If we do not learn from history, monsters like Epstein will appear again.
Chauntae Davies, one of the women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, was not far from tears. Standing on the steps of the Capitol, surrounded by women referred to as Epstein survivors, urged Congress to ensure that all documents about the deceased sex offender see the light of day.
Beside Davies stood the controversial Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, her party colleague Thomas Massie and their Democratic colleague Ro Khanna. The demonstration on the steps was something as unusual as a cross-party display.
A fabrication?
This likely causes concern in the White House, which in recent months has wavered on the issue of the documents and is dependent on keeping the voter base together.
A Democratic fabrication. They are trying to get people to talk about something that is insignificant in light of the successes our country has had since I became president, said Trump recently about the discussion of Epstein material.
The issue of the Epstein files has sparked strong emotions in the US for years, particularly among Maga representatives who claim to be tired of corruption and the "politician swamp". During the election campaign, Donald Trump, who socialized with Epstein in the 2000s, rode that wave and promised to release the Epstein documents, including a notorious "client list". He claimed that it was the Democrats who had covered it up to protect liberal celebrities, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In the spring, the Department of Justice said it would go through large parts of the investigation before a release. Then came the reversal. In July, the department claimed that Epstein did not have a client list and that no more documents would be released.
Reading aloud in Congress
This made several Maga profiles furious and question whether Trump has something to hide after all. Vice FBI chief Dan Bongino is reported to have considered resigning. According to a poll from July, 63 percent of voters think Trump is handling the Epstein case poorly.
Some Maga representatives must now make the uncomfortable decision of whether they put their loyalty to Trump before principles of transparency. The choice is not made easier by the fact that a birthday card to Epstein, written within the contours of a naked female body and apparently signed by Trump, as well as 33,000 documents, a fraction of the total, were recently released by a congressional committee. The White House has denied that the president drew the picture and claims that he did not sign the card either.
That Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna are now driving a cross-party signature collection to force the Department of Justice to release all material should worry Donald Trump. Add to that Marjorie Taylor Greene has offered to compile her own client list, based on information from the victims, and read it aloud in Congress.
Background: The twists and turns of Jeffrey Epstein
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An investigation into businessman Jeffrey Epstein was launched in 2005, after a 14-year-old girl told the police that she had been molested by him in his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The investigation grew and in 2007 he was charged in a federal court.
After an agreement with the prosecutor, Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for buying sex in 2008. He was released after 13 months.
The case was highlighted again in 2018 after a series of articles in the Miami Herald where several women came forward and accused Epstein of sexual abuse during the period 2001 to 2005.
In July 2019, Epstein was arrested at an airport in New Jersey. The new charge against him concerned abuse of dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005. According to the prosecution, Epstein had tried to buy the silence of witnesses with millions. Epstein denied the crime.
On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found lifeless in his cell in the jail on Manhattan. He was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. He is believed to have taken his own life, but this is disputed.
A prominent plaintiff against Epstein was Virginia Giuffre, who died earlier this year. She claimed that Epstein's convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell discovered her at Donald Trump's spa in Florida when she was 17 and hired her as Epstein's masseuse – his "sex slave". Giuffre also accused Britain's Prince Andrew of rape, which ended with an agreement between the parties out of court.
