Donald Trump and the Epstein Saga.
FOR TEN LONG YEARS, a hardworking blogger living in peaceful Glendale, Ohio, has been chronicling the saga of the nutjob hater from New York City..
That is: Donald J. Trump.
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Fall day: Glendale, Ohio, in front of the Bluebird Bakery. |
At first, his blogging began as a lark, and he managed to cover Donald’s political rise and initial year in the White House in a mere 263 pages, in a document he titled, “The Irredeemable Man.” (This was a takeoff from a book about George Washington, titled, The Indispensable Man. That story being of greatness.)
We should mention that the handsome blogger (as he styles himself) taught American history for three decades. So you could say he knows his stuff.
(His former students would be shocked at that word, “stuff,” but that is an inside joke, “things” also being a taboo word, for writers.)
Unfortunately, and, the blogger felt inevitably, the 45th president’s policies worsened, the threats to democratic norms grew more chilling. Stories burgeoned in length. The second year of his presidency, “From Clueless to Dangerous,” required 746 pages. Year Three, “Trump Rides Roughshod,” filled 943 pages, and his fourth year in office, “Nadir of Democracy” filled 1,471 pages.
He did not suffer from TDS, as some Trump fans have insisted. Rather, he understood the U.S. Constitution.
By the time he decided to cover the January 6 riot – by looking up the stories of all 1,661 rioters, including key allies and enablers, he had used up an additional 1,750 pages, in twenty-one parts, on that fiasco alone.
He would still be going,
following individual cases, save for one fact: Donald J. Trump, the most
dangerous leader in American history, started his fifth, unexpected year in the
White House, pardoned them all.
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Even rioters who attacked police with baseball bats were pardoned. |
__________
“He that lies with the dogs, riseth with fleas.”
George Herbert, 1651
__________
Our post today, overlong perhaps, is focused on Donald J. Trump and his strange history with Jeffrey Epstein, and that degenerate tale.
The blogger (did we mention that he is handsome, albeit wizened at age 76) will start with a quote from George Herbert, first gathered into a book of proverbs, some years after his death in 1633, since he makes a valid point. He will also promise, that as an historian, he will do his best to report only on what we know to be fact – though he will readily admit that he routinely makes fun of Donald and insufferable, cowardly toadies, and sometimes his MAGA fans. He knows many good people who are MAGA types. He just can’t understand why.
As Reverend Herbert also wrote, apropos of this moment, “Who is so deaf, as he that will not hear?”
A massive investigation, bipartisan in nature.
Does the blogger believe Donald J. Trump abused young girls, as we absolutely know Epstein, his friend for many years, did?
The blogger does not know, and so, like so many other, louder voices on social media, or on blogs, he will not claim to know.
Facts. Facts are what we require; and a massive investigation, bipartisan in nature, with all witnesses carefully protected from retribution.
That is what we need.
Is Mr. Trump guilty of heinous crimes against girls? We do not yet know. We only know that Donald has a history of hanging around with creeps, and of acting like a creep himself.
The worry, then: Fleas.
And who represents the “dog?”
*
Jeffrey Epstein first appearance in our blog, just after the start of Mr. Trump’s third year in office. This is how the blogger covered Epstein’s entry at the time, a story masterfully told by reporters for the Miami Herald.
We also focus on Trump’s first Secretary of Labor:
A private breakfast, a deal struck.
2/24/19: Did someone just say, “immorality?” Today we learn that a federal judge has accused current Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta of violating the rights of sexual abuse victims. The case involves a non-prosecution agreement worked out in 2008 with Jeffrey Epstein.
Let the Miami Herald tell you who he is:
Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls – with the help of young female recruiters – to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found.
If you don’t think this story has enough to interest conspiracy theorists of all political persuasions, consider this:
The eccentric hedge fund manager, whose friends included former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was also suspected of trafficking minor girls, often from overseas, for sex parties at his other homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Caribbean, FBI and court records show.
The more you read about Epstein, the more disgusting the story becomes. He was facing life in prison if he went to trial. Acosta, the man in charge of the case, met him privately for breakfast and a deal was struck.
Epstein would serve 13 months in a county jail; but the non-prosecution agreement would shut down an F.B.I. investigation looking for additional victims and likely to uncover powerful individuals who had participated in such parties. Epstein pleaded guilty to two charges of soliciting prostitution. The agreement was kept secret from his victims, some as young as 13. That meant none of them and none of their lawyers would show up in court and protest the deal.
In a second article, the Herald offered up the sordid details of the molestation of as many as 102 middle school and high school girls.
The girls arrived, sometimes by taxi, for trysts at all hours of the day and night. Few were told much more than that they would be paid to give an old man a massage – and that he might ask them to strip down to their underwear or get naked. But what began as a massage often led to masturbation, oral sex, intercourse and other sex acts, police and court records show. The alleged abuse dates back to 2001 and went on for years.
Yet, as the Herald notes, by late 2018, Acosta was on a list of possible replacements for Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Asked Friday about the matter, President Trump shrugged and offered Acosta his support. “I really don’t know too much about it,” he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. “I know he’s done a great job as labor secretary, and that [series of Epstein’s crimes] seems like a long time ago.”
Unless you were the victim, of course.
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President Trump and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta. |
BLOGGER’S NOTE (8/1/25): The blogger, who knows the Constitution well, is a huge fan of the First Amendment. Free speech is cool, etc. In the matter of Epstein, however, what we see is the critical import of a free press. The role of the press is not to cower before the powerful, but to expose their misdeeds.
