The Brooklyn Rail

The Epstein files represent one of the most pervasive conspiracy theories of our time. It was incorporated into the QAnon movement and was a major factor in the rise of Donald Trump. The theory on the Right was that Democrats, from Bill and Hillary Clinton on down, were running a massive child sex-trafficking ring in league with the Deep State, and that Donald Trump was secretly leading the fight against it. Like all things Trump, it was always a deflection, to point away from Trump’s real crimes and complicities, including his friendship and alliance with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump and Epstein were best friends because they were so much alike.

After months and months of delay by Mike Johnson, Congress finally passed a law—H.R. 4405, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, on November 19—directing Trump’s Justice Department to release all the files they hold by December 19. Instead, they released about 10% of the files on that date, and 5% of those had already been made public. Even though the order to release the files included a stipulation that any redactions made by the Justice Department must be accounted for in writing, there were significant redactions, with no explanations given. More deflections.

The main attorney for the Epstein survivors, Bradley Edwards, said of the Justice Department, “They’ve released nothing.” In fact, he claimed it was worse than nothing, because they hadn’t properly redacted the files containing the names of victims. “They’re protecting the wrong people,” he said, either out of gross incompetence or malign intention.

Of the thousands of images released in this latest feint, a ridiculous number pictured the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton: Bill in the tub with a woman, Bill swimming in the pool with women, Bill eating and drinking with Mick Jagger and women . . . , while “redacting” photos of Trump. The cache also included photos of Steve Bannon, Alan Dershowitz, Woody Allen, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew. Some of the photos included are misleading. The photos of Jeffrey Epstein with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross with their children were not taken at Epstein’s place, but at a 2003 fundraiser that Epstein also attended. So Trump’s Justice Department is not just withholding information. It is contaminating the cache with extraneous material.

When Trump railed at Marjorie Taylor Greene for her apostasy in pressing for and voting for the release of the files (he called her “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene), and she asked him why, he said, “People will be hurt.” By “people,” he didn’t mean the 1,200 victims of the Epstein/Maxwell sex trafficking enterprise. He meant FOTers (Friends of Trump) would be hurt. But is that believably enough for him to risk so much political capital? Or is the principle of parsimony to be applied here? What is the simplest and most clarifying explanation for Trump’s reluctance to release the files? Why would an extremely malignant narcissist go so far to protect his “friends?” If there is no smoking Trump gun in the files, why would he go to such lengths to conceal them?

Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell in an email in 2011, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump . . . [Victim’s name redacted] spent hours at my house with him. . . he has never once been mentioned.” In another email, he said “I know how dirty Donald is.”

Will the rest of us ever know what Jeffrey Epstein did about Donald Trump? It is highly unlikely, because the Epstein/Trump phenomenon has become a Black Hole of information. Information goes in, but it never comes out. Once the information crosses the event horizon of Epstein/Trump, there is no escape. I’m afraid that, no matter how many documents and images are released, we will never find out what happened. It’s like the deflection of light by massive bodies. When you get close to these massive bodies, or power structures, you get drawn into them, and lose perspective.

We may still find out enough to prosecute individuals involved directly in the sex trafficking, the way Ghislaine Maxwell was prosecuted, and that would be a good thing for the survivors and for the country. But we may never find out what happened and why, because the nature of power precludes that.

When people talk about “the Epstein class,” they mean those close to ultimate and unlimited power; that is, power that is above the law. It is no longer true that, in America, no one is above the law. Donald Trump is certainly above the law, thanks to the rulings of the Supreme Court. And anyone in his cabinet that does what he directs them to do is also immune from prosecution because of Trump’s blanket pardon power.

Trump is very close to enshrining the abuse of children into law. Jena-Lisa Jones and Marina Lacerda are two of Epstein’s victims. They were each 14 years old when they were first raped by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and trafficked to others. Standing with other survivors in front of the Capitol on September 9, 2025, Jena-Lisa Jones said that when she left Epstein’s house on East 71^st Street the first time, she thought about how “I couldn’t ever tell anyone about what actually happened in that house. This guy was so rich and had so many pictures with so many famous people and no one would have ever believed me if I’d told them.”

The fact that Trump’s Justice Department is obstructing justice by refusing to release the Epstein files should be very troubling to all Americans. It was Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald who first reported in November 2018 about the sweetheart deal given to Epstein by Alex Acosta and prompted the re-opening of the Epstein case. Brown just posted this on X, on December 22, 2025: “In recent weeks, I’ve received a lot of new information about girls and young women who were in fact sexually trafficked to powerful men. This is not a hoax.”