President Donald Trump maintained that he "was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island." However, this week's release of thousands of documents pertaining to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein show that the president had not been forthcoming with the American public.
In a Wednesday essay, the Atlantic's Sarah Fitzpatrick observed that Trump had indeed been on Epstein's jet more than half a dozen times according to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) latest tranche of documents from Epstein's two federal criminal investigations. And Trump's name came up more than 100 times in this week's release – including one FBI tip in which an unnamed person claimed that the eventual 45th and 47th president of the United States assaulted an underaged girl along with Epstein in the 1990s.
"Although many references to Trump are clearly from news reports or from seemingly unverified tips to the FBI, one conclusion from the files is that Trump’s relationship with Epstein, a former friend, was of interest to federal law enforcement for years," Fitzpatrick wrote.
The Atlantic writer also quoted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is the chief co-sponsor of the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act that Trump signed into law last month despite fighting it for months. The Kentucky Republican maintained that there are more men implicated in criminal acts with Epstein that the Trump administration has yet to name, and that the president himself has not been truthful about his relationship with Epstein.
"Although the files are overly redacted, they’ve already demonstrated that the narrative painted by Patel in hearings, Bondi in press statements, and Trump himself on social media wasn’t accurate," Massie told Fitzpatrick. "A complete disclosure consistent with the law will show there are more men implicated in the files in possession of the government."
The Trump administration has so far not named 10 alleged co-conspirators whose names are redacted in one document released this week. According to Fitzpatrick, some members of the House Oversight Committee are already preparing subpoenas to discern the identities of those men. Committee members are also reportedly drafting a contempt resolution for Attorney General Pam Bondi.
"The Department of Justice needs to shed more light on who was on the list, how they were involved, and why they chose not to prosecute," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated. "Protecting possible co-conspirators is not the transparency the American people and Congress are demanding."
Click here to read Fitzpatrick's full article in the Atlantic.
