Trump cannot dispel the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein
It is likely that there is hardly anyone living who knows exactly under what glowing lights Donald Trump met Jeffrey Epstein, except perhaps Trump himself and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who is serving a 20-year prison term for helping to procure minors for sexual abuse. Trump said in an interview in 2002, when his Epstein relationship was still tight, that it had been a 15-year mutual admiration society. Epstein was 'a terrific guy' and 'a lot of fun to be with,' and 'likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side'. Epstein described himself as 'Donald's closest friend for 10 years'.
The 1990s and early 2000s were the heyday of the Trump-Epstein romp. Roger Stone, Trump's dirty trickster who was dumped from the 1994 Bob Dole presidential campaign when he and his wife were exposed apparently advertising for threesomes, was a hanger-on in the Palm Beach demimonde. 'There's 100 beautiful women and 10 guys. Look, how cool are we?' he told the Washington Post in 2016. 'I was happy to be invited. I mean, it was great.'
The Trump biographer Michael Wolff told me on my podcast The Court of History how Epstein opened his safe in his New York townhouse for him to retrieve a pile of about a dozen photographs of Trump at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion. 'They were kind of spread out like playing cards,' Wolff said. 'And it was Trump – with girls of uncertain age. In two of them, topless girls are sitting on Trump's lap. In another, he has a visible stain on his pants while several girls are laughing and pointing at it.' Wolff said: 'I think it's certainly not unlikely that they were in the safe when the FBI came in after his arrest and took everything.'
Wolff initially mentioned his taped conversations with Epstein about his relationship with Trump in the Daily Beast, in which Wolff made a glancing reference to this incident, and in the Yale Review in November 2024. In response to Wolff's latest book on Trump, All or Nothing, on the 2024 campaign, the White House stated Wolff had a 'peanut-sized brain'. In June of this year, after Wolff claimed Trump held a 'grudge' against Harvard because he had applied to be a student and was rejected, Trump posted it was 'False', and that Wolff is 'a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News'.
The White House issued a statement that Trump 'didn't need to apply to an overrated, corrupt institution like Harvard'.
Since 10 August 2019, when Epstein's body was found in his cell with an orange sheet wrapped around his neck at the New York Metropolitan correction center under suspicious circumstances, declared a suicide by Attorney General William Barr, he has been raised into a phantasmagorical presence that will not vanish. Epstein has become the Ark of the Covenant in the cosmology of rightwing conspiracies. When its doors are opened it will supposedly reveal the ultimate secrets of deep state pedophiles. A poll in 2021 found that about a quarter of Republicans believed that 'the government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation'.
The road from Pizzagate, the QAnon predecessor conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats held child sex slaves in the basement of the Comet Ping Pong Washington pizza parlor, to January 6 was a straight line. Half of Republicans believed that 'leaked email from some of Hillary Clinton's campaign staffers contained code words for pedophilia, human trafficking and satanic ritual abuse – what some people refer to as 'Pizzagate'' was true or probably true, according to a December 2016 Economist/YouGov poll.
Trump gave credence to the QAnon pedophile theory in October 2020, when he was asked about it at an NBC News town hall. 'Let me ask you about QAnon,' said Savannah Guthrie. 'It is this theory that Democrats are a satanic pedophile ring and that you are the savior of that.' After replying seven times that he didn't know about it, Trump said: 'Let me just tell you, what I do hear about it, is they are very strongly against pedophilia. And I agree with that. I mean, I do agree with that. And I agree with it very strongly.'
A few months later, many in the mob assaulting the Capitol were QAnon believers, though the percentage could not be tabulated. A group of social scientists found that belief in QAnon theories correlated directly with 'support for the January 6 insurrection'. More than a third of Republicans believed that the FBI (ie the Deep State) 'instigated' the January 6 assault, according to a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll.
