The tawdry Epstein saga seems to be never ending, with Donald Trump and his administration sinking ever deeper into the swamp. Attorney General Pam Bondi ignoring victims of Epstein’s sexual exploitation and non-stop insulting of their defenders is the latest chapter, but it’ll be far from the last.
The House and Senate passed the Epstein Transparency Act in November with only one dissenting vote, directing the Justice Department to release all unclassified Epstein files within 30 days except those that would expose Epstein’s victims while sparing no one else, including Epstein associates and government officials from exposure.
From the outset Bondi and her agency responded in ways that deepened suspicions of a coverup—and the suspicions keep getting deeper. In mid-2025 she claimed she had the Epstein’s “client list” on her desk and was reviewing it. Weeks later she said that no client list existed. In fact, at least 5 million pages of Epstein-related files did exist. When 3 million pages were released Jan. 30, 300+ prominent individuals are named, with only a few (including Britain’s former Prince Andrew) presently suspected of being an Epstein “client.” Even Andrew, who settled a civil suit charging him with having sex with an under-age girl, has denied allegations against him. He’ll get his day in court.
At least 10 other individuals, including six foreign officials, have resigned their posts owing to connections with Epstein or his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. Another handful, including Bill Gates and ex-Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers, have apologized for associating with Epstein.
Trump’s name appears in the released material tens of thousands of times, including an unverified accusation to the FBI that he raped a 13-year-old girl, which he denies.
Despite all the possible leads emanating from the Jan. 30 release or the 2.5 million pages that Congress may force Justice to release, the department and the FBI say they have no plans to investigate or charge anyone with participating in Epstein’s crimes.
The most explosive fact emerging from Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last week occurred after Washington Rep. Pamila Jayapal asked the 11 Epstein survivors and family members attending the hearing if they’d been contacted by the FBI or Justice Department. Not one had, even though victims would be the best sources of information on their victimizers.
When Jayapal asked Bondi whether she’d apologize to the survivors for that and for revealing the identities of 100 of them in her report despite the requirement they would be protected, she did not even turn to look at them. She told Jayapal, “I am not going to get in the gutter with these theatrics.” She attacked Rep. Jerrold Nadler, ranking Democrat on the committee in similar terms and also falsely condemned Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, of doing nothing about the Epstein case. He did not, to his discredit, investigate any Epstein associates, but did preside over Maxwell’s sentencing and kept an “Epstein library.”
Bondi accused Rep. Jamie Raskin of being a “washed up lawyer” and said “you’re not even a lawyer,” even though Raskin is a Harvard Law graduate, editor of the Harvard Law Review and a former American University law professor. Bondi, by contrast is a graduate of the University of Florida and Stetson University College of Law.
Raskin reported that when he examined the unredacted Epstein documents, as Congress members were permitted to do, he found references to “a 15-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl a 10-year-old girl” and even “a 9-year-old girl,” which he found “preposterous and scandalous.” One might add “depraved.” And emphatically worthy of vigorous investigation.
Along the way, Bondi said the Judiciary hearing should have been concerned with the Dow Industrials hitting a record 50,000 instead of the Epstein files and declared that Trump was “the most transparent president in American history” even though he opposed passage of the Transparency Act, then signed it because of its overwhelming Congressional support.
It was apparent to many observers that Bondi was trying to repair her relations with Trump after reports he was dissatisfied with her pursuit of his political adversaries. Trump pronounced her performance “fantastic.”
Another suspicious wrinkle in the Epstein saga is that Maxwell, serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking, sat for a nine-hour interview with Deputy Attorney General (and Trump’s former defense lawyer) and told him that, while Trump and Epstein were friends for nearly 20 years, she never saw him doing anything “inappropriate.” Immediately afterward, Maxwell was transferred from a maximum-security prison to perhaps the nation’s most lenient prison. Also, though Trump once called Maxwell “evil,” he has not ruled out giving her the pardon she seeks. Other outrages:
The Munich Mess
Organizers of this year’s Munich Security Conference, attended annually by hundreds of heads of government, top defense and foreign policy officials, legislators and think tank experts as well as more than 1,000 journalists, released a document beforehand saying that a major topic of discussion would be “the changing role of the United States in the international system.”
“The world has entered a period of wrecking ball politics,” it continued. “Sweeping destruction—rather than careful reforms and policy corrections—is the order of the day. The most prominent of those who want to free their countries of the existing order’s constraints…is the current US administration
“As a result, more than 80 years after construction, the US-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that “the leadership role of the United States is being challenged, perhaps already lost.” And that the world of great power rivalry that the US is trying to set up will leave the US alone and weakened…
“The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours,” Merz said. “Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech is turned against human dignity and the constitution. And we don’t believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade. We stand by climate agreements and the World Health Organization.”
As historian Heather Cox Richardson noted, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less confrontational than Vice President JD Vance was at last year’s Munich forum, “but his message was the same. He attacked all three of the pillars on which the US has previously stood in foreign affairs.
“Global trade has ruined the US economy,” he said, “while international institutions have undermined sovereignty, and a ‘climate cult’ has imposed energy policies that are ‘impoverishing our people.’
“He focused, though, on ‘mass migration,’ which he claimed ‘threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture and the future of our people.’ He called for Europe to join the tenets of the post-World War II vision, claiming that ‘we are part of one civilization—Western civilization.”
In a crimped view of that civilization, which the US historically describes as a nation of immigrants, he said the US and Europe are joined by “centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.”
Rubio did not cite democracy as one of the shared values of Western civilization. And to underscore the reason, his next visit after Munich was to Hungary, where he lauded Viktor Orban, a ruler who has virtually snuffed out democracy in his homeland.
My Love Affair with Putin
Europeans are urgently aware that Russia might attack one or more of their countries if it succeeds in defeating Ukraine, but leaders acknowledged in Munich that they do not have arsenals large enough to help Ukraine defeat Russia and require US participation to stall Russia’s torturous advances in Eastern Ukraine.
However, since last July 1 the US has “paused” weapons deliveries and intelligence support to Ukraine to pressure President Voldymyr Zelensky to sign onto Trump’s Russia-friendly peace proposal. Trump occasionally complains about Russia’s daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian housing. The attacks are forcing Ukrainians to endure sub-zero weather, a strategy designed to undermine their morale. Trump has imposed no significant pressure on Russia even though Vladimir Putin continues making maximalist demands as his price for signing a peace deal.
Trump’s preference for Russia is one of his most indefensible outrages. The US should be giving Ukraine not only defensive weapons to counter Russian attacks, but offensive weapons designed to defeat Russia.
Zelensky said it was “not fair” that Trump was putting more pressure on him than Putin to make concessions to reach a ceasefire agreement. Twice in recent days, Trump has said it was up to Ukraine, not Russia, to take steps to secure a peace settlement. He told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”
Putin and Trump want Ukraine to give Russia territory in Eastern Ukraine that Russia has not been able to conquer in the war. “Emotionally, people will not forgive this. Never. They will not forgive me. They will not forgive the United States,” Zelensky said.
The Jig’s Finally Up?
The outrages go on and on and on, but the American public seems to have finally caught on. Trump’s overall approval rating ranges from 41 % to 37% in major polls with 70% of independent voters disapproving. Sixty-one percent of all voters disapprove of his handling of inflation. Between 36% and 40% approve his record on job creation. Between 37% and 49% approve of his record on controlling the Southern border, but 65% think his immigration enforcement methods go “too far.” According to a new Quinnipiac poll, 17% approve of the way the Trump administration is handling the Epstein files. Republicans are split, with 40% approving and 37% disapproving Trump’s performance.
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