the maxwell transfer is a distraction from the epstein story which is a distraction from the tariffs which is a distraction from the deportations which is a distraction from the BLS chaos which is a distraction from the fed business which is a distraction from doge which is a distraction from
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 7:06 PM
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THEY KNEW. “the worst kept secret in the social society circles in both Palm Beach and NY. It wasn’t just Trump who was there. There were people in the media…in science. There were tons of people that were at these events and at these parties with young girls”
open.substack.com/pub/contrari…— Jen Rubin (@jenrubin.bsky.social) August 1, 2025 at 11:02 AM
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well, that should tamp down the speculation, great work everyone
[image or embed]— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 5:41 PM
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it’s completely fucking crazy that ghislaine maxwell got a favorable transfer which she legally did not qualify for, based on a conversation with the deputy AG who used to be the president’s personal lawyer, that does not seem like it will ever become public, let alone be used in a prosecution
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 6:14 PM
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fwiw, i’m not sure how likely it is, but i do think it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they just quietly release her without any paperwork and no one figures it out until she’s left the country
[image or embed]— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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you can’t really pardon her, politically, it’s a fucking disaster; you can’t really kill her, that just pours a river’s worth of accelerant on an already-dangerous fire; but what if you could do a secret, third thing (functionally disappear her)
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 6:34 PM
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Brown: Brad Edwards deposed Epstein’s accountant—she worked for Epstein’s modeling company
She gave more detail than we had heard before, including the fact that when Epstein formed that company, he told her he wanted it to be set up just like Trump’s modeling agency.
[image or embed]
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Since No One Else Seems to Care, Let’s Remember Epstein’s Survivors www.jezebel.com/since-no-one…
[image or embed]— Gingerbird🦉 (@gingerbird.bsky.social) July 31, 2025 at 5:49 AM
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From Puck, “Johnson Loses the Epstein Caucus”:
When a House Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the Justice Department to release the so-called Epstein files last week, Georgia Rep. Brian Jack made a surprising decision. The freshman congressman and Trump loyalist, who served as the president’s political director during his first term and remains close with him and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, was one of three Republicans to vote with Democrats. House Republicans generally rely on Jack for insight into the president’s thinking, and he’s been given plum assignments, including candidate recruitment for House Republicans and a seat on the powerful Steering and Rules committees. And yet here he was openly defying Trump in support of a Democratic amendment that would force the D.O.J.’s hand and metastasize a fomenting political scandal.
But Jack was in political survivor mode. Two weeks ago, as one of the members of the House Rules Committee, he and other Republicans had voted against Epstein-related amendments pushed by Democrats, causing a backlash online and from voters and eventually halting business in the House, as I reported last week. The voters in Jack’s conservative district—the same ones who propelled him to victory in a Republican primary runoff, and then a 33-point drubbing of his Democratic opponent—were demanding transparency on the Epstein issue. By Wednesday, according to a lawmaker who spoke to him, Jack had decided he had no choice but to back the subpoena before he headed home for recess to face his constituents…
As the meeting got underway, a frustrated Rep. Clay Higgins, chair of the subcommittee, told Johnson in a testy phone call, according to two people familiar with the situation, that his committee wouldn’t be able to beat back Epstein-related measures, putting members in the difficult position of having to choose between Trump and a demanding MAGA base. Higgins questioned why the committee was even gaveling in. Loudly echoing rank-and-file Republican members, he demanded to hear the speaker’s plan to address the wave of Epstein measures. Johnson didn’t have much of a strategy.
Two other Republicans joined Jack in voting for the subpoena: South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, a Freedom Caucus member in one of the most competitive districts in the country. When Perry was later asked about Epstein at a telephone town hall last week, he declared that he’d voted for transparency. “I have requested the files,” he said, according to NPR. “I have requested that the D.O.J.—and you can see the letter publicly—that the D.O.J. release the files. Not only that, they also provide a special prosecutor.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, another Freedom Caucus member, had seemed as though he was going to back the Justice Department subpoena but waited until after the other committee members had voted, and then voted against it. One Republican insisted that Biggs will lose his bid for governor in Arizona over that vote. I’m not sure that’s true, but it shows how paranoid Republicans have become about the Epstein issue. Others think Biggs probably voted against the measure because he’s seeking Trump’s endorsement for his gubernatorial race.
