Jeffery Epstein may be dead but he remains a problem for Donald Chump. David McAfee (RAW STORY) notes:
A Trump cabinet member is in hot water on both side of the aisle after it was revealed that he may have lied about his ties to child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.
It was reported on Saturday that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was exposed in the most recent Epstein files release as being in business with Epstein until 2014, contradicting previous claims that he had cut ties with him much earlier.
That led one GOP lawmaker, Kentucky's Thomas Massie, to speak out on Saturday.
"According to legal documents and emails, Epstein and Lutnick did business together and Lutnick vacationed on Epstein’s island, LONG AFTER Lutnick claims they parted ways and after LONG AFTER Epstein was a known sex offender," Massie wrote.
A Democratic congressman then seized on that, sharing Massie's comment and adding, "Secretary Lutnick must resign."
Ted Lieu then added, "He’s despicable for vacationing on Epstein Island with child rapist Jeffrey Epstein. He’s despicable for going on national TV and lying about his relationship with Epstein."
Wow. What a shocker. Someone close to Chump with tighter connections to Epstein than the person ever publicly revealed. Marcia noted the same of "Secretary of the Navy John Phelan and Ben Black, Trump’s personal pick to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation." Back to Lutnick, Daniel Ruetenik (CBS NEWS) notes:
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he had "limited interactions" with Jeffrey Epstein, but documents show they were in business together as recently as 2014.
Lutnick and Epstein each signed on behalf of limited liability companies that agreed on Dec. 28, 2012, to acquire stakes in a now-shuttered advertising technology company called Adfin, documents released among the so-called Epstein files show.
Epstein and Lutnick's signatures appear on neighboring pages in the contract, with Epstein signing for his Southern Trust Company, Inc. and Lutnick for a limited liability company called CVAFH I. The documents list nine shareholders in total.
At THE NEW YORK TIMES, Michael Rothfeld notes:
The records directly contradict Mr. Lutnick’s assertion on a podcast last year that he had been so disgusted by Mr. Epstein during a 2005 visit to his townhouse that Mr. Lutnick had never set foot in a room with Mr. Epstein again.
“So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy,” Mr. Lutnick said in an interview on the podcast, “Pod Force One.” Reached briefly by phone last week, Mr. Lutnick said, “I spent zero time with him.”
[. . .]
The files suggest their relationship was mutual, with Mr. Epstein and Mr. Lutnick both initiating contact at different times. However, the records often lack context and might not document every interaction between the men.
In some cases, emails in the files simply reflect Mr. Epstein’s awareness of interesting tidbits about his neighbor, such as when Mr. Epstein’s lawyer pointed out that a main character in the television show “Billions” seemed to be based in part on Mr. Lutnick, or when his lawyer forwarded him an article about Mr. Lutnick’s lawsuit against a former assistant.
The Times reported last week that Mr. Lutnick and his family had planned a visit for Dec. 23, 2012, to Little St. James, Mr. Epstein’s private island off the coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The next day, Mr. Epstein’s assistant forwarded Mr. Lutnick a message from Mr. Epstein: “Nice seeing you,” suggesting the visit took place.
But by then the two men had already been in steady contact. Mr. Epstein’s schedule for May 1, 2011, shows a 5 p.m. appointment for drinks with Mr. Lutnick, followed by a 6:30 p.m. dinner with the filmmaker Woody Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn. The records suggest the meetings were at Mr. Epstein’s home and that Mr. Lutnick left something behind there.
“The phone was Howard Lutnick’s, it has been collected,” one of Mr. Epstein’s employees emailed him the next day.
Chump is a liar. And he is surrounded by people who, like him, were very close to Epstein. Let's not forget Alex Acosta. He's the one who decided to downgrade the charges against Epstein to begin with. And he went on to become what? Oh, that's right, Chump's Secretary of Labor in Chump's first term as president. From WIKIPEDIA:
In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Jeffrey Epstein after a parent reported that Epstein had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. In 2008, Acosta approved a controversial plea deal granting immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein.
As part of the plea deal, Epstein served 13 months in a minimum-security county jail.[2] He was also allowed to leave the facility up to 12 hours a day.[2]
From 2017 to 2019, Alexander Acosta served as the 27th United States secretary of labor. President Donald Trump nominated Acosta to be Labor Secretary on February 16, 2017, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 27, 2017.