The blogger will add, then, that anyone who routinely attacks or threatens the free press, is a threat to the Constitution, as well.
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Epstein and Trump in friendlier days. |
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Epstein shows up in an added note in a post on June 21, 2019, in which the blogger took the time to list all the women who had previously accused Donald of sexual improprieties – that list numbering 29.
Could we then trust Trump around beautiful young women. In the blogger’s opinion, the evidence proved we could not:
An alleged violent rape.
BLOGGER’S NOTE (7/7/19):
News breaks that Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested again. Epstein got off
lightly a decade ago, thirteen months in jail, with “work release,” so that he
only spent nights behind bars, despite horrific charges of sex-trafficking
girls as young as 13.
What prosecutor cut him
such a great deal? Alexander Acosta – currently Secretary of
Labor in the Trump administration.
And who was accused of violently raping a 13-year-old girl in 1994 –
and then threatening her and her family if she talked, reminding her he was a
very powerful person? Yes, Epstein, of course.
And Donald J. Trump.
The girl in that case said she was lured to Epstein’s mansion by “promises of money and a modeling career.” She had two witnesses who corroborated parts of her story; but her case was dropped.
(Was Trump a rapist? The matter was never settled in court.)
(Could the man from Mar-a-Lago be innocent?)
(Yes.)
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Two days later, a story broke, indicating that not only President Trump, but former president Bill Clinton, might have been involved with Epstein in ways that would not be acceptable to decent Americans.
The blogger noted that Fox News had jumped all over the story regarding Mr. Clinton – but had ignored details pointing at Mr. Trump:
Epstein and Trump? And Epstein and Bill Clinton?
7/9/19: President Trump is by no means the only big name involved; but when the Jeffery Epstein scandal explodes, he’s right where you might expect in a story about sexual abuse of young women.
The fuse is lit on July 6, when F.B.I agents arrest registered “sex offender” and multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein at the Teterboro, N.J. airport on arrival from France. At that moment, other agents are using a crowbar to enter the front door of his 21,000 square foot Manhattan townhouse. In a locked safe they discover “a vast trove of lewd photos” of young looking women and girls.
Epstein, of course, had been busted before, for the same kind of crimes with which he’s charged once more: sex-trafficking scores of girls, some as young as 13 or 14.
First, let’s admit this sordid tale might have enough juice to interest upright individuals of every stripe, from flaming liberal to Neolithic conservative. It turns out Trump was once a friend of Epstein’s. So was Bill Clinton. As soon as Fox News hears that last detail, you know they’re going to gear up a hundred “fair and balanced” reports about the Epstein-Clinton connection.
Sean Hannity is quick to air a show on the topic the same day and it makes him so mad you almost expect to see spit flying from his lips.
Clinton! That pervert!
But wait…
Epstein was first arrested in Florida on similar charges in 2008, where he may have molested as many as a hundred victims. Nevertheless, he got off with a sweetheart legal deal. He would plead to one count of soliciting prostitution and serve thirteen months in jail – but with work-release privileges six days a week – meaning he spent only one day per week and nights behind bars.
The prosecuting attorney who cut the deal?
That would be Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor in the “drain the swamp” Trump administration.
Can we find a more direct connection between Epstein and Trump? As President Obama might have said, “Yes, we can.”
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in October 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Yes, “younger,” as in 13-year-olds.
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Donald, Melania, Jeffrey, Ghislaine. |
“His weapons were his hands.”
THERE’S SOME GOOD NEWS, however. Namely, Epstein is denied bail and will remain behind bars till trial.
Alicia Arden comes forward to add testimony to the case against the alleged child molester. “His weapons were his hands,” she says, describing her rape when she was a teen.
If you watch Fox News, you already know about the connections between Epstein and Bill Clinton. But if Clinton is guilty of questionable behavior, it would not shield Trump if he were guilty himself. We know that in 1992, George Houraney, a Florida businessman, agreed to fly in 28 young women for a “calendar girl” party at Mar-a-Lago. As he recently explained to reporters for The New York Times, there were only two [other] men present at the party.
Epstein and Trump.
At the very least – and there is a chance Trump is only tangentially involved – and Clinton, too – demands for Acosta to be booted from the cabinet are heard.
Could it be worse? And much worse, by far? It could be bad for Bill Clinton, or Trump, or anyone else, who might have partied in years past with the pedophile. And here we should note that at least one 13-year-old has alleged that both Trump and Epstein raped her in 1994 and threatened her if she talked.
Don’t expect Sean Hannity to mention that [I had “this” instead of “that,” but have made minor adjustments to my old posts, in a quest for clarity].
A little black book, stolen by a house manager.
Her case was withdrawn from the courts in 2016; but if new accusers surface her claims may gain validity.
We can’t yet know. But the “rogue’s gallery” of men, as one Miami Herald reporter describes them, who may be tainted or tarnished or in dire legal jeopardy could prove stunning in the end. According to Gawker, a defunct website, the names of many powerful men and women appeared in a “little black book” belonging to Epstein. That book was stolen by his house manager. A copy was provided to Gawker in 2015. President Clinton’s name does not appear; but Doug Band’s name does, above the line, “Office of William Clinton.” A long list of contacts follows. Not everyone whose name is listed is an accomplice or victim. Dr. Eli Wiesel, the noted writer and Holocaust survivor, and his wife are listed. So is Ivana Trump.
