We Finally Know Why Trump Has Tried So Hard to Hide the Epstein Files

Politics A new report describes Donald Trump as an “active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women.” Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 22, 1997. Davidoff Studios/Getty Images Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. One of the biggest mysteries of Donald Trump’s second term in office is why, exactly, he is so touchy about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who is now dead but whose crimes as a child sex predator and shady financier are still unraveling. You’d think the MAGA base would be eager to get to the bottom of this: This slice of the GOP has long been obsessed with pedophiles, mingling with the QAnon movement during Trump’s first term in conspiracy-mongering about an outlandish (and untrue) Democratic pedophile ring run out of a D.C. pizza restaurant, with children being sex-trafficked in Wayfair cabinets. In the lead-up to Trump’s second term, they latched onto a case with actual evidence to back it up: Epstein, and the scores of girls he was accused of grooming, assaulting, and trafficking to the men in his orbit. Trump supporters rallied around a demand to release the Epstein files, millions of documents held by the FBI that Epstein watchers suspected may not only further incriminate him but many other powerful people as well. Members of the Trump administration pledged full transparency and the full release of the files; meanwhile Trump himself said he had no role here and that the files totally exonerated him from any wrongdoing. And yet the full files remain unreleased, hidden from public view by the Trump administration’s own FBI and Department of Justice as rumors swirled. Now we understand why Trump didn’t want them released. Just a week before the midterm elections that are already shaping up to be a bloodbath for the GOP, Democrats have dropped a bombshell. “A growing body of evidence demonstrates that Donald Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s,” a just-released report from the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee states. Additionally, they claim that Trump has leveraged his FBI and DOJ to cover up the evidence, and have now called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any potential wrongdoing. The report is stunning. While many of the accusations were previously publicized, the stories have been a drip-drip of allegations; putting them all together in a single report has the effect of connecting a network of abusers, giving a reader a bird’s-eye view of how predatory men allegedly worked together to traffic and assault women and girls. And at the heart of the Democrats’ argument is corruption. After all, this same administration has turned self-dealing into an art form, and has enriched the president to the tune of billions of dollars, all while engaging in a staggering cover-up to protect powerful men who abuse vulnerable girls. And one of those powerful men, they say, was the president himself. Five women, four of them named and one anonymous, claim they were victimized by Epstein and that Trump also raped or sexually assaulted them. Part of the scheme allegedly revolved around Elite Model Management, run by John Casablancas, who was a friend of both Epstein’s and Trump’s. Many of the models recruited by Elite as underage girls say that they were raped or otherwise assaulted by Casablancas and others, and were also given to Epstein, who sexually assaulted them as well. Casablancas partnered with Trump to create Elite’s Look of the Year competition; the competitors were girls aged 14 to 19. According to the report, Casablancas met his third wife at Trump’s Look of the Year competition—a girl who was just 16, though he was in his 50s. The models recruited by Casablancas were trotted out at various events and parties with Trump and often Epstein, including at Mar-a-Lago. A second man, Paolo Zampolli, also worked as a modeling agent who allegedly recruited women and girls for Epstein; he was close friend with Trump and even served in the Trump administration as special envoy for global partnerships until earlier this year. He is also the agent who recruited Slovenian model Melania Knauss, helping with her housing and immigration status; he claims he’s the one who introduced her to her future husband. Some others dispute this, claiming Epstein was the one who made the introduction (the Trumps deny this). Just as damning as the allegations of sexual assault are those of a cover-up. In one startling interview between Attorney General Todd Blanche (who formerly served as Trump’s personal attorney and defense lawyer before taking over the Justice Department) and Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell seems poised to discuss details of one woman’s accusations against Trump, until Blanche interrupts her, instructing her, “Let’s not talking about individuals” and repeating that he doesn’t want to “get into” a “he said, she said” or whatever it is she’s about to disclose. This behavior, the Democrats who wrote the report allege, “potentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding—serious felonies.” The report also proffers evidence to refute Trump’s claim that he didn’t know Epstein well and had banished him from Mar-a-Lago because of his behavior toward girls and women. According to White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis, “None of these allegations are true. This ‘report’ is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump’s historic achievements.” She added that “the President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep.” Regardless of this denial, the demand for an appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump–Epstein ties and any possible cover-up is well overdue. Survivors deserve to see accountability. The public deserves the truth. And the release of the report a week before the midterm is savvy politics. If there’s one issue that unites Americans from left to right, it’s that Epstein was a world-class scumbag, and his death unfortunate only insofar as it meant he never truly saw justice. I suspect most Americans would agree that anyone else who enabled Epstein or engaged in crimes with him should be named, shamed, and potentially prosecuted—no matter what side of the political aisle they sit on. But so far, the Trump administration has stymied efforts to do just that. That should be a scandal itself, but it turns out it might also be a much darker red flag about why the administration won’t investigate. Democrats are smart to point that out. If there really was nothing to see in the Epstein files, you’d think that the Trump administration would release them and call it a big win, especially at a moment when they’re down and out. Cost of living remains unaffordable for many Americans while the president who promised no more foreign wars is engaged in a spectacularly stupid conflict of choice with Iran, leaving American taxpayers footing the bill. It is objectively strange—and obviously suspicious—that the Trump administration isn’t using everything it can to distract from the unpopular reality it’s created for voters. The Epstein files remain one of the most captivating and conspiracy-fueling issues precisely because so much secrecy still surrounds them. And why? The man at the center of the criminal enterprise is dead. His second-in-command is in prison. Many prominent men have already been publicly embarrassed by their ties to Epstein. The continued withholding of the files and the smearing of anyone who demands their release, and the stonewalling of any investigation into why they have not been released, simply stinks. And it reinforces Americans’ cynicism with government and sense that everyone in power is inherently corrupt. Unfortunately, too many people see Trump as simply more of the same, rather than an aberrant figure who makes a mockery of American democracy and who must not just be ousted, but ostracized, and his party, co-conspirators, and enablers condemned. Part of the problem with the stories of Epstein, Trump, and the corruption all come down to the same thing: The bit-by-bit release of information has created a long record of abhorrent behavior, which means that the bar to shock is so high it’s almost impossible to clear. There is a kind of disgust fatigue at play: Yeah, we know Epstein was a disgusting sex predator, and that some of the men around him probably partook, too; what’s new? Those who are ideologically motivated to believe Trump at all costs are also probably motivated to believe him on Epstein, too; very little seems like it would change the minds of hardcore MAGA adherents. But persuading hardcore MAGA adherents isn’t the task at hand. Persuading the persuadable is; so is restoring dignity and accountability to the office of the presidency. Neither of those tasks are fully completed by finally, fully, and transparently investigating Epstein and the Trump administration’s treatment of the case. But it would be a good and necessary start. And if this administration refuses—and it seems primed to refuse the appointment of a special counsel—voters should let the administration know what they think about that at the polls next week. Democrats Donald Trump Republicans Sexual Assault Women Jeffrey Epstein