Epstein is an unreliable narrator; but then so is Trump
By Timothy L. OBrien / Bloomberg Opinion
Jeffrey Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while imprisoned on charges of being a sex trafficker and a pedophile, continues to haunt the Republican Party and its leader, President Donald Trump.
Republicans released about 20,000 pages of Epstein documents on Wednesday, shortly after Democrats published a handful of emails Epstein once sent to confidantes and acquaintances suggesting that Trump knew more about Epsteins predations than he had acknowledged. The disgraced financier also seemed to allege in the documents that Trump kept company for hours with one of Epsteins victims.
The White House dismissed the trove as nothing more than selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump. The reality is that it was conspiracy-minded Republicans who set the Epstein firestorm in motion last summer, outraged that Trumps Justice Department ended an investigation into Epsteins suicide and clientele.
Trump, who hasnt been accused of any crimes in connection with Epstein, once made political hay stoking conspiracy theories about Epsteins relationships with elites. He knitted that tale into a broader narrative about institutional malfeasance smothering average Americans, and it may not have occurred to him that some of the traps he set would eventually snap back.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-epstein-is-an-unreliable-narrator-but-then-so-is-trump/