So is Ivanka.
Epstein was rich and handsome and ran in rarified circles. Naomi Campbell, the super model, has an entry. So does Mick Jagger. The Duke and Duchess of York are listed separately, following their divorce. Ethel Kennedy, Sen. Ted Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr., David Koch, “Miss Manners,” and Charlie Rose appear, most likely harmlessly, in these pages.
(Okay, Charlie Rose might be a bad sign.)
Alfredo Rodriguez, the house manager who swiped the book, hoping to sell it for $50,000, added marginal notes. There were arrows pointing to specific contacts he believed would be important in any investigation. He circled dozens of entries, in a book that runs to 92 pages, people he believed were accomplices, addresses and organizations where crimes were committed, people he thought were “material witnesses,” and names of victims. Again, Clinton is not named; but Clinton often flew with Epstein on one of his private jets, which reporters later labeled “The Lolita Express.” Donald Trump’s name is circled for reasons unknown. Rock star Courtney Love’s name is circled, as is the name of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Rodriguez served eighteen months in jail for obstruction of justice, after taking the book rather than providing it to investigators. That was longer than the time Epstein, himself, spent behind bars.
So, what do we know for sure? Epstein was super wealthy. His Manhattan townhouse is estimated to be worth $77 million. He owned six homes, an apartment in Paris, and a private island in the Caribbean where he went to relax – and allegedly molest girls.
Authorities now suspect he preyed upon underage victims not just in Florida and New York, but in Ohio, California, New Mexico, Paris, and the United Kingdom. The name of Les Wexner, the billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret and other well-known clothing brands, is marked in Epstein’s stolen book. Former New Mexico Governor Bruce King and former New Mexico governor and [Democratic] presidential hopeful Bill Richardson’s names are circled. The entry for Peter Soros, nephew of billionaire George Soros, is marked. So, the rich and powerful may have had reason to hope the story of Epstein’s crimes would receive a prompt burial in 2008.
Again, the address book hints at how the alleged sex-trafficking ring worked. One address for New York City is marked “apt. for models.” The name of Flavio Briatore, an Italian businessman who served two prison terms for fraud in the 80s, is circled. So is the name of Alan Dershowitz, the prominent lawyer. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the victims in the Florida case, said in court filings that Epstein ordered her to have sex with Dershowitz on multiple occasions.
(Mr. Dershowitz denies the charge.)
According to the Daily Beast,
she was 15 and working a summer job at Mar-a-Lago [emphasis added] in 1998 when British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly recruited her as a masseuse for Epstein. Giuffre said Epstein kept her as a “sex slave” until 2002 and that she was forced to have sex with his friends, including Prince Andrew and Dershowitz. (Both men have adamantly denied the allegations.)
In
September 2015, Giuffre filed a defamation suit against Maxwell after she
called Giuffre’s claims, “obvious lies” and, according to the complaint,
“undertook a concerted and malicious campaign to discredit Giuffre and to so
damage her reputation that Giuffre’s factual reporting of what had happened to
her would not be credited.” The case was settled in May 2017, records show.
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Victimizer, left, victim, right. |
No one associated with Epstein is entirely safe and no one has so far been proven guilty. The address book has a separate entry for “65TH STREET,” in New York City, with the names Joseph and Florina Rueda and Sarah Kellen (Epstein’s appointments secretary) circled. Under “FINANCE” Colonial Bank and PB National are circled. Under “FRANCE,” we have, “Paris – Massage.” Under “ISLAND, Massage –” the entry for Michelle Campos is marked with the notation, “fired S’cty.” Dershowitz’s name is circled. So is the name of Cindy Buklarewicz Lopez, who ran a modeling agency, an arrow pointing to her parents’ contact info. Les Wexner’s home in London, his home in Aspen and his home in New Albany, Ohio are all circled. “Massage – UK” is circled. Under “MEDICAL,” the name of Dr. Bruce Moskowitz is circled. An entry under “CLEANERS” and another under “RUGS” are circled. “New Mexico – Massage” is circled. Finally, on page 92, the last entry for “Mr Chow, New York” is not circled.
Mr. Chow should be in the clear.
Remember next time you hear Trump attack the free press.
IN RECENT YEARS, the Miami Herald has done brilliant investigative work on this story. Remember that next time you hear the president or anyone else attacking the free press. The lawyer for the 16-year-old girl who state prosecutors say was “the victim attached to the mysterious plea deal given to multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein says neither he nor his client were informed that it was her case that ended Epstein’s prosecution.” As the Herald notes, the victim, now 31, “wasn’t among Epstein’s youngest victims, but she was among those who were more brutally sexually assaulted, repeatedly, by both Epstein and others, according to records.”
At
Epstein’s sentencing, the judge asked Assistant State Attorney Lanna Belohlavek
whether there was more than one victim. “There’s several,” Belohlavek replied.
“Are all
the victims in both these cases in agreement with the terms of this deal?”
Pucillo asked. “Yes,” Belohlavek said.
But emails and letters show that Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Villafaña wanted state prosecutors to tell the judge as little as possible, telling Epstein’s lawyers “I would prefer not to highlight for the judge” how many victims were involved – which at the time was almost three dozen girls, ages 13 to 17.
