The Epstein Files Transparency Act and Trump’s Promises
Not every man whose name is in the Epstein files should be embarrassed or ashamed. I can say that because my work is cited by name and the context it has nothing to do with the horrific crimes of Epstein’s international network of child rapists and enablers.
My name appears four times in the half of the documents that have been released so far. Cited is my pioneering reporting on income inequality, an issue in I ‘ve analyzed and documented pioneered for three decades, and my critique of state lotteries as the most heavily taxed consumer product in America.
The Epstein files call me a tax expert, note my Pulitzer Prize for my tax journalism, and treat my work with respect so I’m perfectly happy with what’s there.
This is similar to the so-called Tobacco Papers. Some journalists were or should have been, ashamed by what the nicotine addiction industry wrote about them in private. But the references to me, I’m fine with them.
To be clear, I never met Jeffrey Epstein, never spoke on the telephone with him, never emailed him or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Indeed, I never wrote about him until after he died under mysterious circumstances six years ago when he was in the custody of the Trump administrations federal jail in Manhattan.
DCReport readers should know what’s there because of our belief in transparency and my concerns that someone will try to take the fact that my name is in the files out of context.
As Americans we also should not be distracted from the real issue about the Epstein files. First and foremost, they reveal an international network of super wealthy creeps in the habit of raping little girls who are not being pursued by our Justice Department because it’s now Trump’s personal law firm protecting him and his cronies and pursuing his perceived enemies.
Second, Donald Trump and his appointees are brazenly violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a federal law he signed requiring that the names of all but the victims be disclosed.
Trump promised if returned to the White House that all the Epstein files would be disclosed.
In blatant violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act many references to Donald Trump are redacted, according to several members of Congress who’ve been given highly restricted access to some of the unredacted files.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Constitutional law professor, estimates that Trump’s name appears a million times. Even if it’s only one percent of that, Trump’s name appears so often the trove could properly be called the Trump Files.
The Trump Justice Department is withholding roughly half of the 6 million or so pages on spurious grounds that violate not just the letter and the spirit of the law, but Trump’s promises in his 2024 campaign.
The question we should all keep asking: ,Why would an innocent man fight so hard and break the law to hide the files in which his name appears? The answer to that should be obvious.
In debating this significant matter of public importance, we also should be careful to not make blanket statements, including the many I’ve seen in short videos and blog posts that assert that man named in the Epstein files needs to be prosecuted. Qualifiers matter. Subtlety matters. Nuance matters.
Many people are in the files because Epstein made a record of being around seen with them to create an aura of invincibility.
That makes perfect sense for Epstein, a con artist, an extortionist, and perhaps a foreign intelligence agent working with the Israelis. The first two are certain, the third needs thorough investigation.
We should all recognize that Epstein was amazingly successful in making sure in life that he was not properly held to account for his horrific crimes. His enablers should be investigated, but so long as Trump remains in the White House that won’t happen.
That Epstein remains protected in death is also astonishing. The man who could pull back the curtain insists he has done nothing wrong yet runs a cove-up. The implication is clear: Trump knows the full files will provide evidence, perhaps even irrefutable proof, that he is a child rapist.
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3 Comments
Just saw you on Mark Thompson D-Cay. Yorker dark warning in re. Future economic instability made me feel nonetheless empowered. (Fore- warned is etc.
Of course, the MAGA folks will attack you as a pedophile anyway, since they’re dumb and apparently can’t read. My old buddy Matt Groening shows up in the files in innocent ways, and the insane rightwing speculation I’ve read online is mindboggling. (Matt does appear to have been on Epstein’s plane once and got a foot massage from Virginia Giuffre, but I doubt that he knew about the pedo network at the time. The Simpsons did a parody of The Prisoner years ago, and they all think it was about Epstein’s island.)
Bernie Sanders is also in the Epstein files. Epstein and his buddies talk about how much they hate that guy, how is is a socialist who wants to destroy the system that made them rich. Anyone should be proud to be on Epstein’s hate list.