That's a Lot of Smoke

And we’re going to find the fire

The question about whether Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators were monsters has been asked and answered. Of course they’re monsters. But one question has not been—are there other monsters out there who are also his co-conspirators? Are we to believe that Ghislaine Maxwell truly is the only one? And if there are others, what does accountability look like?

The Justice Department’s newly released files—3 million documents out of an alleged 6 million, with a possibility there are many more than that—are causing upheaval throughout the worlds of politics, business, and academia. In countries outside the United States, governments are opening investigations, demanding in some cases that officials step down not only if they were actively involved with Jeffrey Epstein socially or financially, separate and apart from his crimes, after his 2008 conviction for raping a teenager, but even if they associated with somebody who associated with Jeffrey Epstein. That’s how seriously other countries are taking this horrific scandal. None of that is happening in the United States of America.

In fact, the Republican Party is falling all over itself to continue to cover for the one person in all of this who has been acting guiltier than anybody else involved since the release of the files became an issue. That would be Donald, of course. I’m not saying he is guilty; I have no insider knowledge into it. But there is no disputing that everything he’s done to suppress the Epstein files has been the actions of a guilty man.

We also know that, up until last Thursday, we were told Donald was mentioned in the Epstein files 38,000 times. Representative Jamie Raskin, (D-MD) informed us, however, that after that tranche of 3 million documents was released, Donald’s name came up over a million times.

We are currently in a situation in which the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, are actively engaged in a cover-up so vast it could implicate not just Donald, but over ten people he’s appointed to positions in his regime. These officials include those who continued to communicate with Epstein after he was convicted in 2008 of raping a seventeen-year-old girl:

• Mehmet Oz, Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

• Stephen Feinberg, Deputy Defense Secretary

• John Phelan, Secretary of the Navy

• Kevin Warsh, Fed nominee

• Elon Musk, Former Head of DOGE

• Steve Bannon, Former White House Chief Strategist

• Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce who visited Epstein’s private island with his wife and children in 2012.

(Besides Donald, Lutnick is thus far, the most senior administration implicated. Members of Congress are calling for his resignation. But Donald considers him a friend, so Lutnick will neither resign nor be fired. Donald likes to surround himself people as corrupt and tainted as he is, after all.)

Also, Alex Acosta, Donald’s Secretary of Labor during his first administration, brokered the deal that allowed Epstein to continue to rape and sex traffic teenage girls and young women when he was with the DOJ.

Whether this is an exhaustive list remains to be seen, but given how much material the DOJ is withholding, that seems unlikely.

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Todd Blanche is actively refusing, on the one hand, to identify the predators—those who might be co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein’s; and, on the other, to protect the victims. He and Bondi have no interest in doing either one of those things. They do, however, continue to pursue Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Here’s a question: Is appearing in the Epstein files proof of wrongdoing? Or let’s put it another way: Is it enough to appear in the Epstein files to be tainted by them?

Hillary is mentioned only in passing and claims never to have met Epstein. While Bill’s mentions are more substantive, he has denied all misconduct. If it can be proven that he’s done anything criminal in conjunction with Epstein, that’s a different conversation. What we know is that one of the ways in which Jeffrey Epstein became so connected to the rich and powerful is that he used his money, in the form of donations to institutions of higher learning and foundations, like the Clinton Foundation, to buy influence and respectability. Epstein, in other words, put himself in a position to be courted in order to get donations, which further enhanced his credibility among the monied classes.

If somebody is in the files having contact with Epstein before his 2006 indictment for business reasons, that should be the end of the conversation unless and until something else comes to light.

But right now, the DOJ has direct knowledge of people whose connections with Epstein, while not necessarily criminal, are disqualifying. Because the DOJ is a wholly owned entity of Donald Trump in service to doing his bidding, though, our hands are tied, at least for the time being.

Hopefully, we will have an opportunity in the not-too-distant future to rectify the situation. When we get to that point, here’s a quick rule of thumb: Anybody who continued to socialize with, or befriend, Epstein after his 2008 conviction involving a girl—knowing what he did and what he continued to get away with—should lose everything. They should lose their fortune; they should lose their reputation; they should be shunned.

Then, of course, if they are found to be criminally liable, regardless of political party or ideology or standing in the world, there must be indictments and trials. If such people are found guilty—lock them up and throw away the key.