How did the sex-trafficking ring operate? Again, the Herald uncovered the story:
[Robert]
Josefsberg’s client, labeled Jane Doe 1 for this story, told police what
happened to her in a sworn statement in 2005, obtained by the Herald. In
it, she said that sometime in 2004, when she was 16, she was approached by
another girl, Jane Doe 2, who attended Royal Palm Beach High School in West
Palm Beach.
Jane Doe
2 asked the girl whether she wanted to make some money by giving massages to a
man named Jeffrey Epstein, who lived in a mansion on Palm Beach island. Jane
Doe 1 had heard that a lot of girls at the high school were making money doing
these massages, and she agreed to go, the report said.
She was
taken there by Jane Doe 2 and introduced to Epstein and his scheduling
secretary, Sarah Kellen. (Kellen also was given immunity.) Jane Doe No. 1’s
description of what happened matched those of dozens of other girls: She was
led up a back stairway to a master bedroom and bath where Epstein appeared in
the room, clad only in a towel. She was instructed to strip down to her
underwear and begin massaging his back.
Shortly
thereafter, he flipped over, dropped his towel and began masturbating while
fondling her with a vibrator. She and Jane Doe 2 were each paid $200.
Jane Doe
1 said she went to Epstein’s house about 15 times, and each time, the
encounters became more sexual, and eventually led to full intercourse with
Epstein and [Nadia] Marcinkova [an older, alleged “sex slave”], according to
the statement that Jane Doe 1 told Palm Beach Detective Joe Recarey, who died
last year. She also told Recarey that she brought two other girls to Epstein’s
house, and was paid $200 for each girl.
She was
among three dozen underage girls listed by the U.S. Attorney as victims of
Epstein. Sixteen of those victims were represented by Josefsberg, who was
designated to assist them in receiving civil restitution [emphasis
added] from Epstein as part of the plea agreement.
After
Jane Doe 1 was interviewed by police, other witnesses, including two of
Epstein’s butlers, confirmed that they had seen several of the girls, among
them Jane Doe 2, coming and going from Epstein’s house at all hours of the day
and night.
Police
had corroborating evidence, including phone records and messages with the
girls’ names, phone numbers and appointment times.
Who else might have assisted Epstein is his schemes? According to Washington Monthly, Ghislaine Maxwell, a 57-year-old British socialite and publishing heir, has been accused of working as Epstein’s madam. Jean-Luc Brunel, who was partners with Epstein in an international modeling company might also face legal jeopardy.
For her part, Maxwell, whose social circle included such friends as Bill and Hillary Clinton and members of the British Royal family, has been described as using recruiters positioned throughout the world to lure women by promising modeling assignments, educational opportunities and fashion careers. The pitch was a ruse to groom them into sex trafficking, it is alleged.
More accusers soon came forward with tales of massages and molestation in exchange for $200 or even $1,000 per visit. Some claimed that Epstein would force them to have intercourse with him or a young woman described as his Eastern European “sex slave.” Epstein’s assistant, Sarah Kellen, allegedly kept a Rolodex of underage girls to recruit for her employer.
Yet, for reasons mystifying to
say the least, the Florida plea deal granted immunity to any alleged
co-conspirators, “including but not limited to” recruiters Kellen, Adriana
Ross, and Lesley Groff, and the alleged sex slave, Nadia Marcinkova.
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| Maxwell and Epstein. |
A woman named Maria Farmer claimed this past April in a new affidavit that Epstein sexually assaulted her at Les Wexner’s mansion in Ohio in 1996, and that he molested her 15-year-old sister in New Mexico. She said that Dershowitz used to frequent Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion as girls in school uniforms paraded in for “modeling” calls. Dershowitz denies the claims.
As Washington Monthly carefully notes, Wexner and Epstein did not respond to requests for comment.
BLOGGER’S NOTE (8/1/25): No one mentioned above has been proven guilty, except Jeffrey Epstein.
Clearly, a renewed
investigation today would certainly involve subpoenas for Kellen, Ross, Groff,
Wexner, and Dershowitz, to name just a few.
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In a post for July 10, 2019, the blogger added fresh details to the developing Epstein story, focusing first on an embarrassing charity golf event.
You really had to wonder who thought
this was a good idea:
Stripper caddies for charity?
TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL makes news when the club cancels a charity golf event in the wake of bad publicity. “The Shadow All Star Tournament” was originally organized by a strip club. The Trump Organization thought it was a good idea. Golfers were going to have a chance to bid on scantily-clad “dancers” to serve as caddies.
When it comes to keeping young women safe, canceling a strippers/golf tournament looks like a good move.
Locking up Jeffrey Epstein forever is a better idea. Jennifer Araoz, 32, comes forward to add fresh accusations. She says she was approached by a woman several times outside her high school, when she was fourteen. Epstein, she was told, could help launch her Broadway career. (See: 7/9/19.)
As Time describes it:
Araoz said her first few encounters with Epstein and the woman at Epstein’s home were friendly – they talked, she was given wine and $300 after every visit. Eventually she began meeting with Epstein alone, and that’s when the sexual abuse began, she alleges.
At
first, she was paid for stripping to her underwear and giving him massages.
Soon after she turned fifteen, he held her down during a visit and raped her.
She never returned to his home again.
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In the early morning hours of August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell, having hanged himself.
