The haphazard release of millions of documents, emails, pictures and videos as part of the Epstein files last Friday has shaken the rotten foundations of the Trump administration.
In the days since the files’ release, it has become clear to millions of people that the administration, and the ruling class as a whole, is engaged in a massive cover-up aimed at protecting not only the deeply implicated fascist in the White House but dozens, if not hundreds, of politicians, celebrities and wealthy figures who cavorted with the deceased convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In a hearing last year before the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Kash Patel emphatically stated that there was “no credible information” that Epstein trafficked women or underage girls to anybody besides himself. “There is no credible information, none,” Patel declared, adding, “If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals.”
While the files are still being sifted, what has been revealed thus far conclusively proves that many people continued to interact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction precisely because they were seeking to make use of his extensive sex trafficking network.
There are several emails in which Epstein and unnamed individuals discuss young people and children in lewd detail, while also apparently sharing photographs.
One March 19, 2018 email from a redacted sender to Epstein reads: “I found at least 3 very good young poor but we was so tired. I will cover up this week. Meet this one, not the beauty queen but we both likes her a lot.”
An email from September 22, 2016 to Epstein from “redacted” includes a .jpg image attachment and the text, “Age 10.”
Another one sent to Epstein on the same date includes another .jpg image attachment and the text, “Age 11.”
The content of a 2012 email chain between Epstein and someone identified only as “Izmo” concerns which gynecologist Epstein sent his victims to. “Izmo” asked Epstein, “Do you remember the name of the gynecologist that you used to send your victims to?”
Epstein replied, “[New York]?” To which Izmo wrote: “Yes, many years ago you used to send them to a gyno in NY who once commented something to the effect that you were keeping him in business singlehandedly.”
In another email chain, Epstein and someone named Olivier Colom compare women to aquatic animals. Epstein wrote to Colom that he was “on my island in the Caribbean, with an aquarium full of girls.”
Colom replied: “The King of Saudi Arabia has a few white sharks at his Jeddah palace. I totally prefer yours. Sure I would enjoy the view.” Epstein responded, “as two are Russia, I guess some might refer to them as white sharks.” Later, Epstein compared the “girls” to “shrimp, you throw away the head and keep the body.”
While millions of people continue to pore over the files, Trump, a longtime associate of Epstein’s, is eager to move on. Speaking in the White House on February 3, Trump said, “I think it’s really time for the country to get on to something else. Now that nothing came out about me, other than it was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people. But I think it’s time now for the country to maybe get onto something else.”
Asked by a reporter for his reaction to Peter Mandelson resigning after being exposed in the latest file release, Trump claimed he did not know about it but said it was “too bad.” He then asserted that the files only implicated Democrats. “So that takes care of Epstein as far as Trump is concerned. But you got a lot of Democrats out there that are very much involved with Epstein. But I’ll be honest with you, you got to get back to running the country too.”
Questioned by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on whether he had read the files, given that his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his largest single donor, Elon Musk, were revealed to have repeatedly pleaded to visit Epstein’s island, Trump denied having done so.
He continued, “No, I have a lot of things I’m doing, a lot of things. I don’t know, you mention two names, I’m sure they’re fine. They’re fine. Otherwise there would have been major headlines.”
Collins pressed Trump on the Justice Department’s redactions, noting that many survivors of Epstein’s abuse were unhappy that their names, photos and other private information were not redacted, while those of Epstein’s co-conspirators were. Trump cut her off, claiming he heard some were upset “that they released too much.”
Trump again called for the country to “move on to something else. Now that nothing came out about me … but I think now it’s time for the country to maybe get onto something else.”
Collins pressed further: “What would you say to people who say they haven’t gotten justice, to the survivors who say they haven’t gotten justice?”
An enraged Trump snapped, “You are the worst reporter. CNN has no ratings because of people like you. She’s a young woman. I don’t think I have ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I have ever seen a smile on your face.”
Collins replied, “Well I’m asking about survivors of Epstein,” at which point Trump cut her off: “You know why you are not smiling? Because you are not telling the truth. And you are a very dishonest organization, and they should be ashamed of you.”
In an appearance with Laura Ingraham on Fox News Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated that no charges or investigations would be forthcoming, claiming bizarrely that it was “not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”
Ingraham asked whether there was “any chance any of these individuals who partied with Epstein and engaged in relations with minors will be prosecuted. Any chance?”
Blanche replied, “Well look, I’ll never say no. And we will always investigate any evidence of misconduct, but as you know it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And it’s not a crime to email with Mr. Epstein. And some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it’s also the kind of thing that the American people need to understand, that it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. It isn’t a crime …”
Ingraham interjected, “Didn’t look like that was all that was going on in some of those photos. I mean, if the photos could speak, some of them look pretty bad.”
Blanche replied, smiling, “That’s right, and unfortunately photos can’t speak, so we need witnesses.”
In the same interview, Blanche acknowledged that “mistakes were made” when it came to redacting victims’ names and pictures but claimed the department was doing “everything to protect victims.”
The day before, in a Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Blanche downplayed any possibility of investigations stemming from the files. “There’s a lot of correspondence. There’s a lot of emails. There’s a lot of photographs. There’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him. But that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.”
In a separate interview on ABC’s This Week, Blanche said the Justice Department was finished with its review of the documents. “We reviewed over six million pieces of paper, thousands of videos, tens of thousands of images,” he said.
Blanche’s insistence that there is apparently nothing to investigate came just three days after he publicly stated, while announcing the latest release, that any “depiction of CSAM, or child pornography, was obviously excluded. Anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation and finally anything that depicts or contains images of death, physical abuse, or injury also not produced.”
In reality, Trump’s Department of Justice has released at least 40 images of nude women, possibly underage. At the same time, the files have the names and email addresses of people corresponding with Epstein about procuring children and young women for sex blacked out, along with many mentions of Trump.
It is obvious from both the character of the release and the statements of Trump and Blanche that the US government is doing everything in its power to cover up and conceal the fact that Epstein was a central intermediary within the ruling class, providing drugs, financial advice and young people to wealthy and connected politicians as part of an international cabal advancing the interests of the financial oligarchy above all else.
The ongoing cover-up underscores not only the criminal character of the entire US ruling class but also the fact that justice for Epstein’s victims will not come through the capitalist courts or appeals to the parties of big business. The only social force capable of ending the system that produced such a degenerated and criminal elite is the working class, united and imbued with a socialist program aimed at expropriating the oligarchy and redirecting the wealth of society toward human need and social enrichment.