For decades Trump has cultivated paranoid conspiracy theories to foster a cult around himself. His method existed long before Rush Limbaugh loudly burst into talk radio, but Trump inflames paranoia hour by hour to make himself unavoidable. When Trump makes an accusation it's news – Joe McCarthy's technique. The ever-shifting series of conspiracy claims from birtherism onward have been monetized into a reliable cash cow by rightwing media. Bottom-feeding serves the bottom line. Every newly invented plot keeps the machine whirring. Maga is constantly tantalized, addicted and perpetuated.
The uses of Trump's conspiracism are complex, from the profane to the holy. The demonology has elevated Trump into a savior of the Magatariat from the globalist elites and fiendish pedophiles. No greater evil can be projected. It's more than a theory; it's a theology. Epstein wraps it all up, explains all, proves all – Pizzagate meets the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Lyndon Johnson had his credibility gap with the Vietnam war. Richard Nixon had his 18-minute gap in his White House tapes. Trump now is bedeviled by his conspiracy theory gap.
All the president's men – and women – have stoked the Epstein plot. Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, demanded in 2023: 'What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?' He urged listeners to his talk show 'not let that story go' and blamed 'people in the Washington swamp who are not telling you the truth'. Kash Patel, the FBI director, repeatedly claimed in 2023 that the Biden administration and Democrats in the Congress were withholding documents about Epstein 'because of who's on that list'.
On 27 February, Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed 15 Maga influencers to a press event where she handed out binders labeled 'Epstein Files: Phase 1', which contained no new information. Anger simmered. On 14 March, Bondi stated on Fox News that the Epstein 'client list' was 'sitting on my desk right now to review', raising the expectation among the Maga believers that such a 'client list' existed and that powerful Democrats would be revealed. The 'client list' allegedly contained the names of Democrats for whom Epstein trafficked girls and then blackmailed.
On 5 June, Elon Musk, accelerating his orbit away from Trump's gravitation, posted: 'Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' Musk then deleted his post.
But, on 6 July, the Department of Justice issued an unsigned statement that there was 'no incriminating 'client list'', 'no credible evidence … that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals', and that 'no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted'.
Bondi's insistence that Epstein kept no 'client list' of people he supposedly blackmailed may well be true. . But Bondi debunked a falsehood that had become an article of faith for Maga believers. It was bait for the base.
The Maga world erupted. 'Please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away,' Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, posted. 'THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment.' Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, for example, posted: 'GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!' Tucker Carlson called it a 'cover-up' of Epstein as a secret agent for Israeli intelligence. 'Why was he doing this, on whose behalf, and where was the money coming from?'
Steve Bannon roused the rightwing cadres at the Turning Point USA convention on 13 July. 'Epstein,' he said, 'is a key that picks the lock on so many things, not just individuals, but also institutions, intelligence institutions, foreign governments and who was working with him on our intelligence apparatus and in our government.'
Trump's grooming of his followers cannot be undone. Decades of propaganda have become gospel truth. The Maga base and Republicans generally have not cared about Trump's sexual abuse of women. After the two E Jean Carroll trials in which Trump was found liable for defaming her by claiming she was lying about his sexual assault, the hush-money payments to silence Stormy Daniels for her sexual relationship with him, and numerous credible reports of dozens of women who have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by Trump, a poll in the fall of 2024 conducted by a conservative thinktank, the American Enterprise Institute, showed that only 5% of Trump voters 'believe he did commit sexual assault'.
E Jean Carroll told me that a number of women have come to her to relate similar assaults, but do not want to become public figures out of fear of retribution. For Maga, and Republicans, if there is any distinction, these stories are unworthy of attention. They sanitize and dismiss such predations, while claims of child molestation incite them. Justifying a sexual libertine like Trump, they have held him up as a white knight avenger against pedophiles, remade him into a purifying figure, the defender of the innocent.
Since Bondi issued her statement that the Epstein 'client list' did not exist, Trump's attempts to stamp out the flames have become more frenetic. He went from urging his supporters to move on to telling them to get lost.
His first remark was to chide a reporter who asked about it: 'I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we're having some of the greatest success, and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.'
Trump got more frustrated. 'For years, it's Epstein, over and over again,' Trump posted on Truth Social, blaming the files on Democrats. 'Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden administration.' It was 'all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein'.
