Christmas, they say, is a time of giving and the Democrats owe Jeffrey Epstein a sackful of thank you letters for all that he’s left under the tree for them.
When it comes to compounding the political woes of President Donald Trump, Epstein, the disgraced pedophile financier, has proved to be the gift that keeps on giving. And giving and giving.
The opposition party has been struggling to land blows on their opponent. So, it helps the Democrats immeasurably that Epstein’s links with Trump is one issue which the MAGA crowd care a great deal about.
Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing. But the steady drip-drip of revelations about the pair’s dealings has long ago put to rest his repeated insistence that they barely had anything to do with each other.
The president was hardly mentioned in the previous batch of Epstein Files documents released by the Department of Justice last Friday. But he is certainly represented in the latest publication which includes thousands more.
On Monday, Trump made clear his frustration about the public airing of the materials, complaining that: ‘Everybody was friendly with this guy (Epstein).’
He insisted that most of the people shown in the files met Epstein ‘innocently,’ adding: ‘But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody.’
Despite having previously crowed about Epstein’s links with Bill Clinton, he expressed sympathy for the former President.
Trump has made clear his frustration about the public airing of the materials, complaining that: ‘Everybody was friendly with this guy (Epstein)’
When it comes to compounding the political woes of President Donald Trump, Epstein, the disgraced pedophile financier, has proved to be the gift that keeps on giving
Despite having previously crowed about Epstein’s links with Bill Clinton (pictured above with Epstein), Trump has expressed sympathy for the former President, who features in several pictures included in the most recent document dump
He said it was ‘a terrible thing’ that photos of Epstein with Clinton and other prominent people were being made public and claimed there were also a ‘tremendous backlash,’ among those who said they were being unfairly implicated.
Trump includes, of course, himself in that category. However, after spending years stirring up talk of a conspiracy, and encouraging his cronies and fellow Americans to believe that there was a huge cover-up to protect the rich and powerful who consorted with Epstein, his protestations carry little weight.
Perhaps the single most damaging email for Trump, uncovered in the latest document dump, concerns his history of flying on Epstein’s fleet of private jets. This included the financier’s capacious Boeing 727, notorious as the Lolita Express.
Its facilities included a double bed which, on many flights, was occupied by a string of young women who worked for Epstein.
It’s no surprise that attention has focused on a January 2020 email in which a federal prosecutor appeared surprised by the number of flights the president had made on those jets.
They included one in which Trump, Epstein and an unidentified 20-year-old woman were the only passengers.
The email – which was sent at a time when New York prosecutors were preparing to charge Epstein’s friend and procurer Ghislaine Maxwell – noted, ‘Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware).’
It went on: ‘In particular, he is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, including at least four flights on which Maxwell was also present.
‘He is listed as having traveled with, among others and at various times, Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and his son Eric.’
The message’s sender and recipient have been redacted. However, at the bottom of the email, it says ‘Assistant US attorney, Southern District of New York,’ with the name again redacted.
The email states: ‘On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump, and then-20-year-old’- with the person’s name redacted.
It goes on: ‘On two other flights, two of the passengers, respectively, were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.’
The email ends: ‘We’ve just finished reviewing the full records…and didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road.’
Perhaps the single most damaging email for Trump concerns his history of flying on Epstein’s fleet of private jets. This included the financier’s capacious Boeing 727, notorious as the Lolita Express (pictured)
The facilities on board the Lolita Express (pictured above) included a double bed which, on many flights, was occupied by a string of young women who worked for the disgraced financier
Officials haven’t accused Trump of any criminal wrongdoing and, in a statement on Tuesday saying it had released nearly 30,000 more pages of documents related to Epstein, the DOJ insisted: ‘Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.’
It continued: ‘To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they would have been weaponized against President Trump already.’
The DOJ didn’t specify which claims it regarded as untrue.
One that the Trump administration will be particularly happy to have seen exposed as ‘fake news’ is a hand-written letter apparently sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young gymnasts.
The letter which was postmarked, August 13, 2019, and sent from ‘J Epstein’ at ‘Manhattan Correctional’ reads: ‘Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the “short route” home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential.’
It continues: ‘Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to “grab snatch”,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.’
Epstein committed suicide on August 10 and the mention of Epstein taking the ‘short route home’ had been widely interpreted as a reference to him killing himself.
Given the widespread conspiracy theories claiming Epstein was murdered, the letter seemed potentially explosive for both that revelation and what it says about the unnamed president.
It was reportedly found by investigators in the jail mail room weeks after it was returned from a prison in Arizona and marked ‘no longer at this address.’
An investigator tells a prison official in an email included in the released documents: ‘It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?’
But, on Tuesday, the DOJ issued a statement declaring the letter a fake, saying: ‘This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within that document factual.’
On Tuesday December 23, the DOJ issued a statement declaring a so-called ‘suicide letter’ (pictured) supposedly written by Epstein and sent to disgraced US gymnastic team doctor, Larry Nassar, a fake
In fact, the FBI concluded, not only was it postmarked out of Northern Virginia three days after Epstein’s death, the handwriting does not appear to match that of the disgraced financier.
Some of the newly released documents connected to Trump give away little of their possible significance, if any.
For instance, there’s a 2021 subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, relating to the government’s investigation into Maxwell.
Trump insisted he banned Epstein from his club after the predator ‘stole people that worked for me.’ The late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most vocal accusers, said she was working at the club aged 16 or 17 when she was recruited by Maxwell to work for Epstein.
The subpoena demands ‘any and all employment records’ relating to a person whose name is redacted. It’s not clear if that person was Ms Giuffre or whether the club ultimately complied with the subpoena.
And despite the president’s earlier emphasis on ‘total transparency,’ the released documents have been heavily censored.
Often, almost everything is hidden. Take a 2021 email describing a photograph of Trump and Maxwell that had been retrieved from an iPhone 7 belonging to Steve Bannon.
The attached screenshot of the photo was redacted along with the names of the sender and recipient.
The seemingly endless Epstein saga and the president’s wildly shifting handling of it – first, promising to release the documents unredacted as an election pledge, then changing his mind – is certainly damaging to Trump politically.
Every move his administration now makes over this case risks being interpreted in the worst possible light.
When an image including a small photo of Trump found in one of Epstein’s desk drawers was removed from the DOJ website, critics immediately blamed government censorship aimed at sparing Trump embarrassment.
However, the image, which was later reinstated, had actually been removed for review after Epstein’s sex trafficking accusers claimed they were identified in it.
When an image including a small photo of Trump found in one of Epstein’s desk drawers (pictured) was removed from the DOJ website, critics immediately blamed government censorship
The image was later reinstated, with the Department of Justice stating it had actually been removed for review after Epstein’s sex trafficking accusers claimed they were identified in it
On Tuesday, Haley Robson, one of Epstein’s accusers, told CNN she, ‘would love’ to see the president impeached over the handling of the Epstein case.
Robson, who said she formerly supported Trump, told CNN’s Pamela Brown that she no longer supports him or the administration.
‘I redact any support I’ve ever given to him, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel,’ she said. ‘I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Kash Patel both need to resign, and I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this. And I’m just waiting.’
Many others are waiting, too, to see how Trump’s connection with a man he once described as a ‘terrific guy’ and ‘a lot of fun to be with’ will end for him.
Whatever happens, it’s unlikely to be ‘fun’ for anyone but his political opponents.
