The tiresome Epstein files
Trump has called on the GOP to vote for the release of all the Epstein files, and get down to touting their accomplishments and achieving more for the American people. One can conclude from this that such a release would hurt more Democrats than Republicans, something I’ve long believed anyway.
I’ve written before at some length on Epstein and the files, for example here as well as here. So I’m not going to go into the details of my position again, but I will add that the Epstein story gives people who are into wild conspiracy theories (about Israel or anything else) much fodder for their spinnings – not that any release of any files would shut them up. It wouldn’t.
But this related story is really quite something. It concerns Stacey Plaskett, a (non-voting) House member from the Virgin Islands who was receiving advisory texts during a House hearing in 2019 from none other than Jeffrey Epstein, a donor of hers (and yes, he was already a convicted sex offender). Epstein was doing the modern-day Cyrano thing via text, suggesting points for Plaskett to make as she questioned witness Michael Cohen before the House. The goal? To hurt Trump, against whom Epstein apparently had significant ire. Plaskett is a Democrat.
More:
At 2:34 p.m. (during the hearing), Epstein told [texted] Plaskett “Good work” — a minute after she finished her questioning.
The texts were released as part of roughly 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate made public Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee.
The documents redacted Plaskett’s name, but the newspaper analyzed the messages and compared them to hearing footage to report Plaskett was indeed texting Epstein.
You can’t make this up. At least, I can’t.
Why does Trump have to ask Republicans in Congress to vote to release the Epstein files? Can’t the President just order them released?
Just release all the files and get it over with. Nothing in them will change anyone’s mind and if there are any “guilty”, they’ll be “investigated” but not charged. Might stop blackmail though – if any.
Trump has previously said that releasing the whole shebang would only end up hurting innocent people. However, with the Dem’s effort to pretend Trump is somehow implicated in wrongdoing, now it needs to be done to stop the nonsense.
This was all over the TV in Europe. BBC was very actively pushing Trump “knew” and was involved. CNN Europe was doing the same.
I just wish the Rep would start putting out the ties with Clintons.
I believe the latest KKKleptocratic Party talking point is that in the interim, Trump and his DOJ Valkyrie were able to ALTER the contents of the tapes to Trump’s advantage.
(All it really means is that this is what the KKKleptocrats would have seriously considered trying to do if the shoe was on the other foot. The BBC certainly is superb—stylish, even—at altering “NEWS”, as are all the other “legacy” “News” orgs.)
In the meantime, they’re still (California) dreaming of packing the court, bankrupting the country and threatening half the citizenry with personal and financial ruin…
All this while trying to figure out novel ways of hog-tying Trump and
fortifyingstealing the next elections.(IOW, business as usual for those feral Energizer Bunnies…)
A real congress run by adults would expel Plaskett.
Somebody just paid for a 30 second “release the Epstein files” ad on Monday Night Football. If there was a ‘paid by’ notice, I didn’t catch it.
Obviously, people believe Epstein kept a list of clients and DJTs name will be right at the top. When they discover there is no such list, they will claim there is a conspiracy.
Slightly OT – A link to a thread at Ann Althouse’s place on the Harvard Crimson report that Larry Summers was texting Epstein for “dating” (really, adultery) advice!!
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2025/11/u-r-better-at-understanding-chinese.html
The TL;DR comments kinda descend down a rabbit hole of Althouse claiming a person is fantasizing about rape if they desire to have sex with someone who doesn’t reciprocate, and a whole of lot mostly but not entirely male commenters trying to politely explain there’s a spectrum there.
I considered her focus mostly a distraction from the fact that, as far as I know, nobody has come up with a recorded communication between Epstein and Trump direct (outside of the supposed “birthday card”. The recent emails were all Epstein talking about Trump), and certainly nothing that indicates a friendly relationship.
When will MTG or Massie demand the release of the Swallwell files? Surely they are interested in what he passed on to Fang Fang.
We now know Rep. Plaskett was being messaged during a live hearing.
We should now be asking “Who else was being messaged”?
I remain utterly convinced that if the US government had anything linking Trump to Epstein misbehavior, we would have seen it during the Biden presidency. I am somewhat convinced that if there was anything even mildly embarassing to Trump, we would have seen it during the Biden administration. You simply don’t stage a stunt like E. Jean Carroll or Alvin Bragg’s 34 Stormy Daniels “felonies” if you are sitting on evidence that Trump participated in a pedophile ring.
That said, Epstein is a game that Trump cannot win. He can’t prove a negative. Nothing he releases will satisfy those who want to tar him with it. And I don’t think that the left cares one bit about his threats to take down the Clintons and Larry Summers. They would probably like that!
I’m not sure that Trump’s schtick is helpful in this situation. I think his best move would be to focus on the tens of thousands of pages of documents that have already been released and insist that the matter is closed. Maybe mock his opponents for their tin foil hats.
