Forty years ago at The News American in Baltimore, then-sportswriter Barry Levine was a colleague of Nestor and went on to a life of award-winning journalism investigating all sorts of celebrity mysteries and criminals. Over the last decade, he’s written a pair of of books chronicling the predatory acts of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. After his widely-read piece in The New York Times in July, he returned for some updates and recent twists in the pedophile plot for The Felon King.
Barry Levine discussed his latest essay in the New York Times about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to President Trump. He highlighted the resurgence of interest in the Epstein case, particularly during Maxwell’s 20-year sentence. Levine criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, which were initially promised for transparency but ultimately contained little new information. He emphasized the potential for damaging revelations about powerful individuals, including Trump and Bill Clinton. Levine also criticized Maxwell’s role in Epstein’s crimes and expressed concern over her recent interrogation by Trump’s lawyer.
- [ ] Investigate the financial connections between Epstein, Trump, and Russian banks.
- [ ] Examine the FBI’s handling of the Epstein case, including whether they failed to properly investigate and prosecute Epstein and his associates.
- [ ] Follow up on the lack of transparency in the release of the Epstein files and the government’s reluctance to make them public.
Barry Levine’s Introduction and Background
- Nestor Aparicio introduces Barry Levine, a former colleague and author, to discuss his latest essay in the New York Times about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with President Trump.
- Barry Levine is described as an author who has written books on Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
- Nestor Aparicio mentions resharing Barry’s book “The Spider” and reflects on the current political climate with Trump back in office.
- Barry Levine begins by discussing the resurgence of interest in the Epstein case, particularly during Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial and sentencing.
Trump’s Involvement and Promises
- Barry Levine explains Trump’s long-standing friendship with Epstein and their mutual interests in modeling agencies and parties.
- Trump’s promise of transparency, including the release of JFK and Martin Luther King files, led to expectations of Epstein files.
- The release of Epstein files was seen as a show for Trump’s base, but it contained mostly known information.
- The public and victims were disappointed when no new documents were released over the Fourth of July weekend.
Reactions and Conspiracy Theories
- Barry Levine discusses the public’s reaction, including anger from both Democrats and Republicans, and the splintering of Trump’s base.
- Nestor Aparicio asks about a “smoking gun” that could prove the connection between Trump and Epstein.
- Barry Levine suggests that the FBI files could reveal the FBI’s inaction and political reasons for not pursuing wealthy and powerful individuals.
- The potential for damaging information on figures like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew is highlighted.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Role and Allegations
- Barry Levine describes Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes, including her role in grooming and abusing victims.
- Maxwell’s lack of remorse and her dismissive attitude towards the victims are emphasized.
- Nestor Aparicio expresses concern over the recent development of Trump’s lawyer interviewing Maxwell.
- Barry Levine criticizes the idea of believing anything Maxwell says without evidence and questions her motives for cooperating with the government.
Financial Connections and International Influence
- Barry Levine discusses the financial connections between Epstein and Trump, including their involvement in modeling agencies and international fixers.
- Senator Ron Wyden’s investigation into Epstein’s financial dealings, including wire transfers through Russian banks, is mentioned.
- The potential for international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting those involved in the sex trafficking ring is discussed.
- Nestor Aparicio reflects on the broader implications of Trump’s connections to Russia and the trafficking of young models.
Conclusion and Future Implications
- Barry Levine believes the Epstein story will continue to be a significant scandal for Trump throughout his term and possibly beyond.
- Nestor Aparicio encourages listeners to support Barry Levine’s work and buy his books.
- The conversation ends with Nestor expressing hope that the controversy will continue to follow Trump.
Barry Levine discussed his latest essay in the New York Times about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to President Trump. He highlighted the resurgence of interest in the Epstein case, particularly during Maxwell’s 20-year sentence. Levine criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, which were initially promised for transparency but ultimately contained little new information. He emphasized the potential for damaging revelations about powerful individuals, including Trump and Bill Clinton. Levine also criticized Maxwell’s role in Epstein’s crimes and expressed concern over her recent interrogation by Trump’s lawyer.
- [ ] Investigate the financial connections between Epstein, Trump, and Russian banks.
- [ ] Examine the FBI’s handling of the Epstein case, including whether they failed to properly investigate and prosecute Epstein and his associates.
- [ ] Follow up on the lack of transparency in the release of the Epstein files and the government’s reluctance to make them public.
Barry Levine’s Introduction and Background
- Nestor Aparicio introduces Barry Levine, a former colleague and author, to discuss his latest essay in the New York Times about Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with President Trump.
- Barry Levine is described as an author who has written books on Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
- Nestor Aparicio mentions resharing Barry’s book “The Spider” and reflects on the current political climate with Trump back in office.
- Barry Levine begins by discussing the resurgence of interest in the Epstein case, particularly during Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial and sentencing.
