize when

you come to Columbus what a powerful individual this is. But I just want to say that no matter how rich or powerful you are, America stands for the principle that there's one rule of law that applies to anybody and everybody equally. And so whether Wexner is rich and powerful, whether Jeffrey Epstein or Donald Trump or Howard Lucknick are rich and powerful, should not matter. We're going to get the answers.

People will be brought to justice. We will not rest until that happens. Thanks.

Thank you. And before I answer a couple of questions, let me add two things that are really important. One is, it's been clear to us, at least the way Mr. Wexler has presented this, that he, according to him, has not been or questioned, was questioned by the FBI or the DOJ about Mr. Epstein. How outrageous is that? He's someone that's been named by survivors,

someone that's in the files more than most people, someone that's clearly the files more than most people. Someone that's clearly the financial benefactor to Jeffrey Epstein and has not been contacted or interviewed by the FBI or the DOJ. What the hell is going on? That is shameful. We should be ashamed as a government.

The survivors deserve justice. So that's something that we are going to continue to press today and certainly press with Panbani and the DOJ. And the second thing, something that I think is critical to all of us, I think this community should also be asking questions. This community deserves to know why the most

powerful man and one of the richest men if not the richest man in Ohio gave so much of his wealth to the largest modern sex trafficking ring in American history. Why his money was used to traffic, abuse, and rape women and children. And so I think this community has questions of Mr. Wexner. Ohio State should have questions of Mr. Wexner and Mr. Wexner's involvement and our questions. Today's not the end of our questions for Mr Wexner. It's the beginning of our questions for Mr Wexner and anyone in

this community across Ohio or the country that has done business dealings or that knows why he provided so much money for Jeffrey Epstein to then go on and commit all these horrible crimes. We can answer a couple questions.

A couple questions. First off, you mentioned in Les Wexner's opening statement that he did not have any knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. Do you believe he's lying given what you know about him and the evidence he's poured over him? Second, in the 2019 affidavit, Maria Farber said that Jeffrey Epstein and Dillian Maxwell had sexually abused her at Wexner Estate and that the Wexner security guards wouldn't let them go. Do you believe that David and Maria Farmer said that Jeffrey Epstein and Dwayne Maxwell had sexually abused her at Wexner State and that the Wexner security guards wouldn't let her leave. You guys touched on that

incident at all during the deposition of the third. What comes next?

So let me start by saying that I personally I think I don't I do not believe when Mr. Wexner says that he did not have a personal relationship or a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. I think that is bogus, personally. And I think, Wick, I can also say that we believe the survivors. And I think the farmer testimony is critical. And what happened to not just Maria, but to Annie and the former women was horrific.

And this idea that she gave such a description of what happened to her, and telling me we should just dismiss that as a lie or untrue, I think is outrageous. There's no question in my mind that there was a relationship, and that Mr. Wexler is very aware, and likely aware of what was going on.

Representative Garcia.

There have been questions that have been asked about the former incident and that will continue in the afternoon. Yes.

Tom Bosco with the ABC affiliate here in Columbus. Can you give us a little more flavor of the questioning? Is he combative with the questions? Is there a lot of conferring with attorneys before he answers? And you said he has not pleaded the fifth or at least the fifth amendment?

He's not pleaded the fifth. I think that he's answering some questions. He's saying that he doesn't remember and other questions. See no evil, hear no evil. Exactly. He's claiming that there's basically was no friendship with Jeffrey Epstein or no real strong relationship, which we know by reporting that's just not true.

It's pretty ridiculous.

Do you want to add to that? not true. It's pretty ridiculous. As it relates to the lawyers specifically, there's a lot of objections.

A lot of objections. Any other questions? Yes.

Last week, he admitted to visiting Abstain Island.

What do you know and what has he shared about his activities on the island and any involvement?

Yeah, go ahead, yes.

Here at his mansion in San Jose. Yeah, I asked that question today. He claimed that he was on the island for one hour and that he walked around with his family and I asked him if any other individuals were there and he said no. And that was a kind of a repetitive thing that he said as well. When we asked about if he had been to another property, he said I was there for one hour and I go to many places for just one hour. And did he speak about any involvement with a survivor?

No, he denied everything that everything

and quite frankly it would be nice to see more remorse. Yes, Mr Wexner is 88 years old. He's also been missing Wexner Medical Center board meetings where he shared. Can you describe

his demeanor? How he is? He's an elderly gentleman. Do you want

to have that? Pretty sure. Well,

I think he's he's lucid. I think he's certainly capable of answering these questions. There's no, uh, there's no deterioration in his mental faculty. So he's a competent witness witness. He's just not telling the truth.

Well, why here in Ohio versus, uh,

deposition locations are decided by the majority party and that was decided to have it here.

Will this deposition even matter if Pam Bondi and the DOJ are not taking this as a main focus?

Look, I think that we have... My first answer is yes. This deposition absolutely does matter and it's important to get... Remember, Mr. Wexner is under oath to tell the truth. So every single answer that he gives is a broader part of our investigation.

This is just the beginning of our work with trying to get the truth on Mr. Wexner. And so that absolutely matters. Any final questions?

What happens when the DOJ doesn't do anything with it?

Well, that's up to President Trump, which we're putting the pressure on.

Yes. Well, that's up to President Trump, which we're putting the pressure on. Yes?

If you mentioned there's a credibility issue, how is that going to be addressed in the next

week?

Anybody want to answer that? What's that?

Credibility issue?

Look, I think at the end of the day, we need to ask the questions and get Mr. Wexner on the record. That's the most important part right now, is we have questions that are going to continue throughout the afternoon and get him on the record. We have time for a couple more questions. We've got to wrap up. If you feel you're not getting the answer you need today, what should we expect next

from you?

I'm going to let you do that one. I was going to do the other one.

Yeah. I think what's next is we may have additional questions. We have more people to speak to. the doctor that we just discussed earlier that got transferred a significant amount of money, they can expect questions from us. Absolutely, we're asking for those. Jasmine, do you want to answer the other part of the question?

All right.

Let me look, Jasmine. Go ahead, Jasmine.

Representative Garcia, when you said there are no Republicans here, you didn't just mean at this press conference. There are no...

No, no, there are no Republican members of Congress.

At this deposition?

There are Republican staff members, no Republican members of Congress chose to come. We'll take one final question.

Wexner was named as a possible conspirator in a lot of documents.

Anything you've seen today makes you think he might not be or could be? There's nothing I've heard that... No. No. I think that is a very open question. And I think that's a part of the investigation that's going to continue. And I think that's a part of the investigation that's going to continue.

Thanks everybody.