| O, how the mighty are falling under the weight of the Epstein files’ revelations. Former Prince Andrew, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson have been arrested for misconduct in public office, which is apparently tied to the evidence in the files indicating that he may have shared government information with Jeffrey Epstein. Make no mistake about it: Epstein’s corruption spread well beyond grooming, sexually abusing, and assaulting girls and young women. The files repeatedly refer to “secrets” people, including Donald Trump, had with Epstein. Epstein was a genius at persuading the powerful that he was one of them and worthy of their confidential disclosures. It appears that Mountbatten-Windsor was compromised in two different ways by Epstein and you can be certain there are more men straddling this seamy world. You know, when you reach that high peak, as a master of the universe, the air is quite thin and mere mortals appear so small and inconsequential. You are rich and influential and everyone knows you have many levers to pull before you will ever pay a price. Until you don’t. | | There is one weapon against this tyrannical immunity, and that is the truth. Now that roughly half of the files have been released to the public, the list of those in trouble extends far beyond Andrew. Including figures here and abroad, twenty-four people are either newly unemployed and/or under investigation. A number are overseas, but there will be more U.S. men and women paying the price for collaborating with a known child predator despite the Deceiver in Chief and his minion, Pam Bondi. Here are the three pathways that will lead to more truth for the public, more shame to those involved, and a better world for victims of child sex abuse and the rest of us even though the federal government is currently disinclined to pursue the facts. | | Congressional Hearings | | Hillary and Bill Clinton are scheduled to be interviewed by the Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform in videotaped depositions February 27 and 28, respectively. Proving that the Epstein scandal is bigger than politics, Democrats did not come to the rescue of the Clintons, even though MAGA and the President have a history of trying to pin the evil acts in the Epstein space solely on Democrats. The files have made that premise laughable, with Stephen Bannon and Howard Lutnick’s appearances, among other Republicans, so anyone who doesn’t live in a cave without internet now knows the perpetrators in this group stretch from left to right. | | Now that we all know this wasn’t some Democrat Pizza-gate conspiracy, the Committee should just do the right thing. There is no good reason to stop at the Clintons. Predictably, Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony was a dud as she took the 5th, obviously trying to curry favor with the President as she seeks clemency. The dumbest pardon out of a lot of spectacularly stupid, unprincipled pardons would be one for Maxwell. She is a child sex abuser, and everyone knows it. Not even inmates forgive child predators. | | Then there was the predictably pathetic deposition of Victoria’s Secret owner and CEO Leslie Wexner. That poor man was duped by Epstein. Can you imagine? Yet, promising girls a modeling career was a common trope in the Epstein world, and Wexner and Epstein were friends as far back as 1986, and tied in with famous French model agent, Jean-Luc Brunel, who later committed suicide awaiting charges for drugging and raping a girl. Brunel’s modeling agency was financed by Epstein and supplied minors to both Epstein and Victoria’s Secret. Does Mr. Gullible really think we can believe that he didn’t know anything about what really happened with Epstein when he was well aware of the culture of misogyny and sexual harassment at Victoria’s Secret but did nothing to stop it? | | Here are the people who should be testifying to Congress: every survivor who says she was trafficked by Epstein to another man. That is, every survivor whose phones should be ringing off the hook with calls from the FBI and DOJ, but aren’t. If the survivors are fearful of testifying in public and the wrath of these men, which is perfectly rational, they can provide private testimony to the Committee. Every House member then has absolute immunity for whatever they say on the floor of the House under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause. They can then name them, to shame the Department of Justice into action. | | The Trump administration’s cover-up is glaringly obvious. They have not reached out to the survivors because they don’t want to hear about these other men—whether it’s Trump or some other powerful man. They don’t want to investigate, or bring charges, or, let’s face it, know any more than they already do, because it all makes Trump look even more corrupt than he normally does. Trump is enmeshed in the Epstein universe, and pretending that other men didn’t abuse these girls is part of their shtick to make everyone “move on,” something that is not going to happen as I discussed here. They can play make believe all they want; Epstein did not just abuse vulnerable girls and young women, but also treated them as favors for his allies in his sphere of corruption. Moreover, the charges against Andrew make it nearly impossible to deny financial wrongdoing, effectively anchoring the administration to the scandal. Members of Congress: do your job here. | | New Mexico Investigation | | With the federal government in see-no-evil mode, the states have full sovereignty to investigate crimes in their states, and that includes New Mexico, where Epstein took many girls for abuse at his Zorro Ranch. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York asked New Mexico to cease investigating Epstein in 2019, which is when they were charging Epstein and later convicting him. With the release of millions of files, New Mexico’s attorney general is picking up the trail again as the New Mexico House created the Epstein Truth Commission (you gotta love that name), which is intended to “follow the facts wherever they lead, carefully evaluate jurisdictional considerations, and take appropriate investigative action, including the collection and preservation of any relevant evidence that remains available.” In an interesting twist, the property was purchased several years ago by self-proclaimed “Trump Republican,” Donald Huffines, who is running in the Republican primary for the state comptroller general. The politics would not favor him joining the Trump cover-up at this point. The files indicated that Epstein may have had two girls from abroad buried there, so obviously the state will be seeking access for a full investigation. Huffines needs to hand over the keys until they are done. Moreover, I expect they will be petitioning the U.S. DOJ for access to all the files. | | The United Nations and Crimes Against Humanity | | The UN Human Rights Council has appointed a panel of experts to investigate whether Epstein and his cohorts committed crimes against humanity. The panel said that the files suggested “the existence of a global criminal enterprise” engaging in “systematic and large-scale sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation.” That is correct. Epstein traveled all over the world to obtain his victims, so this is a natural development following the greater release of information and a White House trying to squash a real investigation. | | The extraordinary element of all of this is that these are all self-inflicted wounds to the Trump administration. Shamefully, prior administrations did not investigate Epstein adequately either, but Trump made this a signature campaign issue. Trump obviously believed when he was campaigning that he could promise transparency and then release whatever he wanted, and that his people loved him so much that his lying ways would never be a problem. That was a catastrophic underestimation of the American people. | | At the same time, Trump is so self-centered that he failed to understand that he has no credibility in the sex assault universe. The juries in the E. Jean Carroll case took care of that. He also missed the fact that child sex abusers and the ones who cover up abuse—even when otherwise respected, wealthy, or powerful—are not popular with the American public. | | The Administration laid the foundation for all three of these avenues by teasing the files and then trying to hide them. Trump made the Epstein files an issue before inauguration and, if it weren’t so tragic, Bondi has comically made them an enduring story ever since she said she had the “list” on her desk a year ago. Pandora’s box is open. The cover up has failed. Bring on the inquiries and prosecutions. |
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