PAIN
FBI Knew of Central Epstein Victim 11 Years before She Testified: ‘They Could Have Unravelled the Entire Network’
An alleged victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein whose testimony was central to Epstein’s 2019 indictment in New York, was known to federal authorities 11 years prior, ABC News reported on Thursday.
The woman, known as “Minor-Victim 1” in the 2019 indictment, was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Florida to arrange potential testimony in a 2008 criminal indictment of Epstein. However, before the victim could testify, prosecutors arranged a deal whereby Epstein pleaded guilty to state-level sex crime charges and was sentenced to 18 months in a county jail. The investigation into Epstein was then dropped, and the subpoena withdrawn.
“I certainly think with the FBI’s capabilities, even back then, that they could have unraveled the entire network from New York to Paris to New Mexico,” Spencer Kuvin, a West Palm Beach attorney who represented several of Epstein’s alleged victims in the Florida case in 2008, told ABC.
“The potential was always there. [The government] shut this thing down and pled this thing out before going through and talking to probably more than half of the women that were involved in this whole thing,” he continued. “Had they conducted a full investigation and taken their time, this would’ve been a whole different story.”
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Federal authorities again contacted “Minor Victim 1” in 2019 to reopen the case against Epstein in New York. The 2019 indictment outlines the woman’s testimony in detail, in which she describes being targeted for sexual abuse by Epstein from age 14.
The Florida plea deal was arranged by then-federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta, who went on to become President Trump’s secretary of labor in 2017. Although the Trump administration initially defended him, Acosta resigned in July 2019 following criticism of his prior handling of the Epstein case.
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/fbi-knew-of-central-epstein-victim-11-years-before-she-testified-they-could-have-unravelled-the-entire-network/
Wrap-Up Smear in Effect
Bill Barr’s threat to resign has already compromised his credibility to do his job: Ex-FBI official
On Wednesday, former FBI counterintelligence official Frank Figliuzzi suggested that Attorney General William Barr has already compromised his position enough by putting out his threat to resign, that he might as well go through with it — or be fired.
“If there is a pardon that further undermines justice that was made out by career prosecutors so much so that — so tainted, so contaminated that four career prosecutors quit the case, would a pardon necessity a resignation from the attorney general?” asked host Nicolle Wallace.
“I think we’ve already answered this question. It’s rhetorical,” said Figliuzzi. “This has to be run through the Justice Department. Barr had a chance to say no to the pardons. And I don’t think he’s going to do it.”
“I got a good piece of advice one time moving up the career ranks in the FBI,” continued Figliuzzi. “One of my mentors said to me, ‘Frank, if any agent walks in your office and says he’s thinking about resigning, take his badge and wish him well.’ The point being, we’re not in a role that you can simultaneously do while you’re thinking about maybe resigning or retiring. You need to go, and Trump should do the same thing with Barr. If you’re thinking about being the attorney general, and whether you should be in a role, you should go.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/bill-barrs-threat-to-resign-has-already-compromised-his-credibility-to-do-his-job-ex-fbi-official/
He makes no reference to the far-right fringe QAnon movement in the US, but the missive is similar to the movement’s central, but baseless belief that US President Donald Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic paedophiles and cannibals.
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/nine-dead-in-shooting-in-germanys-frankfurt-attacker-suspected-of-having-far-right-racist-motives-angela-merkel-says-hatred-is-poison/ar-BB10cSbB
Putin hails US for helping prevent terror attack in Russia
Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed the FBI for sharing information that helped thwart a terror attack by adherents of the Islamic State group in St. Petersburg during the New Year holidays.
Speaking at a meeting with senior officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, Putin said that “we are thankful to our partners for their support and professional solidarity in countering the common threat.”
He added that “we will naturally respond in kind.”
The FSB in December announced the detention of two Russian men who confessed to plotting the terror attacks in St. Petersburg.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed the FBI for sharing information that helped thwart a terror attack by adherents of the Islamic State group in St. Petersburg during the New Year holidays.
Speaking at a meeting with senior officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, Putin said that “we are thankful to our partners for their support and professional solidarity in countering the common threat.”
He added that “we will naturally respond in kind.”
The FSB in December announced the detention of two Russian men who confessed to plotting the terror attacks in St. Petersburg.
Putin then called U.S. President Donald Trump to thank him for the tip.
In December 2017, Putin similarly thanked Trump for a CIA information that helped thwart a series of bombings in St. Petersburg. The Kremlin said then that the CIA tip led the FSB to nab a group of suspects that planned to attack St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral and other crowded sites.
Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to post-Cold War lows after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, but Moscow and Washington have pledged to continue counter-terrorism cooperation.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Putin-hails-US-for-helping-prevent-terror-attack-15070745.php#photo-19061506