[0:00]It's Tuesday, February 10th. One person [music] knows more than any living soul, and she's refusing to say anything. We start here. Jeffrey Epstein's [music] chief
[0:11]accomplice says through a lawyer that she won't speak to Congress without a promise from President Trump. [music] >> I invoke my fifth amendment right to silence. >> Meanwhile, one recollection of President Trump's thoughts on Epstein don't quite
[0:23]line up with [music] what he's been saying. Cuba tells airlines, "We got no fuel left for [music] you. But we've barely got any for ourselves. >> They will run out of oil full stop within a matter of weeks. [music] A US
[0:34]imposed oil shortage has become a looming humanitarian crisis. And the cheapest weight loss [music] drugs are copycats. Well, now a drug maker is suing one of them.
[0:44]>> They worry that they may be in some cases a danger to consumers. >> A booming market is being reshaped in real time. From ABC News, this is [music] Start
[0:56]Here. I'm Brad Milkey. When the Justice [music] Department finally complied with a legal order to
[1:07]release a huge trove of files related to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, there were plenty of suspicions. Firstly, these millions of documents are tough to read. In many cases, names are
[1:18]hidden with big black marks. Several victims of the late finance seere and sex trafficker said their identities were not properly redacted, leading many critics to wonder if this was really all
[1:29]about protecting possible perpetrators. There's one person that clearly knows more about Epstein's misdeeds. His partner and confidant Galain Maxwell, currently serving 20 years in federal
[1:40]prison for sex trafficking. >> There's no list. There's never been a list. >> And you never heard Mr. Epstein talk about such a list? >> Never. Last year, she requested a chat
[1:50]with President Trump's deputy attorney [music] general. Several lawmakers said, "Oh, I see what's going on here. She's hunting for a pardon. She's advertising she knows things, but is refusing to
[2:00]tell them to us." Well, members of the House Oversight Committee said she would have to go on the record whether she liked it or not. They subpoenaed her [music] testimony in a congressional deposition. Well, yesterday she arrived
[2:12]for this virtual meeting and under oath said precisely nothing. Let's start the day with ABC senior political correspondent Rachel Scott. And Rachel, let's start with this Ghislaine Maxwell appearance, I guess, virtual appearance.
[2:24]How did this go down? >> Yeah. Well, it didn't go down the way that lawmakers had hoped. They were hoping that Ghislaine Maxwell was going to come before them and answer every single question that they had. And they
[2:34]certainly had a lot of questions. >> Miss Maxwell, were you a close friend and confidant of Jeffrey Epstein? I would like to answer your question,
[2:44]but on the advice of council, I respectfully declined to answer this question. >> But Brad, this whole thing was wrapped up in just about 20 minutes because Ghislaine Maxwell appearing before lawmakers
[2:56]from a Texas prison refused to answer anything. >> I therefore invoke my right to silence under the fifth amendment to the US Constitution.