President Trump wasted no time spreading the ridiculous shit, as the handsome blogger astutely noted:
Trump blames Bill and Hillary.
8/11/19: At 5:01 p.m. Saturday the president retweets a clip of some random African American guy named Terrence K. Williams. Williams puts forward, loudly, but without evidence, the theory that Bill or Hillary Clinton, or both, or Chelsey and the grandkids, ordered Jeffrey Epstein bumped off.
(Epstein was found hanged in his cell the day before.)
It is of grave importance to understand that the President of the United States is retweeting drivel.
Someone, perhaps Melania, apparently smacks Trump upside the head and takes away his iPhone. That makes for a quiet Sunday at Bedminster, and the president does not tweet again for seventeen hours.
When he does, the president proves so petty, so consumed with fury over his image, that he spends vacation time insulting cable news hosts. There’s “Little Donny Deutsch” with “his own failing show.” Deutsch used to “beg” to be on The Apprentice “(along with @ErinBurnett & others),” Trump says. But neither he nor “Erin” had any talent. Then there were times Trump says he would watch Deutsch get pushed around by “Joe Scarborough & his very angry Psycho wife(?).”
That’s
your president on Sunday, August 11, 2019. Bringing Americans together in a
time of tragedy, once more.
BLOGGER’S NOTE (8/1/25): That tragedy was not Epstein’s
death, but the massacre in a Walmart in El Paso, eight days before.
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With Epstein no more, he fades from our view till the following summer. On June 21, 2020, we spent half a post mocking Trump, who was furious because he had just held a campaign rally in Tulsa, and there were plenty of empty seats. In hindsight, the following development seems interesting:
Out of respect for “the brave young women.”
ANYTHING ELSE we should be focused on this Father’s Day? Yes, indeed. In the dark of night, so to speak, Attorney General Bill Barr announced Friday that the top federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York was “resigning.” That prosecutor, Geoffrey S. Berman, a Trump choice for the job, a donor to the Trump 2016 campaign, and a solid Republican, announced soon after that he was not resigning. Mr. Barr explained next that the president was planning to fill the empty seat, which wasn’t empty – so maybe the new guy would sit on Berman’s lap – with Jay Clayton, current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Clayton, you will be happy to know, if you are a Trump fan, has never served as prosecutor.
Now, let’s see if we can guess why Barr and his boss might want Berman sent to the showers. First, Berman’s office has been investigating two pals of Rudy Giuliani, and Rudy himself. Second, the move to oust Berman comes days after allegations lodged by former National Security Advisor John Bolton. Bolton says in his new book, which Team Trump tried to ban and burn and have tossed into the deepest part of the Grand Canyon, that President Trump promised to do the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a favor. In 2018, Bolton writes, Trump told Erdogan he would interfere in an investigation into a Turkish company that may have violated trade sanctions against Iran.
Okay, guess which U.S. Attorney’s Office was investigating that Turkish company. Yes! The Southern District of New York.
Third, it was Berman’s office that brought the case against former Trump personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. You remember Cohen. Sent to jail for three years, based on several felony convictions. If you recall, a certain person was named as a “co-conspirator” involved in those felonies, identified only as “Individual 1.”
That was Trump.
Last, but not least, Berman’s office moved to bring sex-trafficking charges against Jeffrey Epstein, as reprehensible an individual as ever managed to avoid a lengthy term in prison, such as life + 499 years. Even after Epstein’s suicide in jail, while awaiting trial, Berman insisted that the case be pursued, out of respect for the “brave young women” who had testified against him during grand jury proceedings.
Again, you couldn’t make this up if you were writing a script for a low budget horror movie. Epstein had avoided serious jail time in 2008, when a federal prosecutor named Alex Acosta cut him a sweetheart deal.
I doubt you remember, but Acosta was named Secretary of Labor in President Trump’s first cabinet.
Eventually,
a federal judge accused Acosta of violating the rights of Epstein’s
young victims by cutting the defendant the deal. And Acosta had to resign.
___
On July 2, 2020, a post was focused on the declining U.S. economy, in the face of spreading COVID.
Then came the following section:
Ghislaine Maxwell apprehended.
IF YOU WANT unalloyed good news, we have some. Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion and alleged accomplice in a decades-long sex abuse operation, was arrested by F.B.I agents in Bradford, New Hampshire. Maxwell’s indictment charges her with “helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” more than a hundred girls, some as young as 14. She is said to have been an enthusiastic participant in the abuse, as well.
Expect prosecutors to slap her with as many felonies as they can think of, in hopes Maxwell will sing about the rich and famous who took part in the debauchery at Epstein’s mansions, apartments and island homes round the world. England’s Prince Andrew has been accused of involvement. A victim has claimed that Alan Dershowitz, staunch defender of President Trump during his impeachment “trial,” took part in the debauchery. Even more depressing, Donald Trump is known to have hung out with Epstein.
Bill Clinton also hitched a ride to Africa on Epstein’s private plane, nicknamed by observers “The Lolita Express.”
___
Five days later, Epstein showed up again on our blog, after a brief discussion of other events. By that time the death toll from COVID was soaring, with no sign the epidemic was abating:
F.B.I. agent breaks down in
tears.
NETFLIX has a miniseries out on Jeffrey
Epstein, and it might make you ponder a few important questions. First, how did
such a sleaze get away with molesting so many young girls?
