Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20190812 : co

Rest easy. The victims deserve justice and they will get it. United front. The 2020 democrats turn up the heat on the gun lobby. The president and congress with calls not only for background checks and to renew the assault weapons ban after the Mass Shootings in el paso and dayton. My party has to get out of the defensive crouch that has us thinking that were in the minority in these issues. America is with us in demanding common sense gun safety. Even as lawmakers want to know why i. C. E. Arrested hundreds of undocumented workers. Not a single Food Processing plant owner. Businesses that are breaking the law. And we do have those employers in names were targeting. Were in the middle of the criminal investigation. This case will be pursued. Chairman of the Homeland Security committee, congressman Benny Thompson joins us. Good day, everyone. Andrea mitchell in washington this morning in new orleans, attorney general william barr making his first public remarks after disgraced financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his manhattan jail cell under federal custody. This sex trafficking case was very important to the department of justice and to me, personally. It was important to the dedicate ed prosecutors in the Southern District of new york and investigators who were investigating the case and preparing it for trial. Most importantly, this case was important to the victims who had the courage to come forward and deserve the opportunity to confront the accused in the courtroom. I was appalled and, indeed, the whole department was. And, frankly, angry to learn of the mccs failure to adequately secure this prisoner. Sources tell nbc news that epsteins apparent suicide came 12 days after he was given a psychological evaluation in the jail and taken off suicide watch. That decision made less than a week after officers found epstein injured in his cell with marks on his neck. The immediate focus now is on the medical examiner still waiting more information before declaring an official cause of death. Multiple officials briefed on the investigation say there was nothing to suggest foul play. Joining me now was nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams and nbcs Stephanie Gosk in new york. Pete, first to you. It is unusual because the attorney general was speaking at a previously scheduled speech at the fraternal order of Police Convention in new orleans, as i understand it. But he thought this was important enough to the Justice Department, which runs the bureau of prisons to speak out. And he spoke out very forcefully. He put out a written statement in the weekend. He went further today and said this is he says were now learning of serious irregularities at this facility, that he wants the Justice Department to investigate. So he has launched two investigations, one by the fbi. That will be a criminal investigation, looking at whether any laws were broken here. And, secondly, a Justice Department Inspector General investigation, which will look more deeply at whether there were administrative failures and how this whole thing was carried out. Now we know that epstein was supposed to be checked every 30 minutes, roughly, at this facility where he was held, the section of the prison where he was being held. Were also told by officials that wasnt happening. We dont know how long the gap was between the checks. We dont know if it was a regular gap that was of a certain amount of time but we know that the protocols werent followed. There was also supposed to be another prisoner in his cell that could have raised the alarm or could have done something. That didnt happen. So now this whole thing will be investigated. But the union has said that that facility is seriously understaffed and that many people were working overtime, many people were working as guards that were not qualified to do so. I just dont understand why there werent cameras. There are cameras at the mcc. Stephanie, youve been on this story from the very beginning. Cameras, extra guards. There is no higher profile prisoner in the entire system now than this Jeffrey Epstein, and now hes dead. Right. Cameras actually in prison cells violate privacy. Even inmates have some privacy rights. So from what i know, there werent any cameras within the cells. There certainly should have been cameras outside the cell. It remains unclear what was caught on video or what wasnt caught on video. To the people ive spoken to, andrea, former officials who work in the federal Bureau System of prisons, to have an inmate like this, someone this high profile, that you would proceed as conservatively as possible when it comes to how that person is handled. And at some point, as we mentioned, around july 29th, it was decided that Jeffrey Epstein be taken off suicide watch. Thats really the decision that people should focus on. How is that decision made . Who determined, as they would have had to, that he was no longer a threat to himself . Certainly a medical professional would have to be involved in that decision and you would imagine as well the people that run that facility would be involved in that final determination. And talk to us about maxwell, the british socialite, former girlfriend, called her his best friend. She has been described by the victims as procurer, coseducer, if you will, as going to massage parlors, to high schools, recruiting girls, bringing them in under false pretenses, paying everyone, running his multimillion dollar mansions here and abroad. With epsteins death, his criminal case obviously comes to a close and for accusers, this was going to be their opportunity to have their day in criminal court. Their hope now to have that day in criminal court would be if one of his coconspiratorers were charged with crimes and Ghislaine Maxwells name is at the top because of documents released less than 24 hours before Jeffrey Epstein took his own life, a defamation brought against her, settled in 2017. She is accused by virginia jufrey of recruiting girls for the purpose of sex. Underage girls for sex. Does she face charges . Do other coconspirators face charges . U. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york said the same thing over the weekend and that would be the one chance for these victims to have a moment in criminal court. They are pursuing civil cases. They will be able to continue to pursue civil cases against Jeffrey Epsteins vast estate, valued at least at 569 million. And maxwell has never been charged with a crime in connection with epsteins alleged acts but, pete, there are a lot of questions over the fact that alleged conspirators were never part of the original plea deal or they were excused. In fact, they were part of the plea deal they got a pass in that plea deal. They were specifically mentioned saying there would be no charges against them. U. S. Attorney of new york has to investigate cases that have a tie to new york, but both he and the attorney general have said they will continue this. Attorney general barr said any coconspirators should not rest easy. One other thing. I think well be pursuing this later in the program but the president s retweeting of these completely baseless conspiracy theories against his political rivals certainly should be put to rest by his own attorney general today, so strongly coming out. Yes. That, and the medical examiner, too, who will be able to say definitively what happened here. But the indications are that weve heard that theres no evidence of foul play. Pete williams, as always, thank you. Stephanie gosk, your work on this whole story has been amazing. We thank you. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Thank you. Lets bring in msnbc legal analyst mimi roka and maya wiley. How could this happen . First of all we dont know all the facts. We need to get them. Its extremely important we have both an investigation and Inspector General investigation. Thats the right move. The question here is did the you know, theres a whole protocol in the bureau of prisons about how you handle potential suicide and when and how someone is on suicide watch. So, did a psychiatrist say that there was no longer a risk for Jeffrey Epstein . If so, what were the grounds for that . We need to understand why they took him off suicide watch. I think a lot of people are wondering why. Thats going to be a clear and important fact. Other questions you raised around what was happening within the functioning of the bureau of prisons. Here in new york, in the federal facility, weve had significant issues just with the running of the facility, the brooklyn facility. So, is there also mismanagement coming from the bureau of prisons and how theyre managing the facilities now . But at the end of the day, we have to allow the investigations to play out. We simply dont know what happened. And i think its very dangerous to engage in too significant of a speculation until we get more facts. Mimi roka, you worked in the Southern District. You know that district well. A lot of questions about, did he have special alcohols to his lawyers . He was paying his attorneys, apparently, to get out of his cell and spend days hours and hours every day to spend in the lawyers room. Did he pay to get off suicide watch, a Holding Facility where they have no bed covers, no clothes really. Just a smock. Nothing that could be turned into a noose or some other ways of killing yourself. Did he have some sort of special pleading . Did he exert any undue influence . Doesnt that have to be investigated . Absolutely. Having both of these investigations, looking at that. Look, epstein is spending a lot of time with his lawyers in these rooms. First of all, maybe this goes without saying but ill say it just in case. The prosecutors in the Southern District of new york dont control that. Thats controlled by the all you can do is recommend thi things to the bop. Prosecutors and even the judges dont have control over it. This is the same b. O. P. That controls another facility in brooklyn, mdc. They had to be sued to turn the lights on, and there was no heat during the coldest days of the winter. There are systematic problems here that maybe this will, hopefully one Silver Lining has caused people to look at. Whether epstein had preferential treatment, we dont know. My question is, if he did, was there corruption involved . Was someone being paid off at the mcc . Was there just mismanagement . You know, was there negligence . We just dont know. All of those are possibilities. And they will have to be found out. I can tell you right now that the people who are most devastated by this, obviously, are the victims, because theyre not going to be able to see justice in the way they wanted. And the other people who are devastated by this are the prosecutors and agents who were doing this case. I had people where this happened, on cases that i did. Its devastating on many different levels, no matter who the person is and what horrible things they did. We talk about the victims. Is there a way through the civil courts . Are there other ways that they can get justice, or through action, criminal action against coconspirators . Both. The reality is, you know, one of the questions we had is where is Ghislaine Maxwell and why hasnt she been charged . One of the alleged victims also had a civil suit already, in which she directly implekted maxwell in threatening her, along with Jeffrey Epstein, if she did not have sex with them and with others and sex trafficking doesnt have a statute of limitations. These civil suits in and of themselves will make sure theres also a public accounting, because unlike criminal cases, that cant be under seal. Mimi roka, maya wiley, thank you so much. Awful story. Later this hour, more on this. Talking to Police Commissioner bill bratton. Conspiracy theorists, President Trump using his powerful megaphone to spread unfounded conspiracy theories about his political rivals. Stay with us. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports here on msnbc. One leso serve a community. I just dont want to let these people down. Excedrin migraine. Relief that works as hard as you do. kickstart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. Hours after Jeffrey Epsteins alleged suicide was the president tweeting an unfounded theory that Jeffrey Epstein had information on bill clinton and now he is dead, including the clintonbodycount, slamming both clintons. Spokesperson for president clinton tweeting ridiculous and, of course, not true, and donald trump knows it. Phil rubbinger, White House Bureau chief and msnbc political contributor and kristen welker, msnbc reporter. You both cover the white house. You both have covered the white house for years. President s of the United States dont retweet blatantly false conspiracy theories about their bread cessers or defeated campaign rivals. Kristen, has this become normalized . What are we hearing here . Reporter its remarkable, andrea, no doubt about that, that he would retweet a Conspiracy Theory. What we do know is that candidate trump engaged in peddling conspiracy theories. The biggest one, arguably, the Obama Birtherism Conspiracy Theory, completely false. This is a tactic he has taken on before. The fact that he would do it now, andrea, is striking. It came hours after his own attorney general said he was launching an investigation that the fbi was going to investigate as well to really try to figure out exactly what happened. Of course, we immediately reached out to the white house to try to get some type of reaction or explanation, and so far there hasnt been. I think thats largely because theyre not exactly sure what to say about this. We should note that Kellyanne Conway was out over the weekend, defending President Trump, saying bottom line he wants to get the answers but retweeting a Conspiracy Theory goes well beyond that, andrea. And it also casts a cloud over what his attorney general said, we need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. Any investigator says you have to let this investigation play out before weighing in on what may or may not have happened. In this instance, really is striking that the president would take this tactic. He clearly has an eye on 2020. This is something that energizes his base and hes also here in bedminster on his summer vacation. Clearly with some extra time on his hands as he watches cable tv, andrea. Maybe a little too much. Phil rubbinger, guess who jumped on this Conspiracy Theory the minute the president retweeted it, the russians, the russian bots. Hes playing right into the enemys hands. Thats right, andrea. Weve seen this so many times before from President Trump. He doesnt seem to have its sort of a filter in deciding whether he tweets facts or theories or things that he has heard. In this case, he seemed to be trying to draw attention to the clintons. Perhaps that was motivated by the fact that trump, himself, has also been linked to Jeffrey Epstein. The two go back decades, had partied together. Although they had a falling out a number of years ago. Regardless, as kristen was saying its quite a remarkable move for the president of the United States. There seemed to be some independence between the president of the white house and activities of the Justice Department. This was an active criminal investigation, a case. Jeffrey epstein was in prison and here we have the president weighing in, as he did. Kristen, i want to ask you guys about the president s tweets about kim jong un on saturday, the beautiful letter, the Missile Launches, socalled apology for the launches. I mean, all of this is pretty extraordinary. I want to Say Something he said to you on friday. There have been no Nuclear Missile tests. All short range, no Ballistic Missile tests, no longrange missiles. We got back and are getting back, as we speak, were getting back a lot of our fallen heroes. You know that. Theyre coming back into and through hawaii. And we got back our hostages. First of all, there have been no remains we know of returned since the failed hanoi summit. Second of all, does he know the difference between Ballistic Missiles and projectiles . Everything launched has been a Ballistic Missile. Just because its short ranged doesnt mean its not ballistic and it is a violation of u. N. Resolutions and could reach u. S. Troops and our allies in south korea, american bases, japan. You hit on the critical point. This is something that his administration is well aware of, that clearly concerns them. President trump very eager for a deal as it relates to north korea. Its not only remarkable that he would but criticize the joint exercises so vigorously. That is certainly a break from what we heard from past president s