[3:06]>> She repeatedly pleaded the fifth. I invoke my fifth amendment right to silence. >> And of course, Maxwell is facing 20 years behind bars for trafficking minors
[3:15]to Epstein. And so her lawyer put out a statement trying to explain why she was pleading the fifth. >> If this committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered
[3:26]truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path. Miss Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump. In this statement, the lawyer adds that both President Trump and President
[3:38]Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing and that Maxwell alone can explain why to the American people. Lawmakers listening to that statement say that Maxwell is really trying to play the
[3:50]cards here, right? She's really trying to push for a deal with President Trump, saying, >> "I I'm the one who can clear your name, Mr. President, but only if you give me X, Y, or Z." >> Exactly. And so, even Republican
[4:01]lawmakers are telling the president, "Do not fall for this." don't think she should be granted any type of immunity or clemency. >> What is very interesting here, Brad, is that President Trump has been asked
[4:13]repeatedly over the last year, would he give Maxwell a pardon? Would he grant her clemency? And the president every single time has not ruled it out. >> Well, and Maxwell's already said in that
[4:24]DOJ interview that Donald Trump did nothing wrong. So, totally possible she could just get clemency and say that again. But is the real story, Rachel, here about what the Epstein files say
[4:34]about Donald Trump, about what he has said about Epste in the past? >> Well, look, President Trump is mentioned in these files repeatedly. A lot of it is from newspaper clippings. The president has continued to deny any
[4:46]wrongdoing. And it is worth noting that there are no Epstein victims that have accused the president of any wrongdoing. But overnight, we learned that a former Palm Beach police chief who was investigating Jeffrey Epstein in like
[4:57]the mid 2000s told the FBI that he had received a call from Donald Trump to say, "Thank goodness you are stopping this guy Epstein." >> Now, this report came from an FBI
[5:08]interview with the police chief in 2019. So, this is one man's recollection more than a decade later. But he also claimed Trump said that Maxwell was quote evil and that Trump was around once with
[5:19]Epstein when teenagers were present and quote got the hell out of there. The chief apparently recalled Trump being one of the very first people to call police when people found out Epstein was
[5:29]under investigation. Now, the president has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes. >> For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate. He
[5:41]hired help and I said, "Don't ever do that again." He's stole people that work for me. >> The president has consistently said that he had no idea what Epstein was doing. I
[5:52]asked him this just last year in July. >> You said that Jeffrey Epste stole people from Mara Lago at the time. Did you know why he was taking those young women, including Virginia? >> No, I didn't know. I mean,
[6:03]>> and the president said he did not know what Epstein was doing and that he was trafficking these young girls. No, I don't know really why. Uh, but I said if
[6:13]he's taking anybody from Mara Lago, he's hiring or whatever he's doing. I didn't like it and we threw him out. We said we don't want him. >> But the president seems to acknowledge based off of this reporting that
[6:24]everyone knew exactly what Epstein was doing and what he was up to. >> And details about that call, by the way, first reported by the Miami Herald. Our team has matched it. But Rachel, it does seem to speak to this bigger thing that
[6:35]there's been all this criticism towards the DOJ saying they should just release all the files related to Jeffrey Epste, right? That they're entitled to hold on to the ones that are part of active investigations. But that could mean anything, right? There was an ad
[6:46]released on Super Bowl Sunday, including some of Epstein's victims >> because this girl deserves the truth. Because she deserves the truth. >> Because we all deserve the truth.
[6:56]>> Are we any closer to just having all these files released? Well, Brad, we're not any closer to the public viewing all of these files, but we are one step
[7:06]closer to lawmakers having full access. In fact, for the first time, lawmakers are able to go to the Department of Justice, log onto one of their computers, and review the fully
[7:17]unredacted version of the Epstein files. They're not allowed to bring in their cell phones, pen and pad only. They are allowed to take notes. And there were two lawmakers who were the very first
[7:27]ones in. Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican, and Democratic Congressman Ro Kana, a Democrat. >> Some of these files have been taken down, like the DOJ produced them, and
[7:38]for some reason they took them down. Maybe they decided that victim's names were in there and that they needed further redactions. But those documents not only haven't been put back up on the
[7:48]site with the appropriate redactions, they were not available to us to search. As far as I could tell, we couldn't search the documents that had been taken off the internet. >> They are calling on the Department of
[7:59]Justice to release this information publicly. In many cases, they believe that some of this information in the files was overredacted. >> For Thomas and me, it's never been about
[8:10]getting Donald Trump or getting Bill Clinton or uh scoring political points or trying to destroy people's reputations. It's about actually getting justice for these survivors. And they
[8:21]believe that by this law that was passed by both chambers of Congress, the Department of Justice has a duty to make this information public. >> Right. And we saw Ghislaine Maxwell taking the fifth yesterday. There are more
[8:32]names coming. By the way, the Clintons testifying this week. Les Wexner, the billionaire businessman, testifying, we're told, this week they also could invoke their fifth amendment rights, but we'll see if they're more forthcoming
[8:42]with this committee. Rachel Scott, thank you. >> Thanks, Brad. >> Next up on Start here. Oil is not a luxury. It's a lifeline. And now Cuba
[8:52]says we don't have any. We're back in a bit. Generally, commercial American flights do not go to Cuba. It's not allowed. Our
[9:03]countries have rolled back many diplomatic relations, but other countries have them. Air Canada, Iro Mexico, Air France all service Havana, as do American Airlines and United. They
[9:13]just fly in from other spots. Well, yesterday several airlines around the world said this would cease immediately. They said it wasn't their choice. It was Cuba's. Authorities are apparently now
[9:23]telling air carriers you can't refuel your plane on the island nation because the country is effectively running out of oil. ABC's Matt Rivers has covered Latin America for years. Matt, what is happening here?