If you think his behavior was terrible, the
series makes clear it was worse than you imagine. This blogger already knew
Epstein got a sweet deal from a federal prosecutor named Alexander Acosta (last
seen serving in President Trump’s cabinet). He did not know that a female
F.B.I. agent broke down in tears when an investigation she was helping run was suddenly
shut down. Nor had the blogger ever heard of Epstein’s work with Steven Hoffenberg. In the documentary, Hoffenberg describes
Epstein as a “criminal mastermind,” and says he helped Hoffenberg devise and
run a massive Ponzi scheme. Hoffenberg eventually admitted bilking investors
out of $475 million. He spent 18 years in jail and had to pay $463 million
in restitution.
Epstein managed to skate.
(It made this blogger think again about
George Floyd, who died because he tried to pass a counterfeit $20.)
Then this blogger picked up a newspaper and
saw a story about Deutsche Bank. That bank has agreed to pay $150 million in
penalties for green-lighting questionable money transfers, initiated by
Epstein. According to spokesman Daniel Hunter, the bank is sorry it did a lousy
job of keeping tabs on a man with a well-known criminal history.
“Our reputation is our most valuable asset, and we deeply regret
our association with Epstein,” Hunter said Tuesday.
___
Then we had this:
__________
“I wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach.”
President
Trump
__________
7/21/20: Tuesday afternoon Mr. Blogger listened to an entire press briefing delivered by Mr. Trump. Mr. Blogger rarely makes it through these talks because the president’s propensity for lying and grating style of speech are more than he can stand. Still, Mr. Blogger wanted to see who would be there and hear what Trump would have to say about masks.
Right away, you noticed, none of the health officials who used to flank him during such extravaganzas were present. The only disease “expert” in evidence was White House Press Secretary “Birther” McEnany.
Most of the “briefing” involved Trump reading a statement chock full of cherry-picked facts and figures. His message boiled down to this:
First, his administration was doing a fantastic job in this crisis; but it would “probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better.”
Second, lots of countries were doing worse than we were. So, if you thought about it that way, Trump was doing great!
– and astonishingly –
He said he wished Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged accomplice in a child sex trafficking ring, well!
Let’s start with that stunning comment. After the president finished prepared remarks, he took questions.
A reporter wondered if he had any thoughts on Maxwell’s arrest. She had been hiding out on a farm in New Hampshire (which she purchased secretly for $1 million in cash this past spring) until the F.B.I. tracked her down and arrested her July 2. She had disguised the fact she was the purchaser and hired ex-British military for protection, rarely leaving the property herself. Maxwell has tens of millions stashed in bank accounts around the globe, so she could afford protection. That assumes you don’t mind guarding a woman accused of molesting young girls and making it easier for Epstein and an ever-changing array of perverted high rollers to bed teenagers as young as 14.
Now that Maxwell has been apprehended, even her high-priced legal team can’t spring her from jail. During a bail hearing, two alleged victims spoke out. One told the court that “without Ghislaine, Jeffrey [Epstein] could not have done what he did.” A second warned that Maxwell was herself “a sexual predator.” Maxwell’s lawyer offered to post a $5 million bond. He said his client wasn’t the “monster” portrayed in the news. And she was suffering, having gone 72 hours without a shower while in custody!
The judge was unmoved by her bathing problems, and, deeming her a serious flight risk, ordered her to be remanded to custody. Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison and a few thousand years in hell (if there is a Hell).
When the reporter asked Trump about Maxwell, you would never have expected the answer he supplied. He didn’t mention the alleged victims, and there were reportedly scores [of young girls].
Many suffered sustained abuse.
“I wish her well, frankly,” Trump replied. “I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they [Epstein and Maxwell] lived in Palm Beach.”
“I wish her well,” he said again, and
then moved to the next question.
 |
Trump left, Epstein with gray hair, model Ingrid Seynhaeve, far right. (She was not a victim.) Would you wish Maxwell well? |
BLOGGER’S NOTE (8/1/25): The phrase
“of young girls” was added for clarity; as already mentioned, I have made
slight corrections elsewhere in this post, but no dramatic alterations. This is
how I covered the story from the start.
___
Not long after, President Trump sat down for a lengthy interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios. In a post for August 3, 2020, we covered several of the key topics. Maxwell’s name came up again.
Mention the victims, you fool!”
The interview doesn’t get better before it gets worse. Trump defends his previous good wishes, extended to Ghislaine Maxwell. She’s the alleged accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, and herself accused of abusing teen girls. The president says he does wish her well. He’s emphatic. “I’m not looking bad for anybody,” he claims. That’s a laugh in itself. Trump is the most skilled hater to sit in the White House since Andrew Johnson in 1867, if not since the birth of the Republic.
It never dawns on Trump to
mention sympathy for Epstein’s victims, and there were hundreds.
___
Then we posted this:
__________
The worst “LAW & ORDER” president we’ve ever had.
__________
September 1, 2020: Let’s not delude ourselves. Donald J. Trump is the worst “LAW & ORDER” [Trump himself had recently capitalized that phrase in a post on Twitter] president ever.
Today, he traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he basically talked about how much he loved cops.
Cops, in Trumpistan, according to this president, are essentially incapable of breaking any laws.
Not only is Trump the worst “law and order” president we’ve ever had. He puts Warren G. Harding to shame. Why should we be surprised? This is the guy who bragged about grabbing women’s pussies – because he could. That would be considered sexual assault in a court of law.