In any case, it appears that Johnson’s balmy six-month honeymoon with this Congress, thanks largely to Trump’s support, is over. He’s struggling to control his conference and lacks a coherent strategy to turn the page. Of course, it doesn’t help that Trump and the White House are also floundering. As it turns out, if you build a presidential campaign around “exposing the truth,” you get penalized when you look like you’re covering it up instead…
someone from the white house got on the phone with comer and told him that he should not under any circumstances be allowed to testify in front of congress.
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 6:47 PM
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New in PN: Why Epstein has Trump crashing out
“At this point, Trump might as well release all the files. They can’t do any more damage than he does himself whenever he opens his mouth on the subject.”
[image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 1, 2025 at 8:09 AM
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Josh Marshall, at TPM:
… I’ve said several times that the extremity of Trump’s reaction and the level of apparent panic it’s driving must be in some degree proportionate to whatever he’s keeping secret. But what if it’s not? One long time TPM Reader put this to me over the weekend. He basically said: think how long and hard Trump fought to keep his taxes secret. And yet when they finally came out it was pretty underwhelming. So maybe this is just Trump’s reflex? He doesn’t want anyone in his business and he just goes to war even if there’s not that much reason to do so…
It’s a worthwhile cautionary note. But I don’t think this is the same as the tax return issue. Yes, Trump fought that for years. But that almost entirely amounted to saying “no” over and over again. Yes, he fought it in court. But that’s what Trump does. He fights things in court. He’s got plenty of money for lawyers. That didn’t require any real exertion on his part and, critically, it didn’t involve doing himself much political harm other than the general suspicions that his opponents had of him from all the way back in 2015. And in any case there’s always going to be a limit in what you’re going to find in anyone’s tax returns. It’s information you’re giving to the government! You’re not going to find: bribe from Saddam Hussein; miscellaneous payments for sex to underage girls.
The key is that the reaction is just very different. Trump has sustained a lot of damage from the last few weeks. It’s spurred a major fracture in his MAGA coalition, almost unheard of criticism from core supporters in the MAGA cinematic universe. It’s not too much to say that the story has completely consumed Washington, D.C. as well as the Congress and executive branch. At least for the moment it’s stymieing his whole agenda. This is hurting him a lot and I don’t think he’d be allowing himself to sustain this level of damage if he didn’t see what’s in those files (or what he fears is in those files) as a big threat.
Of course, it’s possible he doesn’t know for certain what’s in the files but he knows what he did. He can’t take the risk of finding out. You could turn my life upside down and review all my private notebooks and I have perfect confidence you wouldn’t find any evidence I ever played Major League Baseball. I’m 100% innocent. Trump clearly doesn’t have that confidence about this.
I still can’t imagine what could be that bad or frankly what he’s worried about. I really have a hard time believing any of this is happening. But it is happening. And I’m going to stick to thinking the black hole is there because of the gravitational force I see it exerting.
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this remains such an incredibly strange way to answer a very easy question
[image or embed]— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) August 1, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Randal Sexton
I’m kinda monitoring ‘Katie Johnson’ mentions in media. If that breaks thru ….
SpaceUnit
Whatever gets released will not be the actual Epstein files.
rikyrah
It’s obvious that the Orange Menace is all over those files
Martin
Everyone always knows.
5 years before the NYT story.
NobodySpecial
I would love to see SPY magazine come back from the dead for exactly one issue.
patrick II
The republicans weren’t the first one to sit on the Epstein files.
Aussie Sheila
@patrick II:
Really?
If that is the case then your maga loving arse should love to see the lot released, no?
Get a grip with the maga talking point.
It’s pathetic.
JoyceH
I think the point of the transfer to “camp” is so Maxwell could just walk out and vanish to another country where she could reunite with her stashed money and live in obscure luxury for the rest of her life.
And I am starting to believe that Trump’s behavior must indicate that he participated in Epstein’s crimes, because the level of panic he’s showing is far beyond the sin of “knew and did nothing”.
Aussie Sheila
@JoyceH:
You may be right about the source of trump’s behaviour but I actually believe he’s so stupid, he won’t take advice and just thinks he can bluff his way out of it.
In any case, the demand that ‘the files’ be released is useful and right in the circumstances. Just keep the drumbeat going. Past your summer break and into the autumn.
MagdaInBlack
@patrick II: Well, they’re sitting on them now, aren’t they? This is their big chance to be heroes and release them, right?