[9:35]>> Well, this is the latest target in the Trump administration's campaign to really remake a lot of the socialist governments of Latin America. We saw what they did and are doing in Venezuela and now it appears that Cuba is the next target.
[9:46]>> It's a failed nation now and they're not getting any money from Venezuela and they're not getting any money from anywhere. >> And one particular pain point for the Cuban government has always been the
[9:56]fact that it's an island nation. It's a bit of a pariah on the international stage and like all countries they need oil. They produce some of their own oil. About 40% or so of their daily needs
[10:06]come from their own refineries but the rest of it comes from imports. other countries that are friendly to the government, places like Venezuela and Mexico. Well, what's happened since
[10:16]January 3rd when the United States extracted Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela from that country and effectively now managing that country's affairs through the government there.
[10:27]They basically have said, "Look, we are not going to allow Venezuelan oil to go to the island of Cuba anymore because we want to pressure the Cuban government to
[10:36]either leave or to reform in a way that the United States really wants. >> I want the people that came here that were horribly treated by Cuba to be taken care of, to be able to go back and
[10:47]do what they have to do." Not only have they barred Venezuelan oil going to the island of Cuba, but also they have threatened tariffs on any country around the world that would provide oil to
[10:58]Cuba. So they've basically laid out an ultimatum. You're either with us against Cuba or you're with Cuba and you're against us. And what you've seen from traditional, more ally types of Cuba,
[11:08]places that have sent oil over the years, Russia, even places like Angola, Brazil, and namely Mexico, is that say, "Look, this is not the hill that we're going to die on. We're not going to risk
[11:19]the eyeire of the United States by continuing to ship oil to Cuba. Mainly Cuba got its oil from its own refineries from Venezuela and from Mexico. Venezuela, we know, is kaput. That's
[11:29]over. That's not happening anymore. And Mexico with its own challenges dealing with the United States on a number of different fronts, has basically said, "Look, we're not going to send oil right now to Cuba." Uh, and so that's left the
[11:40]country with a huge shortfall. And when we're talking about a shortfall within that country, you know, depending on which analysts you've spoken to, and I've spoken to a number of them now, they will run out of oil full stop
[11:52]within a matter of weeks at this point, Brad. It is a crisis level position right now. >> Wait, so we just did like a whole segment last month on how Ukraine and people in Kiev are in dire straits because Russia hit their energy grid. We
[12:03]talked about it being a potentially potentially deathly situation, especially in the winter. Like what happens to an island country like Cuba if it can't access oil? >> Every country around the world needs
[12:14]oil. Cuba is no different. But where Cuba is different is a couple different ways. One, the national electrical grid that would power, you know, everything on the island, everything from schools to homes to businesses to government
[12:24]buildings, you know, obviously is on the grid, but the grid has been crumbling for decades. A lot of the power plants were built decades ago. corruption, lack of investment, lack of infrastructure
[12:35]repair has left the grid in really rough shape. Also, the grid is heavily reliant on oil. So, on the one hand, you've got a national electric grid that is completely unreliable, results in
[12:45]rolling blackouts all the time. That's part of daily life in Cuba that you simply cannot rely on the electrical grid to power your home, to power the schools, to power the hospitals,
[12:55]businesses, whatever. In the absence of a reliable electrical grid, what you see are generators. There's a hum actually
