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In an exclusive interview with India Today's Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai, Jeffrey Epstein survivor Rina Oh spoke on the arrest of former Prince Andrew regarding his alleged role in the Epstein sex trafficking scandal and recounted her harrowing experience.
Transcript
00:00I want to go to a very special guest because the Epstein case involves dozens and dozens
00:05of young women who allegedly were the victims of what Jeffrey Epstein did through at his
00:13exotic island and the sexual offenses and pedophilia charges that eventually led to
00:18his conviction.
00:19I'm joined there by Reena O from New York.
00:22Reena, you are a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein and his sexual wrongdoings.
00:28I appreciate you joining us.
00:30When you heard the news a little while ago that a member of the British royal family,
00:34formerly Prince Andrew, arrested for his roles in dealing with Jeffrey Epstein, what was
00:40your first reaction?
00:42Does it give you a sense of vindication of justice?
00:44Dare I say a little bit of closure?
00:49It didn't give me a sense of closure, but I feel that this is just the beginning.
00:56It sets an example for what should be done here.
00:59We're in the United States.
01:00I feel that our government here in the U.S. is not taking any action.
01:06All they're doing is denying accountability.
01:09And to have someone like the former Prince Andrew, you know, get arrested for his ties to this
01:19entire case.
01:19And, you know, they're alleged that these are allegations, obviously.
01:23But he has mentioned in those files, they've been talking about him.
01:28He's had a longstanding relationship with Epstein.
01:31And I feel that this is one step forward into what I expect to see going forward with everyone
01:42else who's mentioned, you know, whether their names appear or they're redacted.
01:46I actually want to see all the redacted names get unredacted.
01:51You know, the names that have come out, Rina, is of some of the most wealthy and powerful
02:00people in the world, Rina, who have been named in the Epstein files.
02:06And there's been a sense that many of these people, because of the power they wield or
02:11their wealth, they've gotten away too easily.
02:15You use the word accountability.
02:17Do you believe that's critical?
02:18That however powerful or wealthy you are, you will have to be held accountable if you
02:23were part of Epstein's network of sexual offenses.
02:27That's the message that's coming out today.
02:33Oh, absolutely.
02:34Anyone who's named in those files needs to be questioned under oath if they haven't provided
02:41testimony.
02:42And I feel that there's a big separation of class.
02:47There's a class system here.
02:48And, you know, the privileged, they get away with almost anything and everything.
02:54They have the means to afford the best legal teams, you know, and they're able to use every
03:07loophole that exists in U.S. law or international law.
03:12Yeah, and they're able to get away with it.
03:14They get minimum sentencing or slap on the wrist or altogether charges are dropped.
03:19There has been no accountability so far.
03:22I do see there are a lot of European nations who are taking action and they're taking action
03:29immediately.
03:29I want to see that here.
03:32So you want to see action in the United States against those who allegedly were involved with
03:37Jeffrey Epstein.
03:38But all these names, Rina, who seemingly had this very special relationship with Epstein,
03:44many of them visited this so-called exotic island where these alleged sexual crimes took
03:50place.
03:50All of them, in a sense, are enablers of what Epstein was doing.
03:54And if I may ask you, did they, from what you saw as a witness, did they include politicians,
04:01royals, businessmen?
04:02Were they all deeply involved in this operation?
04:05Is that true?
04:06Or were they just bystanders?
04:11I personally didn't meet any of those people.
04:14I have heard some of their names while I was around him.
04:18I've met one of the billionaires that are mentioned in these files.
04:23And he's mentioned a lot, actually.
04:25There are a lot of photographs of him.
04:27Are they enablers?
04:28Of course, if they saw something, you know, if they witness it, they are definitely an enabler.
04:36But we need to ask every single person under oath.
04:39What did you see?
04:40What did you witness?
04:42Whether they lie or tell the truth.
04:44And then back it up with evidence.
04:47May I ask you this, Irina?
04:49What did you see?
04:51As someone who was, is a survivor, I want to ask you this.
04:56Because you've spoken out, I've heard your interviews about the psychological manipulation
05:01that Epstein was involved in.
05:03Can you tell for our viewers here in India, the kind of tactics that this person who seemed
05:09to have this network of rich and powerful around him, using young women, can you tell
05:16us how it affected you and what exactly he would do?
05:23Well, he was a raging narcissist, number one.
05:26And he used different forms of abuse.
05:30It wasn't just physical abuse.
05:32It was psychological, emotional.
05:35You know, there was a lot of devaluation.
05:39And that has a very traumatic effect.
05:44You know, sometimes it takes decades to recover from this.
05:50A lot of the other survivors, they share this experience.
05:56I'm not certain if they understand what narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder
06:02entails and what it does.
06:04But the abuse, you know, it's very damaging.
06:06And it's very easy to get manipulated and lied to.