Trump tried to rally his base. 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals'?' Trump posted. 'They are all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!'
Trump reportedly phoned Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA, which had served as a forum for criticism of his handling of the Epstein affair, to quiet him. The glib talkshow host announced: 'I'm done talking about Epstein for the time being.' As promised, Kirk shut up, but the Maga chorus kept chirping.
Enraged, Trump posted on 16 July that the 'new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker … Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats' work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' At a bilateral meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, Trump lashed out at 'stupid Republicans'.
Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, invariably a loyal soldier, but who felt forced to respond to the disturbance of the base, called for an investigation. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, asked that Ghislaine Maxwell appear as a witness. Do they think an inquiry would not come to focus on the evidence perhaps in the FBI's possession of Trump's gamey relationship with Epstein, rather than the mythical 'client list'?
Under the stress of the Epstein controversy that will not disappear at Trump's command, the unpopularity of his One Big Beautiful Bill, the public's rejection of his brutal deportation methods, and the weakening of the economy as a result of his mad tariffs, Trump is becoming more unhinged, speaking openly of firing the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who, unlike Epstein, is a live target. Crashing the economy might serve as a temporary distraction. Then, in a fit of retributive pique, his administration fired James Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey, a prosecutor in the office of the southern district of New York, who had handled the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases.
Trump lost more control. Facing backlash, he asked Bondi to seek to release Epstein grand jury material, which almost certainly contained no reference to him and was a substitute for the full files, throwing oil on the fire. Trump pressured the Wall Street Journal and its owner Rupert Murdoch not to publish a letter he wrote in honor of Epstein's 50th birthday. The Journal reported: 'It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.'' On Friday, Trump sued the Journal and Murdoch.
The ghost of Epstein haunts Trump. He cannot dispel his spirit. 'Not a fan, not a fan,' he muttered in the past, trying to distance himself. But Epstein continues to swoop in – 'a guy who never dies'. Until evidence of Trump's participation in Epstein's transgressions is either established or discredited, including the photographs that Michael Wolff claimed Epstein showed him, Epstein will never die.
If Epstein were to appear to Trump at night as an apparition, his Marley's ghost, he might warn him that there is no happy ending.
Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist and co-host of The Court of History podcast
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The Latest: Trump deflects questions about Epstein files and revives old grievances
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Desperation is mounting in the territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and ongoing 21-month offensive. Gaza's Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and chaos and violence around aid deliveries. Israel is allowing just a trickle of aid in through the longstanding U.N.-run system and the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, an American contractor. A GHF statement rejected 'false and exaggerated statistics,' and blamed U.N. aid convoys for the deadliest incidents. ▶ Read more on the deaths linked to food aid distribution in Gaza House members to see increase in funds for private security Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries informed members Tuesday morning that they would see an increase in funds that could be used for private security. The 'pilot program' will run through the end of September, said Johnson, and comes as members head back to their districts for August. 'We live in an enhanced threat environment,' said Johnson, adding that 'we have to protect members' security and everybody who works here on the Hill.' At the end of September, Johnson said that leadership will 'evaluate all the data points, see how effective it was that was utilized, and then make decisions going forward.' Hunter Biden isn't hiding his feelings about George Clooney Former President Joe Biden's son used a string of expletives to describe the actor and Democratic Party donor's decision to call on the elder Biden to abandon his 2024 reelection bid. Clooney made his feelings known in an influential opinion piece in The New York Times. Biden left the race a few weeks later and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump. In a rare online interview, Hunter Biden questioned why anyone should listen to Clooney. He told Andrew Gallagher of Channel 5 that the 'Ocean's Eleven' actor had no right to 'undermine' his father. Trump's Labor Department wants to deregulate workplaces The U.S. Department of Labor is aiming to rewrite or repeal more than 60 'obsolete' workplace regulations. Critics say the proposals would put workers — women and minorities in particular — at greater risk of harm. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the goal is to deliver on Trump's commitment to restore American prosperity by reducing costly, burdensome rules. The proposed changes have public comment periods and other hurdles before they would take effect. They include: 1. eliminating minimum wages and overtime pay for home health care workers and people with disabilities 2. removing protections against retaliation for migrant farmworkers who file a complaint or testify in official proceedings 3. lowering standards governing exposure to harmful substances 4. dropping certain safety requirements at constructions sites and in mines 5. preventing Occupational Health and Safety Administration from punishing employers for certain unsafe working conditions 'People are at very great risk of dying on the job already,' said Rebecca Reindel of the AFL-CIO. 'This is something that is only going to make the problem worse.' ▶ Read more about Labor's proposed rule changes Ghislaine Maxwell lawyer says she'll tell the truth to Trump administration lawyers 'I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case,' says Tuesday's statement from attorney David Oscar Markus. Maxwell was convicted of helping her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. If she 'has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a post on X, adding that Trump 'has told us to release all credible evidence.' The overture to Maxwell, who in 2022 was sentenced to 20 years in prison, comes as the Justice Department tries to cast itself as transparent amid backlash from Trump's base over an earlier refusal to release additional Epstein investigation records. ▶ Read more about the Epstein investigation files Planned Parenthood wins partial victory amid Medicaid cuts A partial victory for Planned Parenthood in its legal challenge of Trump's efforts to defund the organization will keep Medicaid funding available to member organizations that don't provide abortion care or don't seek at least $800,000 annually in reimbursements. A Planned Parenthood statement praised Monday night's preliminary injunction but predicts 'chaos, confusion, and harm for patients who could now be turned away when seeking lifesaving reproductive health care' at other clinics. Government lawyers said Trump's tax and budget law 'stops federal subsidies for Big Abortion.' 'All three democratically elected components of the Federal Government collaborated to enact that provision consistent with their electoral mandates from the American people as to how they want their hard-earned taxpayer dollars spent,' they wrote.
Reuters
7 minutes ago
- Reuters
Judges reject Trump's pick for top New Jersey federal prosecutor, DOJ removes successor
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department accused a panel of New Jersey federal court judges of political motives for declining to permanently appoint President Donald Trump's former lawyer Alina Habba as the state's top federal prosecutor. The judges on the U.S. District Court in New Jersey named Desiree Grace, the second highest-ranking official in the U.S. attorney's office, to replace Habba on Tuesday. Hours later Attorney General Pam Bondi said Grace also had been removed. "This Department of Justice does not tolerate rogue judges — especially when they threaten the President's core Article II powers," Bondi wrote in a post on X, referring to Trump's authority under the U.S. Constitution. Federal law allows district courts to intervene if an interim U.S. attorney has not received Senate approval within 120 days. Habba has been serving as New Jersey's interim U.S. attorney since her appointment by Trump in March, but was limited by law to 120 days in office unless the court agreed to keep her in place. The U.S. Senate has not yet acted on her formal nomination to the role, submitted by Trump this month. Habba and Grace could not be immediately reached for comment. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said in a statement on X that the U.S. District Court in New Jersey was trying to "force" Habba out of her job before her term expires at 11:59 p.m. on Friday. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York last week declined to keep Trump's U.S. attorney pick John Sarcone in place after his 120-day term neared expiration. Sarcone managed to stay in the office after the Justice Department found a workaround by naming him as "special attorney to the attorney general," according to the New York Times. The Justice Department cannot make a similar arrangement for Habba, however, because federal law prohibits the government from appointing someone to serve in an acting capacity if the individual was already nominated by the president to serve in that role. Habba's brief tenure as New Jersey's interim U.S. attorney included the filing of multiple legal actions against Democratic elected officials. Her office brought criminal charges against Democratic U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver, as she and other members of Congress and Newark's Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, tried to visit an immigration detention center. The scene grew chaotic after immigration agents tried to arrest Baraka for trespassing, and McIver's elbows appeared to make brief contact with an immigration officer. Habba's office charged McIver with two counts of assaulting and impeding a law enforcement officer. McIver has pleaded not guilty. Habba's office did not follow Justice Department rules which require prosecutors to seek permission from the Public Integrity Section before bringing criminal charges against a member of Congress for conduct related to their official duties. Habba's office also charged Baraka, but later dropped the case, prompting a federal magistrate judge to criticize her office for its handling of the matter. Until March, Habba had never worked as a prosecutor. She represented Trump in a variety of civil litigation, including a trial in which a jury found Trump liable for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s in a department store dressing room. In 2023, a federal judge in Florida sanctioned Trump and Habba and ordered them to pay $1 million for filing a frivolous lawsuit which alleged that Hillary Clinton and others conspired to damage Trump's reputation in the investigation into Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Obama fires off spectacular comeback after Trump's threat to criminally prosecute him over Russia hoax