[13:03]at night in Havana that you can hear people running their their generators to provide themselves power in the absence of a reliable grid. Well, what do
[13:15]generators run on? Oil. So, not only >> you need if if you're not going to get like electricity from the grid, you then got to get gasoline, but guess what? That's running out there, too. >> Exactly. Okay. So, if the grid needs oil
[13:25]and can't get it and if you running a small generator to keep the refrigerator on in the bodega where you sell sodas, well, if you don't have oil to run the generator, then what do you do? And so,
[13:35]it has caused a humanitarian crisis on the island that's been going on for years now. So, what you see now is an inflection point in this ongoing humanitarian crisis. The Secretary General is extremely concerned about the
[13:47]humanitarian situation in Cuba, which will worsen, if not collapse, if its oil needs go unmet. >> And what I mean by that, think about how we power anything in our day-to-day
[13:58]lives. Think about, you know, what powers the hospitals, what powers the schools, what powers the businesses, what about the bus that you take to go to work to earn money to feed your
[14:07]family. Every single part of life is affected by a lack of oil. If you do not have oil, there is no part of society that is not affected. And so you're
[14:17]talking about a humanitarian crisis that will grow exponentially in the next couple of weeks if oil is not delivered to the island of Cuba. >> Well, if it's not delivered, what
[14:27]happens next then for, you know, both from the US point of view and from the rest of Latin America? >> Well, basically you've seen all these countries that could be providing oil, Brazil, Mexico, they're all saying no, we're not going to do it right now. And
[14:38]what you've seen is, you know, Mexico sent a couple humanitarian aid ships without oil on board, things like food, hygiene. The United States committing about $6 million worth of humanitarian
[14:48]aid, but again, no oil. And what's clear here is that the United States under the Trump administration, which are no fans of the regime in Cuba and have not been for a long time, they're using oil as a
[14:59]pain point. >> Regime change. Yes. >> Oh, no. I think we would like to see the regime there change. We would like to. That doesn't mean that we're going to make a change, but we would love to see a change. There's no doubt about the
[15:10]fact that it would be of great benefit to the United States if Cuba was no longer governed by an auto autocratic regime. >> Now, what is the endgame? It could be a number of different things. Are they trying to do this to negotiate with the
[15:22]Cuban government? There's been some reports of that to let's say get more American businesses to go into Cuba under favorable terms to the US like we're seeing in Venezuela. Or is it more
[15:32]extreme? Are they trying to force regime change in Cuba by starving this country of oil and maybe prompting some sort of popular revolt within the island? [music] We really don't know exactly
[15:44]what the endgame here is from the Trump administration. But what we know is that they are committed, at least at this point, to going down this path to put this government under as much pain as
[15:53]possible. And you could argue there's no real more effective way of doing that, even if it's crude cuz we're talking about people's lives here and their day-to-day life. But there is no more effective way of putting pressure on
[16:05]this government than starving it of oil. >> Well, and that's the thing is is you're going to hear countries saying like, "We want to help the average person. We just don't want to send Cuba oil because of their regime." Well, it's the average
[16:17]person who has to suffer to make this strategy have any teeth whatsoever. So, that's what's about to play out, you think, over the next several weeks. Matt Rivers, thank you so much.