Trump’s Involvement and Promises
- Barry Levine explains Trump’s long-standing friendship with Epstein and their mutual interests in modeling agencies and parties.
- Trump’s promise of transparency, including the release of JFK and Martin Luther King files, led to expectations of Epstein files.
- The release of Epstein files was seen as a show for Trump’s base, but it contained mostly known information.
- The public and victims were disappointed when no new documents were released over the Fourth of July weekend.
Reactions and Conspiracy Theories
- Barry Levine discusses the public’s reaction, including anger from both Democrats and Republicans, and the splintering of Trump’s base.
- Nestor Aparicio asks about a “smoking gun” that could prove the connection between Trump and Epstein.
- Barry Levine suggests that the FBI files could reveal the FBI’s inaction and political reasons for not pursuing wealthy and powerful individuals.
- The potential for damaging information on figures like Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Prince Andrew is highlighted.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Role and Allegations
- Barry Levine describes Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes, including her role in grooming and abusing victims.
- Maxwell’s lack of remorse and her dismissive attitude towards the victims are emphasized.
- Nestor Aparicio expresses concern over the recent development of Trump’s lawyer interviewing Maxwell.
- Barry Levine criticizes the idea of believing anything Maxwell says without evidence and questions her motives for cooperating with the government.
Financial Connections and International Influence
- Barry Levine discusses the financial connections between Epstein and Trump, including their involvement in modeling agencies and international fixers.
- Senator Ron Wyden’s investigation into Epstein’s financial dealings, including wire transfers through Russian banks, is mentioned.
- The potential for international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting those involved in the sex trafficking ring is discussed.
- Nestor Aparicio reflects on the broader implications of Trump’s connections to Russia and the trafficking of young models.
Conclusion and Future Implications
- Barry Levine believes the Epstein story will continue to be a significant scandal for Trump throughout his term and possibly beyond.
- Nestor Aparicio encourages listeners to support Barry Levine’s work and buy his books.
- The conversation ends with Nestor expressing hope that the controversy will continue to follow Trump.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, sex trafficking, FBI files, conspiracy theories, modeling agencies, Russian connections, financial crimes, victim justice, Alexander Acosta, Epstein case, Trump’s lawyer, Maxwell’s sentence, Epstein’s death.
SPEAKERS
Barry Levine, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’re gonna get back to the Maryland crab cake tour, and Luke’s out with the Ravens here this month. But we got important business, and I’ve got the short time with a long time friend of mine, a former colleague of mine, when I was a very, very young man in 1984 85 at the Baltimore News America, and he went on to Philadelphia and on to the National Enquirer, a whole bunch of other places. And he is an author. He is back in the news this week with a an essay in the New York Times regarding glane Maxwell’s and I, I’m always mispronouncing that name Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with President Trump. I want to welcome my defending champion author of the spider, as well as another book on Donald Trump called all the President’s women. Welcome Barry Levine back onto the program. I know you’re busy, man. I appreciate you spending a little bit of time just trying to create some clarity. I actually reshared our piece when you originally wrote the spider for almost four years ago, as to where we were then, to think of Trump’s President again. First things first, that’s the, probably the craziest part of the last eight months, right?
Barry Levine 01:11
Well, I mean, there’s no question about it. And you know this, this story, kind of had gone away for a long period of time. It picked up. Peaked up again during the prosecution of Gillian Maxwell, when she was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. And then it kind of faded. And then Donald Trump, of course, who had been a 15 year friend of Jeffrey Epstein’s back from their carousing Palm Beach Florida days and New York days. They both had modeling agencies. They were both attended the same parties together, chasing women together. He ends up back in office, and he promises transparency. We’re going to get the JFK files. We’re going to get the Martin Luther King files. And he was asked in an interview, what about the Epstein files? Oh, yeah, you’re going to get the Epstein files too. So that just completely made his Maga base so very happy, because they have had, you know, they followed down conspiracy theories for years now on the Epstein case, that there’s a deep state, that there’s a democratic cabal of politicians who have engaged in, you know, sex trafficking and child predatory criminality and so forth. So he was playing to his base, and, you know, they put on a big show couple months back is Attorney General Pam Bondi, brought in conservative influencers to the White House. They gave them those famous white binders, saying the Epstein files, phase one. Now, what was in that material was material that we already knew, that was just some old flight logs, information about the famous contact book that Jeffrey Epstein had names of associates, but also other addresses and phone numbers for rich and famous individuals. Some of the people in that book never even met Jeffrey Epstein. So, you know, I took with a grain of salt when that, when that release came out, because they blew it up into like a reality show Premier, and they had photos of the influencers coming out of the White House holding up the binders. But we really didn’t learn anything new about the Epstein case. So of course, over these past few months, Pam Bondi has said, Well, we’re redacting all the names the FBI, cash Patel, and said we’re bringing in many, many