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
It’s also false. Epstein was arrested under Trump I, so Republicans were the first.
In any event, Dems didn’t run and win on Epstein conspiracy theories. Trump did, and now he’s paying the price.
Aussie Sheila
@Baud:
Yep. They are now on the hook, hoist on the petard of their own lies, if I may mix such metaphors. Serves them right. Chase them all the way to 2026 and beyond.
p.a.
Such an easy win compared to great but technical policies like ACA and JoeB’s assorted attempts to strengthen and restructure the economy: “release the files.”
And the official Dem Party position is “let the chips fall where they may”. Yes!
Tony Jay
Deny. Delay. Make time.
Get your people to go through every inch of the files.
Identify compromising information, including witnesses and confirmatory sources.
Create brand new Epstein Files with bleached documents and milquetoast references to Trump.
Lean on witnesses and sources with threats, bribes, etc. Under cover of National Security.
Announce Special Investigation. Leak approved details for months and months.
Have Special Investigation morph into investigation of criminal conspiracy to falsely incriminate Trump.
Drag out past Election, using investigation to harass Democrats and dominate the news.
It’s what I’d do.
Aussie Sheila
@Tony Jay:
It’s easy for you to say!
But almost impossible to do for an outfit that always has to work ‘towards the boss’, without a clue as to what success looks like or what he really wants from one moment to the next.
They are fucked.
mappy!
3D chess, Deny, Delay, Distract.
And then the paranoia sets in…
(Back to Putin, where can we send some submarines…? Groceries anyone?)
Baud
mappy!
The problem here may be that too many people have seen the files. As a crime evolves and expands, adding more people, the eventuality that someone can expose it increases… It only takes one John Dean. One Lowell Wicker.
Tony Jay
@Aussie Sheila:
They just do what Trumpworld organisations have always done when the Boss is in a tight spot. They identify the threat to Trump’s brand and they turn it into a problem for their enemies through lies, threats and distractions.
Except this time they have the whole weight of a captured US Government to bring to bear.
Baud
Hoodie
Trump is too lazy to go through the files himself and has to rely on underlings to tell him if there’s anything damaging. Of course, his underlings are incompetent boobs, so he can’t rely on them. They don’t know the context because he can’t tell them that, which means they may miss stuff that leads to really bad conclusions, That’s all driving him crazy, because he knows what he did/knew and his potential exposure.
Princess
Maxwell was not technically ineligible. She was ineligible. Media kissing up to her even as it writes this story.
Baud
Princess
On Bluesky Marshall linked this clipping of Trump “dating” Anousk de Georgiou post introduction by Maxwell
bsky.app/profile/joshtpm.bsky.social/post/3lvjkddmq6s2u
And this story from Anousk de Georgiou of being raped repeatedly and sex trafficked by Epstein with Maxwell’s help.
nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1056901
p.a.
@Baud: I’m sure the current admin of retrograde bibleists, grifters, and crotch-curious freaks will be right on top of any resulting events!
Aussie Sheila
@Tony Jay:
Not quite. Their hold on sections of their Congressional base is slipping as even ‘red’ electorates are getting stroppy with the evasions.
Despite the BS he is done come 2028. Congressional representatives and Senators know this.
Their goal is to retain their job beyond 2028. The incentive structures here are out of alignment.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: My Gov does not pull his punches, does he.
Princess
@Baud: The NYT is an active bad actor. I don’t understand people who still read it for news value.
waspuppet
It’s increasingly clear that Trump was much more than a client of Epstein’s. The only question left is whether he was a partner-turned-competitor or a competitor-turned-partner.
Princess
@waspuppet: I can think of one more question: was the Trump Epstein business model just sex with teens or was it actually sex with teens in the name of blackmail and compromat and favours. I don’t think Epstein nets a billion plus by the sex alone.
Another Scott
@Princess: “Madam Maxwell”.
They were not at all subtle about it, were they…
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
@Tony Jay: Hey Mr. Jay. Don’t know if you got a chance to read that New Lines Magazine article about British politics i mentioned the other day, titled “The UK’s Fragmenting Politics.” Even if you have others might be interested, so here’s a link:
share.google/AzwdTXcv9t9xJ9aeX
@Aussie Sheila:
Geminid
@Princess: From what I’ve read, Epstein’s oprrstion was manifold. He used his money to infiltrate institutions like Harvsrd and get close to high-profile polititians and businessmen, in particular tech titans. He also supplied *some* them with young, nubile women, the underage ones being a subset of his offerings. There was a blackmail component, but that was only one part of a broader influence and espionage operation.