[16:26]>> Yeah, you got it, Brad. If you were visiting the US for the first time on Sunday and just watching the Super Bowl ads, you'd walk away convinced that Americans are really only
[16:37]desperate for three things in this world. Cryptocurrency, AI chat bots, and weight loss medications. Among the beer and potato chips commercials, there was a commercial for we go's new weight loss
[16:49]pill. >> Well, Goi now comes in a pill >> so adults WITH OBESITY CAN LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF ALONG WITH DIET AND EXERCISE. >> YES. THANK YOU, DJ KHALED. >> As well as an ad from the tele medicine
[16:59]company Hims and Hers, which also sells versions of these new medications. But these companies are not the same. In fact, Hims and Hers took direct aim at those selling these FDA approved
[17:10]brandame drugs for higher prices. >> The wealth gap is a health gap. The rich have healthcare that comes to them. >> Well, this week, these two companies are now engaged in a legal dispute that
[17:21]could shape the next chapter of this pharmaceutical revolution. ABC's Mary Kicados covers health for us. Mary, can you just explain what's been happening in recent days? Because generally I think of these drugs as all the same, but they're not right.
[17:33]>> Sure, Brad. So, Hims and Hers, this tellaalth company, last week it announced it was offering a compounded semiglutide pill with the same active
[17:42]ingredient as WGOI for just $49. Now, by comparison, Nova Nordisk, which is the company that produces WGOI, it offers its pill form at a cash price of $149
[17:54]per month for the two lowest doses and higher doses priced at $299 per month. So, this is a huge savings for consumers. However, there's two problems
[18:04]here. One is that it's a compounded semaglutide, which is very different than what Nova Nordisk makes. These compounded medications, they are not FDA
[18:15]approved and they don't undergo FDA's review for safety, effectiveness, and quality before they're marketed. Additionally, Nova Nordisk, that company that produces WGOI, it has multiple
[18:26]patents, including multiple patents on semiglutide. So, this patent is protected through 2032. Nova Nordisk, seeing what hims and hers was doing,
[18:38]decided to take action. >> Yeah. And before we even get into the lawsuit, can you just like you compound semiglutide? Like what does that mean? >> Compounded semiglutide, it's a custommade medication produced by
[18:49]compounding pharmacies or facilities as opposed to pharmaceutical manufacturers. So traditionally, people will receive compounded medications if they can't
[18:58]access the brandame medication or the medication that's been prescribed to them by their doctor. But the FDA has been wary of some of these medications
[19:08]because they don't undergo FDA approval because they don't undergo the rigorous review for safety, efficacy, and quality. They worry that they may be in
[19:18]some cases a danger to consumers. >> I see. Okay. So then these companies both put out Super Bowl ads, so there's clearly lots of money in this industry. On Monday morning, we find out there's this lawsuit. What What is the lawsuit?
[19:30]What's happening? So Nova Nordisk filed a lawsuit against Hims and Hers saying that the company infringed on Nova Nordisk's patent. Now Himm and Hers had
[19:41]already pulled back from its pill. It stopped selling it on Saturday, saying that it had constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry
[19:50]and after backlash. But Nova Nordisk is saying that these copycat products that hims and hers was selling, it infringed on the patent. It argued that the
[20:01]approach was effectively mass production of unapproved version and also potentially misleading marketing claims
[20:09]about the equivalence. So it says that it is dangerous and deceptive to patients that it evades the FDA's gold
[20:20]standard review process. But him and Hers is saying this lawsuit is a blatant attack on consumers who rely and sometimes even depend on compounded
[20:30]medications, saying that it's not attacking just one medication or one company, but it's assaulting a quote wellestablished vital component of US pharmacy practice that has improved
[20:42]patient care. >> Right. and him and hers apparently though did not pull back on that until the FDA commissioner threatened action and the top lawyer at health and human services said he was referring the case
[20:52]to the DOJ. So looking forward I guess what does all this mean for compoundies like him and hers cuz their whole sales pitch is listen if you're just buying the brand name not all of us can afford
[21:03]to do that like people use generic products all the time why not medications how does this kind of affect the bigger conversation around compound medications and specifically these weight loss medications
