This week, a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein came together on Capitol Hill and joined with a bipartisan cadre of members of Congress for one of the most fascinating press events I’ve ever seen. MAGA Reps Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene joined with Democrat Ro Khanna to stand with survivors and pressure Republicans in Congress and the White House to give survivors justice by releasing all of the Epstein files, and not pardoning Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The one thing these three Congresspeople have in common is a desire to grandstand and be the center of attention, so it was extraordinary to see them come together and actually do a service: create space for survivors to speak out.
And boy did these women have a lot to say! I recommend this article at The 19th, which puts survivor quotes front and center, but the moment that stands out is when survivor Lisa Phillips announced that she and her fellow survivors would compile and release their own list of Epstein clients and accomplices.
The press conference put Epstein firmly back in the online conversation. Per data from Resonate, the day of the presser, Epstein-related posts “generated at least 12.8 million engagements and 152 million views across political leans—the highest such marks since late July.” Resonate also notes that “posts that mentioned ‘Trump’ as well as Epstein yesterday (accounting for 43% of all Epstein-related posts) performed 20% worse for both left- and right-leaning pages than posts that only mentioned Epstein,” suggesting, at least to me, that the survivors’ stories might have hit more of a nerve with audiences than the politics involved.
One thing that really struck me about this press conference in particular is how the stories of survivors often become cannon fodder for partisan politics in these situations, and the women who speak out generally aren’t treated well, but that hasn’t happened here as of yet. This is a departure from almost every other sex abuse scandal involving politics that I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Still, the Trump regime continues to do everything in its power to quash Epstein news cycles and ensure that Congress doesn’t ever actually release whatever files the DOJ has, as Trump and his surrogates had long promised would happen. One of Massie's revelations from the press conference is that a “billionaire in Epstein’s black book” is currently running ads against him in his Kentucky district. Massie further described the pressure that Congressional Republicans were receiving from the White House on CNN afterwards.
The regime can’t even get the GOP caucus to agree on a message for pushback. Trump continues to say that their existence is a hoax created by Democrats, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson this week went full QAnon, making the bizarre and unsubstantiated claim that Trump informed on Epstein for the FBI. Johnson’s claim apparently “confused” and “perplexed” White House staff, who had no idea what he was talking about.
Trump’s continual efforts to kill this aren’t working, even with his own influencers. James O’Keefe, of Project Veritas fame, turned his infiltration efforts on the regime and this week released a video where a DOJ unit deputy chief was bragging to the infiltrator that the government would "redact every Republican" from any Epstein client list and only release any Democrats and liberals who might be on it. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time O’Keefe has ever targeted a MAGA-led institution.
Epstein remains a rare issue that the vast majority of Americans can agree on. As I’ve written previously, as far as MAGA conspiracy theories go, it’s the most mainstream and one where most Americans can see that justice wasn’t done and there’s clearly more to the story, potentially a cover-up. I hope that these women get some form of justice, especially after speaking out as they have. I also hope that this remains a wedge issue that allows more of Trump’s voters to see him for who he really is.
One thing is for sure: the longer this drags on, the worse it will be for Trump and the White House. And the harder Trump tries to bury Epstein once and for all, the clearer it becomes that he and his cronies almost certainly have something to hide.
ICYMI
In Rare Interviews, Federal Judges Criticize Supreme Court's Handling of Trump Cases (NBC News) I’m surprised, even in this current moment, that NBC News was able to get so many judges on the record. It’s an alarm for sure. They’re clearly speaking to an audience of one, however.
Trump's Labor Day Weekend At Bernie's (Garbage Day) Ryan Broderick unpacks the internet euphoria that was unleashed when social media users thought, even fleetingly, that Trump might have died over the long holiday weekend.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Seems To Have A Poorly Hidden Secret Facebook Page (Talking Points Memo) It’s incredible to me how many folks currently in power really just want to be far-right trolls online, including our current DHS secretary.
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I want Rep Massie to take advantage of the speech and debate clause and read aloud on the floor of Congress the names of all the perps supplied by the survivors. I heard on Velshi that there are thousands, many of which are afraid and want to preserve their safety, but will provide names of the rich and powerful and I do not care if they are Democrats or Republicans, but I do care that Bondi and Patel had FBI agents scrub the names of Trump and Republicans.
If they finally release all files and videos, but have scrubbed the names of Republicans and Trump will Massie go ahead and read aloud the names?
You can be sure that the list of names is already well known by the House Intelligence Committee, Jasmine Crockett said as much on CNN.
Trump has sued the media for putting out any news against him. Trump has threatened to sue these media outlets again.
That's why there is no media being put out involving Trump raping women and children.
That's why there is no media coverage talking about Trump's network hiding the Epstein files.
Everyone has to spread the word themselves.
EVERYONE HAS TO WRITE LETTERS TO THE GOVERNMENT DEMANDING THE UNEDITED
EPSTEIN FILES.
Trump and his corrupt network have to be stopped
TRUMP FOR IMPEACHMENT 2025
Release the Epstein files