Geminid
@Geminid: The complete title for the New Lines article, and it’s lead paragraph:
As authors Joe Betts and Lydia Wilson note, membership does not neccessarily equate with electoral clout; the new party polls at 10%, similar to the Greens. But the as yet unnamed party is part of a larger trend of fragmentation in UK party affiliation that they believe is leading the nation into “uncharted waters.”
Baud
@Geminid:
There’s some discontent on Blue Sky this morning because the new party has apparently invited a couple of anti LGBT (esp T) people into the inner circle, at least as far as I can gather.
Geminid
@Geminid: New Lines Magazine* publishes excellent articles on a wide of topics. Another posted last week, by Israeli Ori Goldberg:
I have not tried a link to this article yet, so this one may or may not work:
newlinesmag.com/argument/israeli-liberals-grapple-with-the-g-word/
The “G-Word” is Genocide.
* New Lines Magazine is published by Syrian American Hassan I. Hassan. I encountered Mr. Hassan last December through reporter Oz Katerji, who recommended him as a reliable source for reporting on Syria. Katerji is best known for his reporting on the Russia/Ukraine war, but he is British-Lebanese and took a strong interest in events in Lebanon and Syria last year.
chemiclord
@Princess: From what we’ve seen, it seems like Epstein was really a vessel for a whole bunch of illicit activities, a nobody that was happy to be a glorified bag man for anyone powerful and/or wealthy so that he could have a taste of that lifestyle himself.
His “client list” no doubt extends far beyond pedophilia. Hell, it might not even be his primary motivation or source of blackmail material. He made a habit of attaching to anyone with a public profile, possibly to shroud all those dealings and make it as hard as possible to detangle who was in on his schemes, and who was merely a useful face to obscure what was going on.
JetsamPool
My current tentative hypothesis (I can be persuaded otherwise!) is that the Epstein files are too salacious for the media to resist, overcoming their deference and propensity to sanewash. The mad king is worried that the press will turn against him, since he is in no danger of legal consequences.
I’d also like to know if there is anything that would normally be legally actionable in the files, and if releasing them will forestall future legal actions (under normal circumstances).
sab
@JetsamPool: Haven’t the statutes of limitations run on most of these?
JetsamPool
@sab:
No idea. I’m watching the process play out with fascination but no real expectations.
ruckus
@JoyceH:
@Aussie Sheila:
I’d bet you both are right. Pompous, arrogant people think they can do anything, anytime and they will never have to admit, apologize or pay for their bullshit. They must be right, look how great they are…..
It’s being trump, looking in a mirror and seeing a 180 lb, muscular, 35 yr old, strong man. Not because that’s what’s in the mirror, because it’s what he wants to see. He can’t accept who and what he is so he lies to even himself. He’s not the first human to do this, he won’t be the last.
ruckus
@sab:
It might not be the legal issues, it might be public perception that he’s worried about. Look at his life, public perception is far scarier to people like him than reality or legal BS. He’s got money, not an endless supply but MONEY. If nothing else that can slow the slide quite a bit, at least on any legal angle. He’s also aging out and is in such great physical condition that he might live forever…….. Getting old is great, being old somewhat less. Once one gets to the upper level of aging, one really doesn’t have as great a concept of older. Sure it’s far better to get older than not, but aging out is not the same as the first half of living. Someone in his condition/situation/age range has a rather different perspective than someone 50-60 years younger. Ask me how I know…..
Bill Arnold
@Hoodie:
Mr. Trump is functionally illiterate.
I expect that by this point, multiple copies of the archive(s) are on external drives, and that some are well hidden, like above the drop ceiling in a mother-in-law’s house.
At any rate, LLM(AI)-summarization is [obligatory “probably”] being used.
Archon
The ONLY thing worse for Trump then his incompetently done cover up is if Epstein or Maxwell gave testimony that Trump knowingly had sex with underage girls. Anything short of that it would make sense for Trump to release the files which makes me think that is EXACTLY why Trump doesn’t want to.
Tony Jay
@Geminid:
Just arrived back in the gloomy old UK. I’ll settle down when I get home and give that a real. Sounds interesting from the intro.
Many Thanks.