I haven’t posted much on this subject because I find it distastefully sordid. Now that a rarely nearly-unanimous Congress has passed a law calling for the federal government’s Epstein files to be made public, possibly with some redactions, I thought I’d comment on it.
Although at the time of this writing no court cases had been filed opposing the release of the files, I expect there to be some and I don’t know what the ultimate outcome of those will be. It is my understanding that some of the files are grand jury documents that aren’t supposed to be publicized.
Personally, I have no problem with the release of the files but I doubt they’ll be the “smoking gun” that Democrats seem to be longing for and if they are they’ll be a gun that fires in both directions. At his Substack Matt Taibbi writes:
The list of high-ranking politicians from both parties who traveled with or took money from Epstein — Donald Trump and Bill Clinton included (what was the latter’s “humanitarian” visit to Siberia with him about?) — boggles the mind. A character like Epstein can only thrive in a world where law enforcement and intelligence are fully intertwined with financial and sexual corruption, to the point where one has to entertain the idea that significant numbers of politicians are compromised, perhaps even in a form of systemic blackmail. That isn’t an easy thing to believe. In the words of the disgraced and disgraceful writer Michael Wolff, whose ostentatious presence at the middle of this story casts doubt on all of it, Epstein represents “the kind of insiderism that is mostly just a figment in outsiders’ fantasies.”
Since my “last delusions” about public figures were shattered more than a half century ago I won’t be at all surprised by anything that might emerge from those files. Or nothing for that matter.
I listened to Megan McArdle earlier give a pretty good take for why we shouldn’t release the Epstein files on the Central Air podcast. Basically, it’s that the impulse to release criminal investigation files is harmful given the generally untested and uncertain province of investigation materials. I would probably be more OK with them not being released than most people, but my sticking point is that Trump committed to their release and while I’m not sure it was ever an issue on which the campaign was fought or won, he should be held to account for it by those who want them released. (Megan’s retort is that she will not be bound by any dumb idea of Trump’s) Also, in terms of reputational damage, it’s already happening without the information in the files. Shrugs.