How Epstein has consumed Washington, from the White House to Congress and beyond

Boston Globe

4 days ago

The Epstein case has dominated the Trump administration and Washington in a way few could have predicted, nearly six years after Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in his jail cell in 2019. Officials determined that he died by suicide, but the case has fascinated conspiracy theorists, including many in Trump's base.
Alongside all the major issues the Trump administration planned to tackle in the president's second term — a border crackdown, heavy tariffs imposed on countries across the world and the dismantling of entire government agencies — the release of the Epstein files could have been a minor matter, a small reward for some of Trump's most vocal supporters in the MAGA movement.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
But the minor matter quickly blew up into a major headache.
Advertisement
Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly overpromised and underdelivered what she would release to the MAGA faithful, who are eager to investigate the rash of theories about Epstein and his death. Among them: that Democrats had Epstein killed in jail; that he was blackmailing the rich and famous; and that he was an asset of a foreign intelligence agency, despite a lack of evidence supporting any of those claims.
Advertisement
When she released binders full of documents entitled 'The Epstein Files, Part 1,' they were widely panned as a disappointment.
There was never a 'Part 2.'
Instead, the Justice Department released an unsigned memo in July informing Trump's base that its review of the files 'revealed no incriminating 'client list.''
'There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,' the memo stated. 'We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.'
The backlash was swift, and Trump was set on his heels politically. He began lashing out at his own supporters as 'weaklings' for continuing to talk about Epstein's case and accused them of falling for a 'scam' perpetrated by Democrats.
Democrats were all too happy to get into the mix and began moves in the House to force procedural votes that would call on the Justice Department to make the information about the Epstein case public.
Speaker Mike Johnson, an ally of Trump, announced Tuesday that he was cutting short the week's legislative business and sending the House home early for the summer Wednesday to avoid having to hold votes on releasing files related to Epstein.
'We're done being lectured on transparency,' Johnson said.
The speaker's surprise move came after a whistleblower came to Congress to report about the intense review of the files undertaken by the Justice Department.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said the whistleblower informed his office that about 1,000 FBI agents had been instructed to 'flag' any records in the files that mentioned Trump.
'Essentially, agents were pulled out of their field from their work combating narcotics and violent crime to review this mountain of documents,' Durbin said. 'Other important FBI work was effectively shut down, according to the whistleblower.'
Advertisement
Epstein and Trump mingled publicly as friends for years, before a falling-out around 2004. Court records show that Trump was among those who rode on Epstein's private jet.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, has said that Trump barred Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida 'for being a creep.'
Michael Ricci, a former top communications aide to Republican Speakers Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and John Boehner of Ohio, said no one could have predicted how the Epstein story would take over Washington. But he said past speakers had attempted to use the August recess to avoid dealing with tricky issues.
'The speaker's calculus is that this gives the administration time and space,' Ricci said. 'Usually these things will just fester, and the speaker and the leadership team will be back at a similar crossroads around Labor Day.'
The Trump administration has tried to deflect attention and blame elsewhere. It asked a judge in New York to release grand jury transcripts concerning Epstein, which the judge refused to do. If the controversy doesn't go away, Trump might be forced to consider some additional steps, such as appointing a special counsel, Ricci said.
'If you can't buy trust, you buy time,' he said. 'If you're not going to follow through on disclosures, you have to buy time and promise people that you'll come back in six to eight months with something. They've just left it open-ended.'
This article originally appeared in
.