'Massive Mafia-like blackmail operation': Why 'spooked' Trump is 'scrambling' over Epstein
U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One en route from Scotland, Britain, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 29, 2025. REUTERS Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump has weathered scandal after scandal, including bankruptcies, public divorces, lawsuits and the possibility of imprisonment, according to American Conservative writer George D. O’Neill Jr.
“In spite of all this, he was able to persevere and vanquish or at least neutralize his opponents and twice win the presidency. It was an amazing test of personal fortitude and focus. Even his detractors were impressed,” writes O’Neill. “Yet after successfully navigating all these daunting travails, Trump appears to be spooked by calls from his own base to release the Epstein files. His bizarre and extraordinary response to the recent publication of a birthday card given to Epstein and bearing Trump’s signature only intensifies the serious concerns of the American public.”
O’Neill said this is a problem for Trump because the people around him had campaigned on releasing these files, and Trump made his own contributions to the call for transparency.
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“But for the past six months the administration has been scrambling and emitting lame excuses to explain why these files don’t matter and should remain concealed from the public,” wrote O’Neill. “This is quite a reversal and contradicts their campaign pronouncements.”
O’Neil expressed doubt Trump is merely trying to avoid personal embarrassment.
“Who or what has been able to cause the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress to babble silly excuses and obvious deceptions to justify their efforts to conceal this information from the public?" he asked.
O’Neil said Trump is proving himself to be among the secretive elite that American voters despise: “The American public increasingly feels that no matter what they vote for, the political elites generally ignore them,” he said, adding that the Epstein saga is “a glaring continuation of the long practice of our government's hiding unseemly policies and practices” repugnant to the voters.
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“We had to wait more than six decades for the government to finally provide proof that the ‘lone gunman’ who killed President John F. Kennedy — Lee Harvey Oswald — had been a CIA asset," said O’Neill. “This was no surprise to anyone who had paid attention over the past six decades, but why did we have to wait so long to see the official corroborating documents? What else is still hidden and why?”
It’s enough to make you think there's “a massive Mafia-like blackmail operation” with “inordinate power over our leaders,” said O’Neill. “Hopefully, there are enough honest people in Washington who can overcome the pressure from those who would conceal the truth.”
Read the full American Conservative report at this link.
