Can especially powerful people be held responsible for particularly odious crimes?
For that question you’d be hard-pressed to find a more dramatic litmus test than the Jeffrey Epstein case.
You know the story, but to recap:
Underage girls trafficked by Epstein say they were forced to have sex with extremely prominent men - Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz. Many other prominent figures, such as Bill Clinton, traveled in Epstein’s circles.
As we know, Epstein was found dead in his cell - supposedly a suicide - and now his associate Ghislaine Maxwell is under arrest.
If the authorities have hard evidence of Epstein’s famous “friends” molesting children, do you think it will ever be made public? If so, do you think those people will ever be arrested?
The rich always get away with it - they view the rest of us as commodities to be used as they see fit.
Sometimes a few of the bottom feeders are dealt with but the apex predators are never brought into court and it won’t happen this time either. You get the procurers given jail time but the users always escape scot free.
Which is actually code for “There’s no need for you to spill your guts to try to save yourself. I’ll pardon you as long as you keep your trap shut (about me).”
That is only if the states decide not to press charges, which they will if they see any chance of her getting a pardon. She could also face charges from foreign governments. She is going to have to do the right thing and take one for the pedophile team and let the guards kill her.
If you look at what he said in context, it’s more of a threat than a promise. He hints that she could end up dead like like Epstein:
Jonathan Swan asked the president… “why he would wish such a person well.”
Trump replied, saying, “First of all, I don’t know that,” regarding the charges of sex trafficking for which Maxwell awaits trial, “but I do know that her friend or boyfriend was either killed or committed suicide in jail.”
“She’s now in jail, so yeah, I wish her well,” the president continued.
The whole thing is going to hinge around what prosecutors can actually prove and make stick in court. I suspect that’s probably a lot less than what everyone is thinking- whatever proof there is would have to be undeniably that person, and the woman would have to be undeniably underage, and so on, and so forth. I think it’s extremely unlikely that evidence like that was ever actually made or kept, and if it is, it’s not the sort of thing that prosecutors would know how to subpoena or get a warrant for.
I mean, you can conspiracy-theorize all you want about Trump, Bill Clinton or Prince Andrew’s involvement, but in order to actually do anything to them, you’d have to have actual proof that would hold up in court, and that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.
Not unless she provides it as part of a deal. Isn’t that what prosecutors do? Especially when they have you locked up with no possibility of bail? She and her legal team have had over a year to come up with a deal strategy. It’s not necessarily conspiracy theory if there is an actual conspiracy.
I find it completely impossible to believe a bunch of rich and powerful people will be punished for this. It’s never happened before and I don’t believe it ever will without actual revolution. They could have 4K video tape of all these rich guys fucking children and signed and witnessed affadavits saying “I raped a child” and they’d still get away with it.
Epstein was and Maxwell is under arrest. Most of the powerful are based upon doubtful reports- Bill only used the jet, trump did visit the island but reliable reports are thin, same with Andrew.
I wouldn’t be so quick to say there is no solid evidence. Have you been following the case?
A large number of women have made statements and accusations. There will also be staff at his homes, people who worked on his private island, etc.
The emails that have been released (redacted) are probably only the tip of the iceberg of documentary evidence. There are flight logs from Epstein’s private jets showing who was where when.
There are thousands of photos found in Epstein’s house, many of them explicit apparently, and showing underage girls, and probably many showing Epstein, Maxwell - and other people - with them. Epstein reportedly kept compromising photos in case he wanted to blackmail anyone. There will be a lot of solid evidence.
Epstein would have been convicted, no question about it. And so will Maxwell.
As for other powerful figures, we’ll have wait and see. Epstein himself was a billionaire with many powerful friends, but it didn’t do him any good in the end.
That’s kind of my point; there’s some circumstantial evidence that some of these people were there, but nothing conclusive revealed thus far.
I mean, if there were tapes and they did come out in court, I imagine that there would be a lot of lawyering done about who those people are, and if it’s not 100% conclusive, they’d argue that it’s another of-age girl, or that it’s not actually , but someone who merely looks like him. Or that the tape wasn’t actually from 2001, or whatever.
It seems to me that in order to get as ironclad of a court case as the prosecution would need in order to not make a deal, they’d have to have all those ducks in a row- who, where, and when would have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Which seems like a tall order to me.
I think just saying “conspiracy theory” is a bit disingenuous. This is not lizard people and chemtrails we are talking about here.
Prince Andrew is the subject of (and not co-operating with) an FBI investigation. He (along with Trump buddy and Alan Dershowitz) are explicitly accused of having sex with under-aged girls in a sworn affidavit (from a girl who was recruited in sex-slavery from Trump’s club in Mar Lago)
Trump attended a party with Epstein and 28 women (and no one else). Clinton flew on Epstein’s jet.
There is a reasonable amount of evidence that Epstein’s entire business model was based on blackmailing the rich and powerful into investing with him.
Conspiracy theories are utter BS for bunch of reasons but this has legs.
Trump actually went on record saying it’s possible that Epstein was murdered in his jail cell?
“Her boyfriend died in jail, and people are still trying to figure out how did it happen. Was it suicide, was he killed?” Trump asked, adding, “I’m not looking for anything bad for her. I’m not looking bad for anybody.”
I guess he did.
Is he aware that his administration has been putting a lot of effort into declaring Epstein’s death was a suicide? Is he aware that if there was a conspiracy to murder Epstein, he’s a suspect?
The fact that clinton flew on his jet is meaningless, and it whataboutism. At that time there was no reason not to take advantage of a free plane ride- why not?
The trump party is more worrying.
“Andrew has said in recent weeks that he is cooperating with the FBI investigation into Epstein.”
And she may well have been 18: Giuffre wrote that Maxwell sent her alone to Epstein’s sprawling Zorro ranch in 2001, when she was around 17 or 18, to meet the Duke of York, whom she had already allegedly had sex with at least once in London. He would have been around 41 at the time.
These days, justice delayed may be justice served.
If the investigators and prosecutors will slow-walk these cases for a while, and keep them low-profile, perhaps Trump will be out of office before he gets around to throwing pardons around.
Its not the same thing at all (I personally don’t think the Clinton’s were involved). But its also not meaningless. The fact is Epstein did have connections throughout the political, academic, and economic power structure, many of those in power were clearly aware of, and some were involved in, his pedophilia. Not only that he clearly had evidence on those that were involved.
This is not tin-foil-hat wearing conspiracy, its documented (in many cases documented in sworn court documents).
Pretty much every “promise” that Trump makes includes an implicit “or else” on the end. Lots of “make him an offer he cannot refuse (if he knows what’s good for him).”
He likes playing that “Godfather” role even more than Marlon Brando did.