Epstein Files: True Scandal or Wild Conspiracy Theory? Newsweek Contributors Debate

Newsweek

3 days ago

Revelations about President Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and demands that the Justice Department release further documentation about the Epstein case, have sent shockwaves through the MAGA movement.
What should Americans make of the Trump-Epstein scandal? Are calls to "release the Epstein files" about justice for victims, or scoring political points? Should Trump release the files—or is there nothing to release? Newsweek contributors Nina Turner and Peter Roff debate:
Nina Turner:
President Trump has painted himself into a corner. He made a promise to release the Epstein Files, but he also made an appeal to Americans who want to protect children and felt anxiety over the economy. If he doesn't release the files, it'll look as though he leveraged abuse against children and people's inability to afford groceries to gain power. All Americans should be concerned about this issue, not just MAGA. We should center the victims and not politicians, including the president. This is a moral issue—are we a society that allows harm to children, simply because the abusers are potentially wealthy and powerful?
Peter Roff:
Some decades ago, a prominent political scientist penned an essay about the paranoid strain in American politics. The matter of the so-called "Epstein files" brings all his warnings to life. Through three successive campaigns, Trump exploited fears on the Right and Left that some organized externality was shaping, even directing, global events. Those chickens have come home to roost, and not in ways that are to the president's advantage. He wasn't the first to raise Epstein as a macro-political issue, but he'll have to answer for it, nonetheless. Calls for the release of the files is part of that, even though there will always be some people who believe "real proof" is still being withheld from the public.
Turner:
I agree, Peter, that Trump's chickens have come home to roost. The Jeffery Epistein scandal, however, is much bigger than President Trump and the "exploitation of fears" on the Left or Right. Usually, where there is smoke, there is fire and the stench of the burn is coming for us all. The cover-up by the elites must be exposed and justice had for the victims.
Roff:
But the Epstein business now has nothing to do with actual sex trafficking or its victims. People want to know who among the rich and powerful engaged in illicit activities because of how it's been hyped, not because of a desire for justice. Did Bill Clinton participate? Ex-senator Robert Menendez? Trump himself? It's a game of "gotcha" gone horribly off the rails because of the political implications. The victims don't matter—and never did.
Turner:
Politicians have an opportunity and obligation to respond to this scandal differently than in the past. This should not be about chasing a "gotcha" moment and political gamesmanship. The issues at stake are moral and political, but should not be partisan. There are little girls who deserve justice and the political and financial elites who victimized them must not be allowed to hide.
Photo Illustration by Newsweek/Getty
Roff:
There were too many "juicy bits" associated with the Epstein story for it not to become a partisan circus. But if Trump really had been involved, why did his opponents bother drumming up other scandals, like Russiagate? Epstein revelations alone would have done him in. Next will come allegations of a cover-up that can't be disproven. Some people don't know when to let go.
Turner:
There are three victims in this abomination—three reasons we can't just "let go": the girls and women, our justice system, and our national security. The truth must be vigorously sought with, at minimum, a full-fledged investigation. The American people should continue to make this demand. Anything less would be a betrayal and shatter the facade of being a "Christian nation" once again.
Roff:
I doubt much good would come from further investigation. Trump's call for the grand jury records to be unsealed may lead to the destruction of a few more reputations—and perhaps deservedly so. It may also provide more fodder for attention-seeking podcasters looking to fan the flames and expand their audience. If the Epstein business tells us anything, it's that reliance on citizen journalists and uncurated copy as a source for news is of dubious benefit to the democratic process.
Turner:
The callous indifference some people have about this scandal, and total dismissal of the pain of victims, is outrageous. If this were just about the solo actions of Jeffrey Epstein it would be bad enough, but this much bigger than him. There are also other powerful men involved. This situation is a cruel reminder that this country has a two-tier legal system—one for the poor and one for the ultra-wealthy. If this cover-up does not end with people in prison for their crimes against young girls and women, it is yet another reminder we have a government of, by and for billionaires and powerful deep states here and abroad. I predict President Donald Trump will continue to evade by political distraction, while pretending he is doing all he can. Parts of MAGA will splinter, but most won't pull their support for the president. Another "major" issue will come along and it will be business as usual—the pain of the powerless matters little as long as the powerful stay comfortable.
Roff:
The scandal should have died with Epstein, and probably would have if the cameras in the Manhattan jail had worked. Instead, it got a whole new life. It won't die, let alone quietly. Too many people have too much invested in it for that to happen. Trump will take some hits, but he'll also punch back at Democrats who try to keep it going with allegations he's hiding things to protect himself. The whole thing has been hyped to Hollywood proportions. As a limited-run series on streaming, it would probably do well. All the elements are there, complete with potential cliff-hanger endings for each episode. Real life, alas, is rarely as interesting. A name or two currently redacted in the already public documents might get exposed, but whoever covered things up so far has managed to keep it going. You don't need proof to say that, either.
Nina Turner is a former Ohio state senator, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at the New School, and the founder of We Are Somebody.
Newsweek Contributing Editor Peter Roff is a veteran journalist who appears regularly on U.S. and international media platforms. He can be reached at [e-mail] and followed on social media @TheRoffDraft.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.