What the Timeline Reveals About Trump and the Epstein Files

Politico

2 days ago

White House communications director Steven Cheung pushed back on this column, saying that it's 'nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious.'
'The fact is that The President kicked him out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media,' he said.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment but a Justice Department spokesperson previously called the Journal's story 'a collection of falsehoods and innuendo.'
Moreover, since Trump's inauguration, Trump and his senior officials have provided increasingly terse comments, shifting goalposts, changes in public expectation-setting and at times non sequiturs. There has been a conspicuous move-along, nothing-to-see-here approach to the subject that now appears more deliberate.
Bondi, for instance, said in early May that there are 'tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn,' but no credible media outlet or political figure has ever suggested that any such material should be released. The question for people focused on this issue has been — has always been — what is in the government's other investigative material, including witness statements, written correspondence, financial records and flight logs, among other things.
Over the last week, the Trump administration's public-facing efforts to gather and provide more information have also been curious on their face. The administration has moved to unseal grand jury testimony and is seeking information from Epstein's co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of child sex trafficking and other crimes and is now serving a federal 20-year prison sentence.
These efforts have one conspicuous thing in common: The results are out of the government's control. A Florida judge this week denied the Justice Department's request to unseal the grand jury testimony, and Maxwell is unlikely to generate credible information that the government can act upon given her serious credibility problems, as well as her motive to lie or otherwise shade information to curry favor with the Trump administration in the hopes of a pardon or commutation of her sentence.
In fact, there is no need for the government to do either of these things to satisfy those clamoring for more information. The vast majority of information in the government's possession is not grand jury testimony, and it is not with Maxwell. On their face, these appear to be efforts to satisfy the public — to look like they are doing something — without generating a meaningful volume of new or credible information, and without providing some portion of the large volume of material in the government's possession that, as a legal matter, they do not need anyone's permission to release.
Jan. 30
Kash Patel vows to expose Epstein connections
During his Senate confirmation hearing to be FBI director, Kash Patel responded to Sen. Marsha Blackburn's question on investigating 'who worked with Jeffrey Epstein in building these sex trafficking rings' by saying, 'I will do everything, if confirmed as FBI director, to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened in the past and how we are going to countermand missing children and exploited children going forward.'
Patel's commitment followed a lengthy history of his own stoking interest in conspiracy theories surrounding the Epstein investigation and Epstein's death.
Feb. 21
Pam Bondi says client list is 'sitting on my desk'
Asked on Fox News if the DOJ would publish Epstein's client list, Pam Bondi replied: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump.' Bondi and the White House have since said that the attorney general was referring to the entire tranche of documents related to the Epstein prosecution, rather than a 'client list.'