The controversy over Jeffrey Epstein rumbles on, regardless of President Trump’s efforts to place it behind him.
It’s been virtually three weeks since a joint, unsigned memo from the FBI and the Division of Justice (DOJ) insisted “no incriminating ‘shopper listing’” had been discovered amongst materials associated to Epstein. The memo additionally contended that there had been “no credible proof discovered that Epstein blackmailed distinguished people as a part of his actions.”
The assertion brought on a firestorm – together with amongst many Trump supporters, who had been primed to anticipate huge revelations about Epstein, the sexual predator and disgraced financier who died, apparently of suicide, in 2019.
Lawyer Common Pam Bondi had stated in a February Fox Information interview that an Epstein shopper listing was “sitting on my desk proper now to overview.”
In earlier years, folks very near Trump, together with his eldest son Don Jr. and Vice President Vance, had urged there was a nefarious motive behind the failure to reveal extra materials about Epstein.
However even because the controversy strikes on, there are lots of unanswered questions.
Listed below are 5 of the largest.
What occurs with Ghislaine Maxwell?
Developments round Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein affiliate, have been among the many most intriguing new developments.
Todd Blanche, the second highest rating determine within the DOJ, met with Maxwell in Tallahassee, Fla., on Thursday and Friday.
Maxwell acquired a 20-year jail sentence in 2022 for conspiring with Epstein in his abuse.
The weird transfer by Blanche, who served as certainly one of Trump’s private attorneys earlier than ascending to his present function on the DOJ, has turn into a partisan flashpoint.
Democrats and different Trump critics are warning of the prospect of some form of quid-pro-quo deal, through which Maxwell could be supplied a pardon, or at the very least some stage of clemency, in return for exculpatory phrases on Trump.
“The battle of curiosity simply stares you within the face,” Senate Minority Chief Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated in a speech on Thursday.
Blanche has defended the conferences as a simple pursuit of extra info.
In a statement on Tuesday, he stated, “President Trump has instructed us to launch all credible proof. If Ghislane Maxwell has details about anybody who has dedicated crimes in opposition to victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”
There are causes to be skeptical about whether or not lenient remedy of Maxwell would quel the controversy. It would simply as simply ratchet it up.
However on Friday, earlier than leaving for a visit to Scotland, Trump notably didn’t rule out a pardon or clemency of Maxwell.
“I’m allowed to do it but it surely’s one thing I’ve not considered,” he instructed reporters on the White Home.
How does Trump’s case in opposition to the Wall Avenue Journal go?
The Epstein matter has seen Trump go into full authorized battle in opposition to the Wall Avenue Journal, its dad or mum firm Information Company and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Trump says he was defamed by a Journal story that alleged a letter bearing his identify and a drawing was included in an album put collectively by Maxwell to mark Epstein’s fiftieth birthday in 2003. The president is looking for $10 billion in damages.
The Journal has stood by its story and has continued to report vigorously on Trump and Epstein. On Wednesday, days after Trump filed his swimsuit, the Journal reported that Trump had been instructed by the DOJ again in Could that his identify was talked about within the Epstein information – although the information group famous that such a point out will not be, in itself, proof of wrongdoing.
The truth that neither Trump nor Murdoch are inclined to again down units up a placing conflict, not least due to the Murdoch household’s function at Fox Information.
Is Pam Bondi in hassle?
Some Republicans and different Trump allies plainly blame Bondi for at the very least a part of the political mess through which they discover themselves.
They contend that the lawyer basic’s feedback within the February Fox interview had been the spark that ignited the flame of controversy that’s now burning the president.
A former lawyer for Trump and Epstein told the BBC this week that the DOJ had “jumped the gun a bit” in overhyping the data that that they had.
“They had been in favor, for good causes, of revealing and full transparency, however they didn’t know what that they had but,” David Schoen instructed the BBC’s “Newsnight.”
In the meantime, Politico reported this week on GOP disquiet over Bondi’s function, quoting one unnamed senior Home GOP aide saying, “I believe she, from pillar to submit, dealt with this factor so badly and bizarrely.”
However voices near Trump, together with White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, have publicly defended Bondi, stressing her work to advance Trump’s broader agenda.
The New York Instances additionally reported on Thursday that Bondi “felt blindsided and irritated” by calls for from Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that the DOJ ought to probe actions taken by the Obama administration in relation to Russian meddling within the 2016 election.
Will Republicans rally round Trump?
The Epstein controversy has been unusually damaging to Trump as a result of it has cracked the unity of the GOP and his Make America Nice Once more (MAGA) base.
A Wall Avenue Journal ballot launched on Thursday night, discovered that 69 % of all registered voters – and a placing 54 % of Republicans – had both little or no confidence that the DOJ had absolutely investigated the Epstein matter.
Elected Republicans have additionally made a stand, at the very least in some circumstances.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is main an effort to drive the DOJ to launch as a lot documentation as doable on Epstein. In a separate, closely-watched vote on a Home panel this week, three Republicans – Reps. Nancy Mace (S.C.), Brian Jack (Ga.) and Scott Perry (Pa.) – voted with Democrats to subpoena the DOJ for Epstein paperwork.
Republicans are additionally anticipated to obtain loads of hostile questioning on the Epstein matter from their constituents whereas the Home is on its summer season recess.
All of that being stated, Trump’s total grip on the GOP is tight. He might nicely be capable to carry his celebration into firmer line.
How lengthy does the story hold making headlines?
The brand new lease of life for the Epstein story exhibits no actual indicators of dying down – a lot to Trump’s displeasure.
Certainly, actions that he or his allies have taken have injected new gasoline into the furor. Trump’s case in opposition to the Journal and Blanche’s conferences with Ghislaine Maxwell each fall into that class.
Critics allege that another actions taken by the Trump administration, together with the rash of loud allegations in opposition to the Obama administration over the 2016 election, are supposed as a distraction from the Epstein matter. If that’s the case, they haven’t actually labored.
It’s all the time doable that some main home or world occasion might intervene and banish Epstein from the headlines.
However Massie, the maverick Kentucky Republican main the combat for extra disclosure, instructed reporters this week that he expected public calls for on the problem to develop stronger over the summer season.
If that proves true, it’s very dangerous information for Trump.