Epstein
Who was he? Is Trump implicated in his illegal activity?
There are scores of theories about what is in the Epstein files, or even if there are files.
Before discussing these theories, I want to summarize what is publicly known about Jeffrey Epstein.
This article in the October of 2002 issue of New York Magazine goes into detail about Jeff Epstein.
The following paragraphs are quotations from the above article or drawn from it.
“Who in the world is Jeffrey Epstein? It’s a life full of question marks. Epstein is said to run $15 billion for wealthy clients, yet aside from Limited founder Leslie Wexner, his client list is a closely held secret.”
Epstein is a college dropout, who taught math and physics at Dalton (a private K-12 day school) between 1973 and 1975. Evidently, he was dismissed from his job there.
“In 1976 he reported to work at Bear Stearns, where he started off as a junior assistant to a floor trader at the American Stock Exchange.” Epstein was made a partner in 1980, left the firm in 1981, and started his own firm.
“…the conditions for investing with Epstein were steep: He would take total control of the billion dollars, charge a flat fee, and assume power of attorney to do whatever he thought was necessary to advance his client’s financial cause. And he remained true to the $1 billion entry fee.”
“For more than ten years, he’s been linked to Manhattan-London society figure Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the mysteriously deceased media titan Robert Maxwell, yet he lives the life of a bachelor, logging 600 hours a year in his various planes as he scours the world for investment opportunities.”
“My belief is that Jeff maintains some sort of money-management firm, though you won’t get a straight answer from him,” says one well-known investor. “He once told me he had 300 people working for him, and I’ve also heard that he manages Rockefeller money. But one never knows. It’s like looking at the Wizard of Oz – there may be less there than meets the eye.”
Donald Trump: “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump booms from a speakerphone. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
“Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science,” Clinton says through a spokesman. “I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen service, and combating HIV/AIDS.”
“The Oxford-educated Maxwell, described by many as a man-eater (she flies her own helicopter and was recently seen dining with Clinton at Nello’s on Madison Avenue)”
“What attracted Clinton to Epstein was quite simple: He had a plane (he has a couple, in fact — the Boeing 727, in which he took Clinton to Africa, and, for shorter jaunts, a black Gulfstream, a Cessna 421, and a helicopter to ferry him from his island to St. Thomas). Clinton had organized a weeklong tour of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Mozambique to do what Clinton does. So when the president’s advance man Doug Band pitched the idea to Epstein, he said sure. As an added bonus, Kevin Spacey, a close friend of Clinton’s, and actor Chris Tucker came along for the ride.”
This is Epstein and Maxwell visiting the white house. From public records, Epstein visited the white at least three times, and maybe more.
In addition to Maxwell and Clinton, Epstein had a wide variety of “close relationships” with prominent people. Here are some examples.
- Former Democratic Senate leader George Mitchell: “He has supported some philanthropic projects of mine and organized a fund-raiser for me once. I would certainly call him a friend and a supporter.”
- Gerald Edelman won the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine: Of Epstein he’s said: “He came to see us recently. He is concerned with this basic question: Is it true that the brain is not a computer? He is very quick.”
- Stephen Kosslyn, a psychologist at Harvard: “Just two months ago, I was talking to him about a new alternative to evolutionary psychology. He got excited and sent me a check.”
- Martin Nowak, an Austrian biology and mathematics professor who heads the theoretical-biology program at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York
The New York Magazine article has several more examples of Epstein friends.
After this article, in 2005, police in Florida began investigating Epstein, after a parent reported that he had sexually abused her 14-years old daughter. Federal officials identified 36 girls who had been sexually abused.
Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a plea deal, and served almost 13 months in custody but with extensive work release.
Prince Andrew was accused of having sex with a minor who was allegedly trafficked by Epstein. The Prince was photographed with his arm around her waist, while Maxwell looked on. This case was settled out of court. Andrew was accused by at least one other under age girl, and was later officially shunned by UK royalty, and stripped of all his crown responsibilities.
Epstein was arrested again in July 2019, on charges of sex trafficking. He died in custody in August of the same year. It is worth noting this was in Trump’s first term as president.
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping Epstein to procure girls, including a 14-year-old.
So there is ample proof that Epstein was a pedophile, and that he procured under age girls for others. Given his associations with so many prominent men, it seems logical to think at least some had sex with the under age girls, and nearly certain that some had sex with older women that Epstein procured for them.
So what about the “Epstein files”. Until recently, I didn’t believe any of the conspiracy theories about Epstein.
Here are the most prevalent theories:
- Trump is in the Epstein Files.
- Trump’s friends are in the Epstein Files, and Trump is trying to defend his friends.
- Epstein was an Israeli agent, and Trump is holding onto the Epstein files to blackmail Israel.
- There are no Epstein Files.
- Trump is suddenly in the Epstein Files when he didn't used to be, and it’s impossible to determine who put him in the Epstein Files because so many FBI Agents have been handling them.
- Trump is not in the file, but he wants people to think he is so that they will get angry and focus on whether he’s a pedophile, rather than the horrid things he is doing to the USA.
- The US government got Epstein to form a network of sex trafficking children to blackmail politicians into serving the CIA’s own agenda. The list is comprised of information obtained for that purpose.
- Multiple foreign governments got Epstein to form a network of sex trafficking children to blackmail politicians into serving their own agenda.
I think #2 is laughable. Trump is famous for his lack of loyalty. Ask Elon Musk, et al. He wouldn’t defend his friends if it meant this outcry from his base.
#3 does not seem logical. The first part (Israeli agent) is more likely than Trump is trying to blackmail Israel.
#4 if there are no files, what is being handed over to Congress? Why not just say there are no files?
#5 doesn’t make sense. Trump is in control of the FBI. What would it accomplish for the perps? Integrating new material would be a non-trivial task.
#6 is absurd. No way Trump would endure all this bad publicity for this purpose. It is the other way around. He is doing things to distract from Epstein.
#7 seems unlikely. The CIA would have almost certainly had Epstein killed if he were their agent, but the US government wouldn’t have waited a month to kill him.
#8 seems more likely than #7, but it seems far fetched to me. Epstein lived a lavish lifestyle. I can’t see foreign governments being able to fund that lifestyle for an extended period of time. Epstein did all this stuff for nearly 40 years. That would mean multiple foreign leaders, and a huge outlay every year.
Trump admitted to being a close friend of Epstein for years. There are multiple pictures and videos of them together. Trump has displayed a penchant for young women himself multiple times, including creepy statements about his own daughter. There have been multiple leaks from the FBI saying they have been going through the files to find anything pertaining to Trump.
This is Trump with his daughter.
I can see no logical reason for Trump to hide the Epstein files if he weren’t in them, and they show him to be a pedophile. Sex with adult women would not be that damaging.
With the negative reaction from his base over his refusal to reveal the material, the only thing worse would be if the files were released and he was shown to be a pedophile.