Jeffrey Epstein knew some of the richest and most powerful people in the world — including President Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report Wednesday claiming the Justice Department (DOJ) told Trump that he was mentioned in the Epstein files “multiple times.” According to the Journal:
When Justice Department officials reviewed what Attorney General Pam Bondi called a “truckload” of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times, according to senior administration officials. In May, Bondi and her deputy informed the president at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files, the officials said. Many other high-profile figures were also named, Trump was told. Being mentioned in the records isn’t a sign of wrongdoing. The officials said it was a routine briefing that covered a number of topics and that Trump’s appearance in the documents wasn’t the focus.
The officials who briefed the administration also told the president that “the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past…. One of the officials familiar with the documents said they contain hundreds of other names.” Trump also learned the DOJ didn’t plan to release any more Epstein files because they contain child pornography and the victims’ personal information. “Trump said at the meeting he would defer to the Justice Department’s decision to not release any further files,” the Journal reported.
That meeting is presented as the watershed moment the Trump DOJ decided there would be no “Phase II” of the Epstein files. It paved a path for the famous July 7 DOJ memo concluding that Epstein did indeed kill himself, that no list of clients who paid for sex with minors exists, and that there is no “credible evidence” that he blackmailed powerful people. For the many who have followed the Epstein story, the conclusions were profoundly unbelievable. A firestorm of backlash erupted from within Trump’s most hitherto loyal base that persists to this day.
Administration’s Response to Article
The response from the Trump administration to this latest Journal story is mixed. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Todd Blanche replied with a statement on Friday saying that nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, adding that, “as part of our routine briefing, we made the President aware of the findings.” But White House Communications Director Steven Cheung disputed the article’s veracity, saying, “This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal.”
Cheung is referring to last week’s story about Trump’s alleged “bawdy” birthday notes to Epstein in 2003. Trump sued over that article, but has issued no such threat over this latest one.
Transcripts Remain Sealed
Another development in this saga is that on Wednesday a federal judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, denied a DOJ request to unseal transcripts of grand jury testimony from the Epstein investigation. The Associated Press reported:
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public.
Epstein struck a lenient non-prosecution agreement with Florida prosecutors in 2008 that resulted in an 18-month prison sentence. He served 13 months, and was allowed to leave the prison six out of seven days a week as part of a work-release arrangement. He pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and procuring a minor for prostitution. The parties agreed on the deal without consulting the victims, of which there were about 40. They were mostly underaged girls who claimed to have been raped by Epstein. The agreement, seen as grossly unjust, was criticized and pecked at in the media until a federal judge ruled in 2019 that it violated victims’ rights. In 2019, Epstein was arrested based on federal sex trafficking charges filed by the Southern District of New York. He would die in jail.
The recent news from the judge in Palm Beach was to be expected. As The New American reported last week, it was highly unlikely a judge would unseal files. The move was also quite possibly a ploy by the Trump administration to make it appear as if it’s trying to be transparent without actually having to be so.
What will be genuinely interesting is if Epstein’s living and imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, will reveal anything of consequence. DAG Blanche was scheduled to interview her Thursday. She is seeking a pardon, and former Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz has suggested that she receive immunity from further prosecution in exchange for her spilling the beans to Congress. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for several charges related to sex trafficking minors.
Epstein and Trump
Epstein and Trump knew each other for more than 15 years. Their paths likely first crossed in the late 1980s. Investigative journalists believe they met when Epstein began delving into real estate, which was Trump’s bread-and-butter business. Trump corroborated this timeline when he told a reporter working on a 2002 New York magazine article that he had known Epstein for 15 years. The two were even neighbors in Florida, and partied together in the nightlife circuit. However, they had a fallout in 2004 over a piece of real estate that Trump bested Epstein on.
The major question is not whether Trump and Epstein had ties. They did. The question is why Trump wants the Epstein saga to go away. Is it to protect himself, people close to him, the government, or a combination? Time may tell.