After Epstein's arrest in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges, Acosta faced criticism for his role in the 2008 non-prosecution agreement. He resigned from the Trump administration on July 19 and was replaced by Eugene Scalia.
While the Republicans on House Oversight keep playing games with regards to Epstein, New Mexico doesn't appear to agree with that approach. Andre Salkin (SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN) reports:
A proposed “truth commission” to investigate possible crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein at his Santa Fe County ranch could, state lawmakers hope, make New Mexico a leader in seeking accountability in a scandal that has become one of the biggest issues in national politics.
House Joint Resolution 1 is headed to the House floor after winning unanimous approval from the House Judiciary Committee on Saturday and the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee a week ago.
Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, one of the sponsors of the resolution, said it proposes creating a bipartisan “fact-finding mission” aimed at “getting the story straight,” rather than investigating specific claims of sex trafficking or other crimes alleged to have occurred at Epstein’s sprawling Zorro Ranch near Stanley.
It would empower a special subcommittee of state House members to conduct hearings, issues subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses. The committee would deliver a final report on its findings by Dec. 31.
Lawmakers expressed hope New Mexico could pursue accountability in the high-profile Epstein case where out-of-state officials have fallen short. Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, whose district encompasses Zorro Ranch, said he drives past the property frequently and can almost see its three-story mansion from his home.
“Previous legislatures have not responded to this great public concern,” he said.
Singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow has voiced her opinion on the Epstein topic. Wesley Stenzel (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY) notes:
The "Soak Up the Sun" singer posted an impassioned plea for justice for Jeffrey Epstein's victims on her Instagram Stories on Thursday night — and called for the president to be "impeached and imprisoned" over his alleged connections to the late sex trafficker in her remarks.
"Those named in the Epstein files in other countries are going down hard for it," Crow wrote. "Not in America. We're just going to act like it never happened or that it's fake. Who are we if we do not stand up for children who are knowingly being pedaled to rich leaders all over the world," she asked.
Crow continued, "Trump needs to be impeached and imprisoned along with every other person…Democrat, Republican, American, or foreign who knew this was going on and never said anything."
Olivia Ralph (DAILY BEAST) notes that the announcement of Epstein's death was apparently prepared a day before he died:
Newly released Epstein files include a draft statement attributed to federal prosecutors that is dated the day before Jeffrey Epstein was found dead.
The draft appears among at least 23 documents in the disclosure labeled as statements from the Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Ralph also notes:
Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, claimed in a pardon petition filed last summer and recently obtained by the Daily Beast that Epstein was deliberately left unprotected in federal custody.
Tartaglione, a former police officer convicted of multiple murders, alleged that prison officials knowingly housed Epstein with an accused mass murderer despite earlier reports that the disgraced financier had raised concerns about his safety weeks before his death.
The claims were not substantiated, and Epstein’s death was officially ruled a suicide.
Newly released records reviewed by CBS News
have intensified questions about what happened inside the Metropolitan
Correctional Center on the night before Epstein was found dead.
Justice Department documents show investigators reviewing jail surveillance footage flagged an orange-colored figure moving up a staircase toward the locked tier housing Epstein’s cell at about 10:39 p.m. on August 9, 2019—hours before his body was discovered the next morning.
This doesn't help Epstein go away for Chump. None of it does. And that's before we get to the last story, Erin Keller (INDEPENDENT) reports on Epstein's brother Mark who believes Chump played a role in Epstein's death:
Jeffrey Epstein’s brother accused President Donald Trump of being involved in the late convicted sex offender’s death in a tip sent to the FBI, according to a bombshell email revealed in the Department of Justice’s release of Epstein files.
On February 22, 2023, Mark Epstein submitted an online tip to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center alleging that Epstein was murdered in his prison cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in 2019 following his conviction on child sex offenses, rather than dying by suicide.
The Independent confirmed in a phone call with Mark Epstein on Saturday that he submitted the tip, which contained two spelling errors. As seen in the files, it was then forwarded by an unidentified Threat Intake Examiner at the FBI NTOC to a special agent.
The disgraced financier’s brother included his personal contact information and IP address in the submission, both of which are redacted in the publicly released file.
“Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in his jail cell,” the tip read. “I have reason to believe he was killed because he was about to name names. I believe Presient (sic) Trump authorized is (sic) murder.”
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