Trump isn’t interested in law or order. Not even common decency. He’s the man who has two pending suits against him, filed by women, one by Summer Zervos, for defamation and sexual assault. The other was filed by E. Jean Carroll, alleging rape. This is the guy who was accused of rape by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, a 13-year-old virgin at the time of the alleged attack and listed as “Jane Doe” in court documents. Her claim was supported by “Tiffany Doe,” who said she witnessed four incidents of assault by our now president, with Tiffany also admitting she helped recruit underage girls for Epstein’s sex-abuse ring. That case was dropped in April 2017, when Jane’s lawyer said her client “was fearful for her life.”
So, for Donald, innocent until proven guilty, at least.
Still, you get some
sense of why the president went out of his way recently to say that he wished
Ghislaine Maxwell well. She is, of course, Epstein’s alleged
accomplice and main procurer of teen girls.
___
On December 18, 2020, by which time Mr. Trump had been stifled in his bid for a second term, the blogger noted that Gen. Michael T. Flynn was suggesting that Trump gas up the tanks and order troops to enter states where he had piled up fewer votes than Joseph R. Biden, and in that fashion change election results.
At that point, one of Trump’s allies was trying to tarnish the reputation of Chief Justice Roberts, the blogger assumes in an effort to provide cover if the president decided to start ignoring the orders of the highest court.
“Entitled to an explanation.”
In the make believe world of Lame Duck Don and his unwavering, generally ill-informed fans, another loyalist, Georgia attorney Lin Wood, is hinting that Chief Justice John Roberts and others on the Supreme Court are part of a Deep State fix.
Not only that, but Wood claims to have proof of evildoing behind the scenes – which at some future date he will reveal to the horror of all. Since someone named “John Roberts” once flew on a plane with Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious sexual predator, Wood insists that the American people are “entitled” to an explanation.” Can Chief Justice Roberts prove that wasn’t him on that flight?
This blogger will send Mr. Wood the following letter, which he will share with readers of this blog first:
Dear Mr. Wood,
Don’t be such a dolt. “John,” and “Roberts” are common first and
last names. When I google, “John Roberts Ohio,” I get a John Roberts who owns
several spas around the state, a tenured professor at Ohio University, and two
doctors who practice in Cincinnati.
I even find the
number for one of the spas, if I want a pedicure to end the year on a high
note.
When calling out right-wing idiots, Mr. Wood, I try to get my
facts straight. (You should try it, yourself.) So, for fun, I check “John
Roberts Akron,” curious to see if there are any individuals by that name in the
city where I was born. Fifteen possibilities pop up. John E. Roberts is
first. There’s John S., and John Ray, and John Thomas, and John C., and F., G.,
L., and several more.
So, Mr. Wood, you
need to check them out and see if they ever rode on Epstein’s plane.
Also, you will need to call or write the 46 people named “John
Roberts” who reside in Cleveland, the 39 in Dayton, and, frankly,
the 869 people by that
name who live in Florida, where Epstein used to hang out.
I would like to
mention that the name on the passenger manifest might be fake, as in when
Trump, during his pre-president days, used to go by pseudonyms such as “John Barron”
or “John Miller.” Even the apparently fictitious secretary, Carolin Gallego, who
once wrote about how all the beautiful women in America were clamoring to go
out with Mr. Trump – might in fact have been Mr. Trump. Then you had “David
Dennison,” of hush money fame, which the president later admitted was him.
In closing, since
you passionately believe that the American people are entitled to an
explanation, could you ask former U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta a
question for us?
Why, before he
joined President Trump’s cabinet, did he grant Epstein a sweet deal when he was
facing trial in 2008?
Happy holidays and
Merry Christmas to you. Or Happy Hannukah. Or whatever seasonal greeting works
for you.
Sincerely,
John J. Viall
In a blog entry, which we
somehow failed to post, Epstein came up again (or should have). This time we
had a Bill Gates sighting:
6/14/21: There is, I think, an excellent rule to follow when assessing human behavior. That rule, laid down in 1887, is well known:
__________
“Power
tends to corrupt
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Sir John
Dalberg-Acton
__________
Normally, Lord Acton’s formulation is thought to apply to matters of government, but he himself was also thinking about religion. And we can easily apply it to individuals in positions of great power, to corporations, labor unions, political parties and money power, to cite just a few.
As a good liberal, myself, I am an advocate of labor union protection – especially now that corporations are ascendent and we find CEOs wielding great power again. I say “again,” thinking of the Robber Barons, c. 1900. Or as President Theodore Roosevelt once labeled them, the “malefactors of great wealth.” But when Jimmy Hoffa ran the Teamsters Union, and acquired great power, he, too, was corrupted absolutely, and he hasn’t been seen since July 30, 1975, when he disappeared under suspicious circumstances. As for money power, I was sparked to consider this topic recently in response to stories about Bill Gates, a liberal himself, amid news of his divorce.
Gates was known to hang
out with Jeffrey Epstein – who employed his money power in corrupt fashion – to
protect himself from arrest, even as he sexually abused dozens of teenage
girls. Did Gates participate in any of Epstein’s bacchanals? No one has alleged
that he did; but men like Gates, and the conservative Sheldon Adelson (now
deceased) clearly used their fortunes to shape U.S. politics in ways that none
of us ordinary schmucks can, nor even a few hundred thousand of us.