06:10Like, this person was a complete psychopath, sociopath, who was able to use everything, you
06:16know, in order to lure people in.
06:18And not just the survivors, but everyone in his network.
06:22Right.
06:22You know, they have fallen, you know, I don't want to call them victims, fallen, they've been
06:27entrapped.
06:29And this ring that he created, and whether they committed any crimes or not, you know,
06:35that's, it just happened.
06:38And it's part of the nature of dealing with someone who's a narcissist.
06:41If they go down, he would go down by himself.
06:47Can I ask you this, though?
06:49Donald Trump, United States President, do you believe he too has much to answer for?
06:54He, of course, keeps on denying his links with Epstein, says he's been given the all
06:58clear.
06:59But the truth is that he seemingly also knew Jeffrey Epstein, should he act, be asked to
07:04come on, should he be also put on oath as a witness in the Epstein case to tell the world
07:11what exactly he knew and what was his role or his involvement and how much he knew about
07:16what was happening?
07:21Well, he definitely knew a lot.
07:22He definitely saw a lot.
07:24His name appears with every single contact number.
07:27His children's names appear in that phone book.
07:30I think he absolutely is a witness.
07:32Should he testify under oath?
07:35You know, I think he should.
07:38Will he testify under oath?
07:40Probably not.
07:42At least not while he's in office.
07:44You know, perhaps maybe once this term is over, they may be able to subpoena him.
07:50I don't know how the U.S. laws work in regards to subpoenaing a sitting president and having
07:58them testify under oath in front of the Oversight Committee or a congressional hearing.
08:04You know, Reena, when I asked you at the outset how Andrew and others were involved, they've
08:11of course denied the allegations.
08:12But more and more details are coming out about how the former royal may even have shared data
08:18with Epstein, confidential data.
08:21From your perspective, when did you know that Jeffrey Epstein was someone involved in this criminality?
08:28How long did it take you to wake up to the reality of what Jeffrey Epstein was all about?
08:38I would say probably during the trip that I was in Florida when he disclosed certain things
08:46and I saw, you know, the way he lived and being trapped in that house with no means, no
08:53transportation, no money and then being threatened with physical harm.
09:00You know, it kept me silent for decades.
09:04You mentioned that you were trapped.
09:06Are you telling me that you were kept inside the house, threatened there in Florida, virtually
09:12under lock and key, is that what he would do with women?
09:19Well, I wouldn't say virtually under lock and key, but I had no transportation.
09:25I didn't have money.
09:26There was another girl there.
09:28Others were able to freely go in and out of the estate.
09:33I didn't really know where I was.
09:35It was my first time in that part of the country.
09:39So, you know, and then he disclosed some of the things that he did overseas and then threatened
09:45me with physical harm, if I ever told anyone.
09:50But some of the people who've been named Rina in the Epstein files continue to carry on with
09:55their public functions as if nothing all happened, almost as if they did nothing wrong.
10:00These rich and famous travel the world.
10:03Some of them continue to remain in office.
10:04Do you believe, therefore, that the arrest of Andrew must send out the message to each
10:09and every one of them that this is not a normal case?
10:11This is a violation of human rights, of human dignity.
10:14And each and every one of them must be brought to justice for true closure for survivors like you?
10:23Absolutely.
10:24Anyone who's named, who's associated needs to be investigated or at least given the chance
10:30to speak, there are 10 co-conspirators.
10:34There needs to be a full transparency into what they did.
10:40And in terms of closure, I don't think I'll get closure until we find out what remains
10:47of this operation.
10:49Because I believe it still exists.
10:52I believe they're still doing it.
10:54I believe he's not the only one who was involved.
10:56I mean, obviously, there are 10 other people.
10:59You know, are they still doing it?
11:01I suspect they are.
11:03But that's another allegation.
11:05And I don't want to say, you know, absolutely, they're doing it.
11:08We need to find out.
11:09We need to investigate them.
11:11You suspect that the sexual offenses committed are still going on with other co-conspirators.
11:19But there's been, as we've seen, pressure in Britain that's forced Andrew out.
11:24There have been allegations there that the royal family was trying to sweep this under
11:28the carpet.
11:29In the U.S., there are allegations that the Trump administration is putting pressure to
11:33ensure that the president's name is not there in any redacted file.
11:37Do you believe these powerful forces continue to try to bury the case?
11:44Well, there are over 2 million files they're out releasing right now.
11:48And I want to know what's in it.
11:49So we don't have the answers to that until we see the remainder of the 2 million, which
11:56now, you know, the Attorney General is claiming she'll never release them after promising to
12:02release all the information.
12:06Reena, I'm going to leave it there.
12:08I really appreciate you taking the time out early that morning in New York and talking
12:12to us.
12:13But this is a case that has global reverberations.
12:16I thank you for joining me.
12:18And I hope you get closure and justice.
12:20Now.
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