Former President Barack Obama tore into Donald Trump in a rare and blistering statement after the president dramatically accused him of 'treason' and said the Justice Department should probe his rival over the Russia 'hoax.' 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one, said Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesman for Obama's office. 'These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,' he added. The former president's spokesman then turned to the report of Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who alleged that the Obama administration 'manufactured and politicized intelligence' against Trump. 'Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.' That last lined needled Trump's secretary of state and national security advisor, who was seated next to the president during his extended discourse on Obama and his team. Trump and Obama have a fraught relationship, although they were spotted chatting in what appeared to be amiable fashion at Jimmy Carter's funeral in January. Trump rode 'birther' conspiracies about Obama to influence in his first successful run for president. And Obama's roasting of Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011 still looms large in Trump's inspiration to finally pursue the White House. The pushback from Obama's team came after Trump issued an extraordinary call Tuesday to investigate the former president – saying he had been caught 'cold' and accusing his predecessor of 'treason.' Trump issued his stunning series of attacks on the two-term Democratic president shortly after being asked yet another question about Jeffrey Epstein – a matter that is itself so explosive that House Republican leaders sent members home on recess, thereby avoiding a difficult vote on the issue. Trump attempted to turn the tables, referring repeatedly to a new report released by his Director of National Intelligence that accused Obama of being behind a 'treasonous conspiracy' to fabricate what Trump repeatedly calls the Russia 'hoax' to bring him down. Intel chief Tulsi Gabbard made a series of criminal referrals to Pam Bondi's Justice Department and the agency is reportedly considering the request. 'After what they did to me, whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people,' Trump said while seated next to Philippine President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos, Jr. in the Oval Office. Trump was asked who the Justice Department should investigate following the report's release for a potential criminal referral. He didn't hesitate to name Obama and top members of his security team. 'It would be President Obama – who started it – and Biden was there with him, and [James] Comey was there, and [James] Clapper, the whole group was there,' Trump responded. At another point, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi should 'act' on the matter – while also indicating it was at her discretion. 'We have a very competent, very good, very loyal to our country person in Pam Bondi – very respected. And she – it's going to be her decision,' Trump said. Trump repeated calls to prosecute a wide circle of former Democratic officials come after he posted AI-generated video images of Obama being arrested and thrown in jail wearing an orange jumpsuit. Trump accused his rivals of organizing a failed 'coup' in 2016, when he defeated Hillary Clinton and captured the White House. Trump faced four criminal trials during his last campaign, with the January 6 case, his Florida classified documents case, and his New York 'hush money' case all vanishing after he won the election and captured the White House. A New York jury convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but it proved to be a rallying cry for his base and part of his campaign message that nefarious forces would do anything to try and halt his comeback. The president fingered Obama for trying to 'head a coup' with acolytes like former FBI Director James Comey and former DNI Director James Clapper doing his dirty work. Trump also called the Steele report, which examined his campaign's ties to Russia, as 'all lies' and a 'fabrication.' The Mueller Report found that while Russia did interfere in the 2016 election, the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government, despite at least 140 contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian nationals. Trump has hammered his rivals for what he calls 'no collusion' ever since, even though Mueller himself never used that term. During his extended answer, Trump referred to the first black president as 'the leader of the gang,' and called Clinton 'as crooked as a three-dollar bill.' His comments come six months into Trump's second term, following a campaign where he both vowed 'retribution' but also said he would allow law enforcement officials to make their own decisions on who to charge.