[21:13]>> right so hims and hers directly took a bit of a nose dive in its stocks but the larger issue is what this means for compoundingarmacies ies. The FDA has
[21:23]allowed compoundingies to sell copies of these drugs because medications can sometimes be in short supply. But the FDA said it was planning to restrict
[21:34]GLP-1 ingredients used in compounded drugs marketed by hims and hers and other companies. Because of these concerns over quality, safety, and efficacy, it doesn't mean that these
[21:46]products won't be available, but they're going to receive much more FDA scrutiny for sure. >> [music] >> And this is not just about him and hers. Brad Nova Nordisk has sued several
[21:58]compounders for allegedly selling false or unsafe advertised WGOI copycats. So at minimum Nova Nordisk is hoping
[22:07]according to experts that this deters his and hers and other compounders from offering semiglutide in the future and potentially gives Nova Nordisk a shot at
[22:17]collecting damages for past or ongoing sales of these products. [music] >> Yeah, it's so interesting cuz like you said there is a real need for compoundies. Like if you're allergic to one of the ingredients in the brand
[22:28][music] name pill or if your kid can only take this in liquid form, that's when the FDA says people do need these alternatives. So, we're not going to delay them getting to market as long as they're being copied safely. [music] But
[22:37]clearly a kind of reckoning coming here. America, thank you so much. >> Thank you for having me. >> All right, one more quick break. When we come back, you can tell it's real gold
[22:49]if you can dent it a little. Well, that's going to be hard with these metals falling all over the place. One last thing is next. And one last thing, already this week in
[23:04]Milan and Cortina, Americans have been putting their best foot forward, whether it's laced up in a skate or a ski boot. And once Olympic medals start being awarded, the parties start. But in this
[23:14]case, the celebrations seem to have revealed a flaw in the design of the medals themselves. [music] Lots of people watching the women's downhill skiing event were watching
[23:25]American Lindsay Vaughn. She suffered a scary crash. She's okay now, she says. But American Breezy Johnson managed to shock the world with a gold medal. >> It's a tough road and it's a tough
[23:36]sport. I think that that's the, you know, the beauty and the madness of it that it can hurt you so badly, but you keep coming back for more. >> What she might have been expecting even less was as she was jumping up and down
[23:48]later, her metal snapped off her neck. >> Did I see correctly, you broke the metal? >> Yeah. >> Don't Don't jump in them. I was jumping in excitement and it broke.
[24:00]>> Later that night, the US won the team [music] figure skating event. Alyssa Lou, the 20-year-old star with a killer axle and tiger striped hair, revealed her medal had broken as well. Her
[24:11]teammate Ellie Cam said it suffered some dings at the bus stop for athletes. >> It just popped off and it fell on the ground and it got a couple dents on it. [laughter] >> It's not just the Americans suddenly
[24:21]chasing after their medals. The German Bathlon relay team were dancing around one clon. >> [cheering] >> And in all these cases, athletes say
[24:31]it's not the metal itself that's the problem. Rather, it's that it doesn't want to stay on the ribbon around your neck. >> There is a special pocket, as you can see over here, where the ribbon will
[24:43]take place. So, the ribbon will be inserted within the medal itself via a special feature. >> Back in December, when the Olympic Committee showed off these prizes, officials said the ribbons would be held
[24:53]in place with this key clip. as Breezy Johnson gave a quick showand tell. >> So there's the metal. >> She said that's the thing that seemed to snap off.
[25:03]>> And here's the little piece that is supposed to go in the ribbon to hold it in the metal. And yeah, it came apart. >> She now says she's received a
[25:14]replacement for what is perhaps the shortest lived gold medal in history. Alyssa Lou posted, "My medal don't need the ribbon." Olympic officials say they're looking into this, but [music] remember there are still hundreds of
[25:24]Olympic and Parolympic medals to be awarded, and athletes are warning each other, maybe don't party too hard, especially if you won gold. Those things are heavy.
[25:35][music] Remember when the Paris metals had the little cute pieces of Eiffel Tower in them, then people started to complain that they were corroding? Like, what would you rather have? A rusty metal or one that you couldn't take anywhere
[25:46]without worrying about losing it? I'm Brad Milky. I'll see you tomorrow. [music]