00:00Mr. President, do you wish to provide an opening statement?
00:03I do. It's brief.
00:06First of all, good morning and welcome to all of you to our hometown.
00:14I appreciate you coming here.
00:18I'm here today basically for two reasons.
00:21First of all, I love my country and the Constitution,
00:27and I believe America was built on the idea that no one is above the law,
00:35especially presidents.
00:38The second reason I'm here is that the girls and women whose lives Jeffrey Epstein destroyed
00:44deserve not just justice but healing.
00:47They've been waiting too long for both.
00:51Through my brief acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein,
00:55though it ended years before his crimes came to light,
00:59and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions
01:03any indication of what was going on,
01:08I'm here to offer what little I know
01:13so I can do my part to prevent something like this from happening again.
01:20I have to say one personal thing.
01:24Since Hillary came in yesterday,
01:27she had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein.
01:31Nothing.
01:32If at any time you knowingly make false statements,
01:35you could be subject to criminal prosecution,
01:37including but not limited to perjury,
01:39do you understand?
01:40I do.
01:40This includes both knowingly providing false testimony
01:44but also stating that you do not recall or remember something
01:47when in fact you do.
01:49As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13th,
01:53I had no idea about their criminal activities.
01:57I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein.
02:01I never flew on his plane or visited his island,
02:05homes, or offices.
02:07I have nothing to add to that.
02:10Like every decent person,
02:12I've been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes.
02:16It's unfathomable that Mr. Epstein
02:20initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008,
02:24which allowed him to continue his predatory practices
02:28for another decade.
02:30Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing
02:34the federal government's handling of the investigations,
02:37and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes.
02:40If you are new to this issue, let me tell you,
02:44Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual,
02:47but he is far from alone.
02:49is that if it is a property in town.
02:50Just like this,
02:52as a family,
02:53you can search on directors in violent law,
02:56how can we do this on your waiver file?
02:58I don't know exactly what was supposed to say,
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