General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Epstein "scandal" could be larger than either side might think it is?
It could include well-known businessmen, billionaires, Congressmen and Senators, and names from both Parties that might surprise everyone? It is possible that neither political Party wants the "files" to be made public?
We just do not know.
If that is the case, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to take the lid off.
Why didn't Joe Biden make the files public? What would have been his reasoning?
And Trump? Why won't he make the files public?
Of course, Biden never made a big deal about it, as Trump and his MAGA supporters did. Perhaps it was not such an important issue for the Biden Administration?
Should the next Democratic nominee for President promise to open all the files, regardless of whose name might pop up?
Neither side thinks their side is the most guilty of a cover-up.

sop
(15,158 posts)
Bernardo de La Paz
(57,020 posts)kentuck
(114,374 posts)It looks like the cover-up of the century.
electric_blue68
(22,337 posts)Traildogbob
(11,482 posts)Girls was his Viet Nam. How many did he get pregnant and would he even fork out a dime to pay for abortion. No, he would just threaten their lives if they came forward.
Beachnutt
(8,803 posts)daily trying to convince her to lie and say he was just a good friend and he will get her released from prison.
bucolic_frolic
(51,383 posts)is probably good enough.
Response to kentuck (Original post)
Beachnutt This message was self-deleted by its author.
bucolic_frolic
(51,383 posts)The scope may not be limited to what is known already. The motives, even financial ones, remain unproven and unclear. There may be many innocent people connected only by an airplane ride. Wealth protects wealth, many would prefer to look the other way.
kentuck
(114,374 posts)Wealth protects wealth, but wealth can also corrupt and pervert people that believe their wealth will protect them from everything.
RedWhiteBlueIsRacist
(838 posts)Gore1FL
(22,547 posts)I would prefer if all of the rapists are exposed for what they are regardless of political affiliation.
johnnyfins
(2,381 posts)Maru Kitteh
(30,368 posts)Anybody who only cares about the abuse of women when the abuser is politically expedient to them is NOT on the side of human rights, equality or dignity.
Anyone who believes that people couldnt possibly be an abuser based only on a letter behind their name is deliberately simple, a liar, a fool or some combination thereof.
May all who are proven guilty receive what they deserve.
hamsterjill
(16,098 posts)If they are on our side, they don't deserve to be. They need to be outed and dealt with. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
johnnyfins
(2,381 posts)What if TSF has been using "the list" and/ or the files to blackmail half of DC.? Would explain a lot of the blind worship of him by repubs. He put Alex Acosta on his first term cabinet. That guy knew those case files inside and out.
Any SCOTUS justices ever around Epstein?
kentuck
(114,374 posts)A lot of people are giving him millions of dollars for seemingly no reasons?
ThreeNoSeep
(222 posts)Everyone knows the POS is in those records in places. We've all seen the photographs of the two of them standing together, rich chums. That's not the reason "they" keep this under wraps. There are names and family shames that could become public, and those names probably cross party lines, and only a fool wouldn't realize those names are connected to money and power.
This should be a sneery hypothesis, a fringe conspiracy theory. It should be easy to disprove.
I wonder if an organized bandit, whose name sounds a lot like a Canadian dish of French fries, cheddar cheese and cream gravy, has been blackmailing people in power for years, decades or more, using the information Epstein created and recorded. They may have preyed on other families of power. This blackmailer is playing a long game. The unnecessary chaos we are currently experiencing has roots that stretch back to the 1980s and before,. That bandit seems to have had something over so many people for a while.
johnnyfins
(2,381 posts)Maru Kitteh
(30,368 posts)AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)Last edited Mon Jul 14, 2025, 11:36 PM - Edit history (1)
and I think it's the files that are the issue, not any specific "list"; however, I believe that there is a much deeper scandal to uncover involving Russian meddling and I suspect that Trump was working with Epstein to develop "kompromat" on others, giving him the mysterious power he seems to now have over Republicans and other elites. Sure, it may be scandalous to show that Trump had relations with underage girls, but the much bigger scandal is that Trump benefitted from this deep operation giving Trump, and probably Putin as well, vast political leverage.
kentuck
(114,374 posts)...way back during Trump's first term? Did we ever figure out why they went or what was their explanation?
AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/seven-gop-lawmakers-make-misguided-trip-russia-msna1119676
Wiz Imp
(5,968 posts)Trump & Epstein's falling out occurred I believe back in 2004. I'm pretty sure Trump wasn't seriously thinking about being President back that long ago. There's no evidence of any contact between the two since Epstein was first arrested.
AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)https://theweek.com/articles/637675/donald-trumps-decadeslong-obsession-being-president
Also, Trump had learned directly from his mentor Roy Cohn about the value of "kompromat".
Wiz Imp
(5,968 posts)Besides, you didn't answer my question? Where's your evidence of "the fact that Trump was working with Epstein to develop "kompromat""? Not speculation. You say it is a fact so where is the irrefutable evidence?
AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)Edited my post to say "I suspect" which was my correct wording in other posts, happy?
Also, why so defensive of Donald Trump?
Wiz Imp
(5,968 posts)This place is supposed to be a "reality based community". There's more than enough documented terrible offenses by Trump, that there is no need to invent additional offenses for which there is no evidence. When I see something alleged as fact that I wasn't aware of, I will research it to confirm it's true. If I can't find evidence confirming the claim, I'll call it out. If it's presented as a speculative opinion, then I'll let it go.
AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)and if you care to read through the lengthy article I linked to in that post, you may find plenty of "reality based" material regarding:
...
In the US, the FBI has covered-up for an intelligence agency for whom Epstein and Maxwell ran honey traps. Their victims should brace themselves for another round of betrayal by the FBI which has acted deplorably thus far. Ghislaine Maxwell may be thrown to the wolves but the intelligence agencies involved in the scandal will escape justice."
Also, the real issue I believe, and supported by other evidence, is the involvement of Russian funding and meddling, both in Ghislaine Maxwell's father's activities, and later Epstein's which Google AI seems to break down pretty well:
Meetings with Russian diplomats: Epstein scheduled meetings with Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, and his son Max Churkin, a New York business student who later worked at Russia's largest bank, Sberbank.
Financial dealings and ignored red flags: Deutsche Bank faced a $150 million fine for ignoring warning signs while processing billions of euros from Russia and other former Soviet states. Additionally, payments to a Russian model and a Russian publicity agent from Epstein's accounts were not scrutinized, as a compliance monitor dismissed them as "normal for this client". These payments may have been used to further or cover up criminal activity.
Russian state media focus on Epstein: Russian government-funded media, including RT and Sputnik, dedicated significant coverage to the Epstein scandal after his arrest and suicide. They focused on narratives criticizing Western media, casting doubt on official explanations, and portraying Epstein as a symbol of Western moral decline, according to the Alliance For Securing Democracy. This extensive coverage of the Epstein case, despite limited direct Russian interests, highlights the Kremlin's strategy to discredit the West.
Book exploring Epstein's connections to the Russian underworld: Publisher Dutton announced a new book by journalist Craig Unger that explores Jeffrey Epstein's ties to the Russian underworld and Russian connections to powerful politicians and financiers.
and here are some of the claims made in Craig Unger's book, "American Kompromat":
How Epstein had ties to Russia through sex-trafficking. Epstein partnered with Jean-Luc Brunel, head of MC2 modeling agency and a major sex trafficker, who, in turn, had worked with Peter Listerman, the celebrated procurer, or matchmaker as he prefers, for Russian oligarchs.
How John Mark Dougan, a former deputy sheriff in Mar-a-Lagos Palm Beach County, says he acquired 478 videos confiscated from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, fled to Moscow, became only the fourth American to win asylum in Russia, and immediately gained access to Putins inner circle, showing the ongoing power that comes from kompromat and how its value is highest before it is used.
electric_blue68
(22,337 posts)important salient point.
KentuckyWoman
(7,113 posts)Those children deserve justice. Period. This should not even be a conversation.
