Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Tellafriend View Post



that's it? seriously?

that's why you think he has sunk his reputation and support of so many? that's why he's put all this effort, lied openly about the reasons why he's not releasing them, many times, had his staff lie, had the fbi spend thousands of hours scouring the files to remove reference to him, etc.?

come on dd, you are far smarter and more intuitive than that.
Anyone smart and intuitive will look at what those emails from Epstein DON'T say, and you can infer from there.

If Epstein felt he really had something on Trump beyond "he knew about it", he'd have said so in those emails. He didn't. Instead he focused on utilizing the fact that Trump knew in order to get favors later.

The rule about blackmail and implied blackmail is that you always use your strongest stuff. If you helped me murder someone and bury the body, my leverage on you is NOT "He knew I killed someone and said nothing".


Note that Trump originally promised to release the Epstein files. He wouldn't have done this if he knew he'd go back on it, because he knew that would backfire. At the time, I think he figured he'd be a hero for releasing them, even if he took a little bit of a hit for knowing about Epstein's crimes and staying quiet. He then probably had fellow Republicans come to him who claimed they'd be loyal to him if he did NOT release the files, and that was too good of an offer to refuse. At the same time, he probably realized that he might not escape it as unscathed as he first thought. How does he explain to the American people that he stayed friends with a pedo and underage girl trafficker, despite being fully aware of what was going on?

In the end, it was safer for him just to push away the Epstein matter, even though it angered some of his base.
They didn't stay friends. They became enemies over a business deal and hadn't talked in 15 years, which is why Trump was never on the Lolita Express or visited the island, as they had become estranged before that.

I tend to think the whole Epstein thing was way overblown, as Patel said. There was no pedophile blackmail ring. It was just a guy who was into prostitutes, and grooming troubled young women into prostitutes. And he liked them young, and sometimes may have crossed below the 18 year old barrier. And may have even loaned out a few to his friends in high places.

But the 'friends in high places' includes some names Trump doesn't want to release (for his own reasons) so he is choosing not to.

And there isn't much more than that.

That being said, there is enough smoke there is probably fire that he was the kind of connected person who could get things done that intelligence agencies (including buy not limited to CIA, MI5 and Mossad) went to when they couldn't go through public channels. And it is very possible he had "help" with his suicide from someone in that world.