___
If you could have fun, as a blogger, covering such a grotesque story as the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the blogger did have fun pointing this out:
Know who never flew on Epstein’s plane?
12/21/21: Interesting new evidence surfaced in the Ghislaine Maxwell, sex-trafficking trial today. Flight logs showed that then-Citizen Donald J. Trump flew four times on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane in 1993, hitched a ride in 1994, and again in 1995.
Throw in a trip in 1997, which was already known, and you wonder what Don was doing aboard an aircraft dubbed the “Lolita Express.”
Know who never flew on Epstein’s plane? Joe Biden.
Or Barack Obama.
___
Let’s say you really, really wanted to do a full investigation, involving the Epstein Files, not just the “Phase 1” kind of non-investigation investigation. Think of all the people already mentioned in these posts who would seem well worth grilling, under oath.
For instance:
2/7/22: Well, great news for the Republican Governors Association. Les Wexner has donated $250,000 to their campaign fund. In 2018, he made a similar donation to their fund.
Wexner, the former owner of Victoria’s Secret is famous these
days mostly for having been Jeffrey Epstein’s pal.
 |
A Victoria's Secret model. |
8/13/22: When this blogger was a Marine, he and his comrades used to say that a person who f**ked up in some unforced fashion, had “stepped on his dick.”
 |
The blogger in his younger days: Camp Pendleton, 1970. |
Brian Kilmeade is a nitwit.
In recent days, Trump supporters have been trampling on their dicks. Let us count the ways.
1. The right-wing chorus has been howling about the F.B.I. and other federal agencies, and how they’re attacking the U.S. Constitution, because agents raided the home of former President Trump. The level of calls online to “kill the feds” has ramped up – as Trump fans talk more and more seriously about killing other Americans. Trump could call off the dogs.
2. He hasn’t. Because he’s Trump.
3.
On Fox News, Brian
Kilmeade tried to tarnish the image of the judge who granted
the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago. Viewers were shown a photo of Judge Bruce
Reinhart “having his feet massaged by convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell,
and holding Oreo cookies and beer on a plane.” (Viewers were led to assume it
was notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, the “Lolita Express.”) That
photo turned out to have been doctored, and Kilmeade had to apologize
for what you’d have to say was honest-to-gosh “Fake News.”
___
The dedicated blogger also highlighted an interesting trend:
Alex “The Molester’s Best Friend” Acosta.
10/3/22: Ex-President Blubber [that is: Trump] ended September and opened October by attacking Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao. You may remember that Chao served in his cabinet for almost the duration of his term. Now, Trump is angry because McConnell and other Senate Republicans have signed onto “Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored bills.”
For example, the massive infrastructure bill – sometimes known as “making government work.”
Was this willingness to vote for some of President Biden’s proposals, Trump howled on Truth Social, because Mitch,
hates Donald J. Trump, and knows I am strongly opposed to them, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive New Green Deal, and is willing to take the country down with him? In any event, either reason is unacceptable. He has a DEATH WISH. Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow.
If you didn’t catch the craziness and the racism because you’re a Trump fan, and you can excuse anything, decent Republicans did.
“Coco Chow?”
“This is outrageous, it’s beyond the pale, every Republican ought to say so,” Scott Jennings, a former aide to McConnell, told CNN.
“This isn’t some crazy person on the internet, this is the GOP front-runner for President [in 2024] if the Party doesn’t wake up & demand better,” wrote Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House communications director. “He’s not even trying to hide the racism at this point. Just despicable.”
Astute observers, such as this [cranky] old blogger, have noticed an interesting trend running through the story of President Donald J. Trump. He has at various points blasted all of the following individuals, whom he chose for posts while he was in office. At various times he has labeled them losers, liars and lightweights: All nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court, including three he nominated for seats, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Attorney General Bill Barr, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who took over for Barr, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Vice President Mike Pence, and Secretary of Transportation Chao. There are many others, but how much patience do you have?
It would seem then to be a glaring oversight that when Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta had to resign in 2019, Trump didn’t saddle him with an insulting nickname. Something like Alex “the Molester’s Best Friend” Acosta. His resignation came after news boiled up, indicating that he had cut a sweet deal with Jeffrey Epstein. That deal, in 2008, had allowed the pervert to keep attacking young women for another decade. Yet, Trump never said a word against him.
Another oddity of the
Trump Years.
___
All kinds of accomplices.
So, here we are, a little more than halfway through the first year of President Trump’s second term in office. In terms of the Epstein Files, borrowing a line from the Watergate Era, we are still left wondering who knew what, and when they knew it.
The free press, again. The free press proved instrumental in bringing Richard Nixon down. Don’t be a nitwit and forget the importance of what good reporters do.
We don’t yet know a great deal. We do know that Epstein and Maxwell left a broad trail of destruction, and though they were rich enough to hide their crimes, the victims and witnesses are still out there. They are only waiting to be asked what they know, if we, as a society, will make sure to protect them if they testify.
Only two individuals are known, “beyond a reasonable doubt” to be guilty of such monstrous crimes.
One is dead.
One is in jail.
But out there, still walking the streets, often rich enough or powerful enough to beat back all legal challenges, are all kinds of accomplices.
You don’t have to be liberal, or conservative, to want to catch the predators. You just have to be a good-hearted person.
LAUNCH A BIPARTISAN INVESTIGATION NOW.