Instead, he and his administration have tried to play the showman. From Bondi walking back her TV claim there were “Epstein files” sitting on her desk for review, to the sure-to-fail attempt to release grand jury testimony, to the utterly corrupt attempt to deflect the current salvo by having the DOJ investigate the Clintons and Larry Summers.
There’s no showman’s way out of this one. Especially after the hash that Bondi made earlier this year. This is one where the Trump team needs to just grit their teeth, keep a tight message, and deal with a few bad news cycles.
Joe Biden’s FBI, CIA, DOJ, NSA , NKVD, Gestapo…….et. al., had 4 years to release any/all dirt connecting Trump to Epstein.
If they had this dirt, they could have released any/all portions of what they had to implicate Trump and protect their demonkrat pals.
Releasing this dirt would have destroyed Trump’s pursuit of the oval office (and destroyed his life) far more effectively and faster than having 3 DA’s – at the behest of Biden’s people – pursue politically motivated criminal indictments against Trump.
Nothing was released re: Trump / Epstein by Biden’s NKVD/Gestapo.
Why?
Because there is no dirt connecting Trump to Epstein.
Seriously; are we supposed to believe this dirt exists and Biden’s people never released it??
Give me a break.
If Biden’s Gestapo / NKVD had dirt on Trump, it would have been released faster than white on snow.
Yet, I bet that a very significant percentage of voters believe Trump engaged in illicit activities with Epstein’s girls.
And they believe this because that is what the media is inferring (in line with their function as the propaganda arm of the demonkrat party).
People keep saying “the file” like that’s a thing. It isn’t.
Epstein’s”little black book” is easy to find on line. The flight logs are public. Grand jury testimony is obviously under seal, quite properly in a country where innocence is presumed. What is this “file”? People are just stringing words together without regard to reality.
JohnTyler – A significant portion of the public (including the jury pools in NY and DC) would believe just about any allegation against Trump as long as you could find a witness willing to lie about it.
Niketas Choniates – It’s a game. They know that Trump can’t prove a negative. They know that Trump made a fool of himself during the campaign by promising to release secret Epstein information. They know that Bondi has compounded Trump’s folly with the way she’s handled the matter. Even Trump’s moves this week look desperate.
They know he isn’t handling this particularly well. They’re going to keep hammering him with it until he shows that he can take the punch.
@ bauxite:
The left already took Summers out for his heresy on men vs women as professors in STEM. He made the mistake of wondering, not declaring, out loud if there were inherent differences that contributed to the unequal outcome.
As for the Clintons, I believe none of the current Dems cares about them anymore. More than a few Dems would call them Right Wingers.
martin – Agree. That’s why Trump’s threats to take them down are not going to be effective. Trump is trying to play leverage that he doesn’t actually have.
He either doesn’t know what he’s doing, or he has no better move.
Or – and maybe this is it – there are left-of-center donor types who stand to be embarrassed by Epstein material and Trump is banking on them to stay the hand of their partisans in the Democratic Party.
(Recall that I do not believe that Trump was involved with anything illegal or embarrassing w/r/t/ Epstein.)
I demand that the government release the blueprints for Grover Cleveland’s time machine. The coverup needs to end. What are they trying to hide?
I also want to see the government’s files on Barak Obama’s illegal pet narwhal. The public has a right to know.
Stacey Plaskett and Kathryn Ruemmler seem like several of the losers in this. So far the released emails make Trump look better and are looking bad for various Democrats.
Nick forgot to demand the release of the Unicorn petting zoo videos.
Image the horror, Unicorns, highly intelligent sentient beings, held in captivity and subjected to unwanted affection of strangers.
I go along with Niketas Choniates,
I [also] want to see the blueprints of G. Cleveland’s time machine! The government has them, I know it! We know it!
I also want to see all the files that the govt. has about Trump, and I also want to hear all about:
how Congress has gone to [the past], using Cleveland’s time machine, and has found antique files, and antique photos, of- President TEDDY ROOSEVELT having gay, nightly, gay men’s, wild…dinner parties, while T. Roosevelt wore a big…Hawaiian dress, and a big green, grass skirt!
I know that these Teddy files exist! People have told me rumors about them!
And I know, at his wild parties in the woods, Teddy said things like: “Nothing makes my government run better than you happy, wild gay men! You are the BEST! We’re all “gay for the stay”, while we work in the federal government! This is the life! This is the best!”
It happened! People in congress heard rumors that it happened, so we all know that it’s true!
People tell me, that they heard rumors that Teddy Roosevelt had these wild, gay men’s parties. Rumors say that Teddy did these things, so we know that it’s true!
Release those Teddy Roosevelt files, Congress!
We know that you won’t hide anything from us.
(The above comment, that I made, is a satire, unless I wasn’t being totally clear about that. Have a good day. Cheers. )
Niketas,
Lolololololololo!