Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophilic monster. But he has become something more: a Frankenstein created by Trump-supporting MAGA conspiracists. And now that they have power, the creature they built has come back to haunt them.
This is a Gothic tale of a political movement forged on social media conspiracy. It was politically useful to stoke fear, outrage, and anger when they were on the outside. But now that they hold power — and “the file is on my desk,” as AG Pam Bondi so memorably declared on Fox — they’re cornered. Either they produce the goods, or they have to figure out how to destroy the monster before it destroys them.
One tried-and-true tactic: distraction. Launch a new, juicy fake scandal to draw attention away — say, an investigation of former CIA Directors John Brennan and James Comey for the “Russia, Russia, Russia” thing. But it won’t work. First, it’s old news. No one remembers or cares about Brennan and Comey anymore. Second, the Russia investigation already happened — multiple reports, charges laid, convictions obtained. It’s been done to death.
Tactic number two: bury it. This is proving to be a debacle.
The official FBI two-page memo dismissing the Epstein case raises more questions than it answers, giving it the unmistakable stench of a cover-up. One reason is obvious: Epstein and Trump were Palm Beach party besties in the mid-’90s, during the very period when Epstein was most prolifically raping 14-year-old girls. Common sense says the likelihood of evidence linking Trump is pretty high.
“The client list,” which the memo claims does not exist, was always just shorthand for the well-connected, high-powered ‘johns’ to whom Epstein trafficked girls. The overwhelming evidence is that he did exactly that — and we know one of them was Prince Andrew, despite his well-publicized denial. Whether a literal list exists is irrelevant. What does exist, according to the memo, is “a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography.” The memo also claims Epstein had over a thousand victims. Yet no further investigation is warranted? It makes absolutely no sense.
Then there’s Epstein’s jailhouse suicide on August 10th. The memo repeats the official autopsy findings, and to support them, approximately 11 hours of poor-quality surveillance footage has been released — from a camera on an upper floor, trained on a lower-floor common area leading to a stairwell (mostly out of view) that goes up to Epstein’s cell. It settles nothing. It only adds to suspicion. The fact that a minute is missing from the video is almost incidental.**
There are so many anomalies and lapses surrounding the most high-profile, loathed, and feared (by the powerful) inmate in America at the time:
- There hadn’t been a suicide at the facility in 14 years — until Epstein’s.
- Epstein had already attempted suicide on July 23rd. At the time, he had a cellmate: multiple-murder and drug-conspiracy suspect Nicholas Tartaglione. Tartaglione was cleared of any involvement, no details given, and Epstein was removed from suicide watch after only six days.
- His new cellmate was removed the day before his death, on August 9th.
- The evening he died, Epstein met with his lawyers, who described him as “upbeat.”
- Epstein’s last phone call was unmonitored, against protocol, and was originally reported as made to his mother. In fact it was later determined to be made to a number in Belarus.
- No suicide letter was left — only a note complaining about large bugs on his body, burnt food, and a guard who locked him naked in a shower cell for an hour.
- The initial report said Epstein was returned to his cell at 7:49 PM. The video (and the FBI memo) shows he was actually led upstairs at 10:30 PM.
- After 10:30 PM, the guards didn’t do their scheduled rounds. Instead, they falsified logs. They claimed to be asleep, but the video shows otherwise.
- The camera near Epstein’s cell wasn’t recording.
- In violation of protocol, Epstein’s body was removed before crime-scene photos could be taken.
- The autopsy raised questions: the neck wounds, whether a bedsheet could cause such injuries, and whether a man of Epstein’s height and weight (1.8 m, 185 lbs) could have hanged himself from the top bunk. There was blood on his neck, but seemingly none on the sheet. Post-mortem photos show bottles and items still standing upright on the bunk.
If you’ve read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you know the monster is chased all the way to the North Pole by its creator, who dies trying to catch him. Similarly, this Epstein-Frankenstein will not die in the cold. It will survive in the server farms of social media. Those who gave it life will spend their remaining credibility trying to silence it — or be devoured by what they cannot deny.
** Since posting this I have watched a fascinating YouTube deep dive into the facts surrounding the missing minute as reported in the initial investigation which suggests that it may not be as incidental as first thought and could indicate something nefarious occurring.