agents to work around the clock to get this done. So the public was, was waiting with bated breath that we’re finally going to see these documents. And then, of course, over Fourth of July weekend, the rug gets pulled out from all of us, not only the American public, but the victims, the, you know, more than 1000 women that were abused by Jeffrey Epstein and in some cases his co conspirator, Elaine Maxwell. And we were told there’s nothing to see here people, it’s kind of like the Wizard of Oz, where they show up with the broom, and then they’re told, Well, you know, you’re gonna have to, you’re gonna have to come back. And then they, you know, peel away and they find the guy, the wizard behind the curtain, who’s orchestrating the whole thing. That was kind of what happened, in the sense that we were told, Well, there’s nothing to see here now, so just just come back, just go away. Jeffrey Epstein died suicide. There’s no client list, there’s no blackmail, and we’re not going to release any documents because they’re not warranted. And of course, that enraged everyone on both sides of the aisle. I should say Democrats and Republicans alike. And for the first time, we saw splintering of his Maga base. And we really heard some really nasty comments from people like Steve Bannon, people like Tucker Carlson. Everybody was weighing in with, you know, with their comments, and so now we’re, we’re in the middle of this huge raging infer now, and Donald Trump is kind of sidestepping things, and he’s even pretending, for the most part, that he barely knew Jeffrey
Nestor Aparicio 05:35
Epstein, yeah. What would a smoking gun be here at this point? Like, I think there’s 67 pictures that have circulated the men together, you’ve written books on it. Others have written books. When I Googled your book, I’m shocked at how many prominent kind of authors have taken on this topic and how we walk to begin with, in Acosta’s role in that like that’s what I’m trying to peel back, beyond what someone like you that dedicated months and months of your life to writing this book, the notion that these guys are connected. What are we trying to prove here? What would be a smoking gun?
Barry Levine 06:10
Well, to me, a smoking gun would be in the files. Would be the fact that the FBI had names of wealthy and powerful individuals from victims accounts and so forth, and that the and the files possibly would show that the FBI kind of looked the other way and they didn’t go after these individuals, because that would be a real injustice to the victims if we find out that they had information cooperative, you know, cooperative evidence and so forth, and that they, you know, for whatever political reasons, they look the other way. And we have to wonder, have they been looking the other way since, as you brought up, very wisely, the Alexander Acosta slap on the risk conviction that he intervened at that time the FBI wanted to charge this was 2005 the FBI wanted to charge Jeffrey Epstein with 50 counts. Now, had they prosecuted him federally on those 50 counts and he was convicted, he would still be behind bars. He’d be off in some, you know, federal prison somewhere, and he wouldn’t have been able to spend the next 10 years continuing sex trafficking and the, you know, and the abuse of all these, these, these victims. So, you know, is there government responsibility here? That’s something to me, that is that is highly significant. And again, another smoking gun would be, is there anything in the files that could be very damaging to Bill Clinton or Donald Trump or some of the other men that we have you know, heard from some victims that have been named Prince Andrew, for instance. And then there may be others that we don’t know about that have never been made public. I am interested in what the FBI did to help the victims, in terms of getting justice for the victims, and to me, that’s really the most important thing. And you know, who knows what else is in the file? We never now, while my investigation concluded that Jeffrey Epstein did take his life behind bars and did commit suicide. We’ve never seen his autopsy report. Isn’t that strange? We’ve never seen the documents related to the death investigation that took place. I wrote my book that one of the inmates in the shoe that was the area of the prison of the jail where he was had heard bed sheets being ripped up that night. This was in the hours before he was found dead. Did they interview those inmates? What else do we know about that particular night? Was there any on the bit on the bed sheet that he fashioned into a noose? Was there any foreign DNA that could, that could tell us that someone entered his, entered his cell? Were there any defensive wounds on his on his fingers? Did he try to fight off an assailant? These are all questions that these files could, could answer, and we’re not being able to see at this point anything. Nestor, so it is very upsetting, not only for people like myself, who have invested a lot of time in researching this, this case for for years and decades, but for the victims.
Nestor Aparicio 09:33
Levine is here. He is an author. I should note, we were colleagues for decades ago here in Baltimore. He’s written several books on this topic and the subject matter all the President’s women, is something we have not talked about. This was a book that predated and this was when Trump was in office, the first time in 2019 my thoughts with the Russian thing and the pedophile thing and the trafficking of young models and women. And including his wife, um, in regard to why the friendliness toward Russia, it has always felt to me to be very compromised. It’s always felt to me to be trafficking related, that that he as well as financially related to his towers, and how much Russian money has funded him and kept him afloat after his bankruptcies, all of this is public knowledge. You know what I mean. 75 million people voted for this clown, this felon. But like all of this is this nobody made this stuff up. This isn’t some author making this up, but the part of the Russia thing also sort of ties to young women and to sex and to sort of not Trump’s business side or any of the bullshit that goes along with him, the deviant side and the criminal side of him.