EllieBC
(3,508 posts)Doesnt matter what political affiliation they are. Pedophiles should be exposed and jailed.
And of course there are politicians and celebs and whatnot from both sides. You think there arent these fucking perverts in our tent? Of course there are. They are everywhere.
Expose them and jail them for as long as possible. Far away from any creature comforts as well.
kentuck
(114,374 posts)And one might wonder how much political contributions they get from the billionaires on the "list" or in the "files".
Amishman
(5,893 posts)We'll never get the full story and all the names.
My guess is some politicians on both sides of the aisle, but also quite a few megadonors and connected powerful individuals in other countries.
The system is rotten.
leftyladyfrommo
(19,875 posts)to protect themselves. One person I read who knew the playboy Trump said he was an animal. There's some pretty serious stuff there.
Maybe they were into Snuff films. Or something really wacko like that.
B.See
(5,834 posts)sheshe2
(92,856 posts)I wish I could have copied the shot of the fireplace...exactly like the one tsf installed in the Oval Office. It's gaudy, overdone and tacky as hell.
some_of_us_are_sane
(1,571 posts)
Epstein's fireplace

the REDECORATED Oval Office fireplace
(that looks like a bordello)
sheshe2
(92,856 posts)Yes, it certainly does look like a bordello or to put in simpler words, a whore house.
B.See
(5,834 posts)electric_blue68
(22,337 posts)Emile
(35,886 posts)niyad
(125,164 posts)AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)"nothing to see here, move along" and hiring an NSA consultant to give this message. Fox News has already gotten the memo.
AntiFascist
(13,494 posts)BlueTsunami2018
(4,486 posts)Thats the problem with this, each side wants this to come out for gotcha purposes. The people involved with this are almost certainly the elite of the elite, the people who really run the world. The nameless international businessmen, bankers, media moguls, royalty and, of course, politicians from all over the world. It might be the biggest international blackmail scheme in history.
Thats really why this cant come out.
questionseverything
(11,057 posts)Pisces
(6,061 posts)snot
(11,168 posts)Why did Epstein receive little more than a wrist-slap after his first conviction for sex-trafficking and raping multiple minors who else gets that kind of treatment? How did he go from teaching high school to becoming a wildly wealthy billionnaire, owning among his other homes a 19,000 s.f. townhouse in Manhattan without even a college degree? Why were multiple rooms in the homes in which his sex parties with minors took place wired for video recording? Why all the anomalies surrounding his death? Etc.
Given the urgency of the question of whether Epstein's sex parties might have been part of some kind of spying/blackmail operation, why has it taken 6 years for our government to examine his files and tell us there's "nothing to see" there?
Wiz Imp
(5,968 posts)The "conviction" was obtained by getting him to plead guilty to procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute. Epstein agreed to the plea deal precisely because it was part of a Non Prosecution Agreement (NPA) deal that was later determined to be illegal. Alex Acosta, later Trump's first Secretary of Labor, was the primary US Attorney on the case. He's never adequately explained why he agreed to the deal. It's pretty clear Acosta was compromised. From Wikipedia: "Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence", was "above his pay grade" and to "leave it alone"". Alan Dershowitz was one of Epstein's lawyers. Dershowitz was later accused of raping a woman at Epstein's island.
For more back story, In May 2006, Palm Beach police filed a probable cause affidavit saying that Epstein should be charged with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one count of sexual abuse. Presented evidence from only two victims, the grand jury returned a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. In July 2006, the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein that resulted in a fifty-three page, 60-count indictment in June 2007. That indictment included multiple counts of Sex Trafficking. Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, then agreed to the previously mentioned plea deal, to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed "potential co-conspirators". According to the Miami Herald, the non-prosecution agreement "essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes". At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. The Miami Herald said: "Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims."
SoFlaBro
(3,542 posts)orleans
(36,251 posts)Blue Full Moon
(2,423 posts)The lawsuit for Trump and Epstein. Ivana and Epstein were both supposed to testify. Then a MAGA trying to kill the judge, killed her son instead and the case was dropped. Nothing to see here.