'Incredible': Reporter astonished by 'amazing' admission by Epstein pal caught on tape
By Travis Gettys
Published February 20, 2026 8:22 AM ET
One of the first reporters to extensively interview the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse was amazed by an admission by one of the late sex offender's closest associates.
Les Wexner, the 88-year-old former Victoria's Secret chief executive, testified Wednesday at his Ohio home to Democrats from the House Oversight Committee, and The Atlantic's Sarah Fitzpatrick reacted on "CNN This Morning" to a viral moment from that deposition that was caught on video.
"I want to play for you one thing," said host Audie Cornish, "because what we're seeing here in the U.S. is more conversation, more depositions. So for example, you have Victoria's Secret owner Les Wexner. He's been questioned for his relationship or ties to Epstein by the House Oversight Committee, specifically, okay, and video is starting to come out about the deposition, and I want to show you an example of a moment in the conversation he had just told lawmakers that the FBI had never spoken to him about Epstein, and as he's talking, he gets a note. So here's an example of that."
https://www.rawstory.com/les-wexner-jeffrey-epstein-cnn/
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The video shows the elderly retail baron providing lawmakers with loquacious answers to their questions about his relationship Epstein, which he insisted was professional and finance-related only, when his attorney leaned over and whispered, "I'll f------ kill you if you answer another question with more than five words."
My question is why the attorney would say that.............a threat is still a threat..............and who is the attorney.............
= new reply since forum marked as read
A bit dramatically phrased, but it's totally standard to advise a client to say as little as possible. In fact, 5 words is generous.
While it does protect the guilty, it also protects innocent clients who think they are helping by being overly cooperative, when in fact they are just giving prosecutors more to work with, more quotes to pick from, to piece together or take out of context to create a basis for a search warrant, and indictment, an argument that plays in front for a jury, etc.
Personally, I think he's quite likely his involvement stinks, but I'll allow that it's possible his involvement was strictly professional. If that were the case, then it's especially important to his defense that he say as little as possible.
As a side note, people do use the phrase "I'll kill you if..." when they merely mean "I'm super serious". Unless accompanied by a credible means to actually kill, such as brandishing a weapon, it's just an "idle threat".
Just to be clear, I'm defending the lawyer, not wexner 