Barry Levine 10:43
Well, there, there’s a lot of connections between Epstein and Trump, in the sense that, you know, back in the 90s, both were connected to modeling agencies. A lot of the women that were brought over for those agencies were from Eastern Europe. They came from Russia. They came from Turkey. They came from some other, some other countries around there. They had international, we know what Jeffrey Epstein, he had international fixers. He had fixers overseas who were sending him victims. And Senator Ron Wyden, from Oregon, has been quietly looking into the financial side of things, and we really need to get more answers on how Jeffrey Epstein financially the financial services available to him to not only to compensate victims for two decades, but also to pay fixers, transportation planes. We know that Senator Wyden found that there were almost 5000 wire transfers from Jeffrey Epstein making payouts totaling a billion dollars, and the money was being moved through Russian banks. Okay, so there’s a lot of Russian connections to this thing, and so, you know, do these files that the FBI is sitting on, do they show any additional financial crimes? Are there individuals, not only in America, but across across the world, that the US could work with with foreign law enforcement agencies to possibly apprehend some of these individuals. You know, this was a big network. This was a big sex trafficking ring, and we have to look out at through all the tentacles to find out who else was involved in this thing
Nestor Aparicio 12:35
and who was funding it as well. Barry, last thing for you, Trump’s lawyer is now running the country. Decides to pull Jillian Maxwell out of a cell and interrogate question chat with this has been the most disturbing development since I booked you on the program 72 hours ago. All of this smells of nefarious. They’re they’re interviewing the trafficker instead of the victims.
Barry Levine 13:03
Yes, I mean, I have stated that, you know, it’s preposterous that they’re going to believe anything she has to say unless she has apps, you know, actual evidence to support what she’s saying. She is out right now trying to save herself. She’s looking for a possible pardon from President Trump. She’s looking for possible years to be taken off her sentence by cooperating with the government. Let me tell you, Nestor, I was sickened when I was working on this book over the things I learned about her. Okay, this is a woman who went to Oxford University. Was smart, was educated. Her father was Robert Maxwell, a famous Fleet Street publisher in England. She hooked up with Jeffrey Epstein after her father’s death, and he became kind of like a father figure to her. He took her. The first indication I could find of abusing women came when he took Maxwell to Michigan. He had given money to a music school there. As a boy growing up in Coney Island, New York. He went for one summer as a student for this Music Academy. He ended up, years later, giving them money, and they they created a lodge in his name. He took Miss Maxwell with him. This was early on in their dating process, and he targeted a 13 year old girl and convinced that girl to allow her mother to send her to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, where he promised he would pay for her music lessons. And Gillian Maxwell was in on this, and you would have to thank a smart woman. Would have said, Hey, you’re weird, buddy. I don’t want to have anything to do with this. I’m getting out of this relationship. I don’t want to have anything to do with underage girls. And you know, why are you even talking about bringing this young girl with us back to Florida? To me, that was the moment when she had the chance to run and say, I don’t want to have anything to do with this guy. But what did what did she do instead, she went along with him. They presented themselves as a couple, that they would take care of these kids. She would often talk to the mothers of these girls and say they were safe hands. She played a big sister role. She played a motherly role to these girls. And what did she do? She turned on them, she groomed them, she taught them how to do sexual acts for Jeffrey Epstein, and she herself that we know from the trial involving the four victims that the government put out she also took part in sexual abuse of these women. So this is a woman who, rightfully so, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. She has never said anything in terms of apologizing to any of these victims. In my book, we interviewed a friend of hers at one point way back, and Miss Maxwell said, as far as I’m concerned, these girls are nothing but trash, and her feeling was they were disposable. So this is a cruel, evil individual who should remain behind bars, and why the government is even talking to her. I can’t comprehend it.
Nestor Aparicio 16:44
Nestor Levine’s here if you want more information. He’s got a great piece out at the New York Times this week. He’s written a book called The Spider, as well as a book called all the presidents women. I you’re working any more books, or you’re just working this right now, because this is clearly the biggest story in the world right now, Barry,
Barry Levine 17:00
this is the biggest story. It’s been Supercharged. I mean, the Epstein story in itself has been an international story, but now with this involvement of President Trump, it is blown up into without question, the scandal of the summer, but a scandal and controversy that, in my belief, is going to follow the president for the remainder of his term in office, and possibly after,
Nestor Aparicio 17:26
let’s hope so. Uh, Barry Levine is here. Uh, please go buy his book. Anybody who’s an author in this day and age, I’m here to support Barry. I appreciate the time. We’ll get together socially at some point here, talk some more news, American and old sports, writing tricks. At some point, I am Nestor, we are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore, positive. You.
