It’s not about Jeffrey Epstein. It’s about the Epstein victims

OPINION:

There’s a whole lot of talk going ‘round these days about the need to move on and let go and get over the Jeffrey Epstein matter — that it’s old news, conspiracy talk and a real “nothing to see here, go home, folks” topic of coverage.

But the Jeffrey Epstein matter is not about Jeffrey Epstein. It never was. Not really. It’s about the victims. It’s about the girls, particularly the minor-age girls, who were sexually abused, sexually trafficked and sexually exploited. 

The list — the one that existed for years, the one that Democrats ignored but that Republicans promised to release, the one that this White House and this president, Donald Trump, and this president’s inner circle suggested, implied or outright stated would be released to the public for a full accounting and to bring about full accountability — yes, that list — that list is now, suddenly, just in very recent days, nonexistent.

“[It’s] sitting on my desk right now,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in February, in response to a question about the administration’s intent to release the Epstein client list.

And a few days ago?

The Department of Justice and FBI in a memo said that after an exhaustive search and an exhaustive review and an exhaustive investigation of Epstein documents and materials, there was “no incriminating client list” to be found. Oh, and yeah, Epstein wasn’t murdered in jail; he committed suicide.

So stop talking about it.

Stop talking about it?

Trump has called for the release of the Epstein grand jury testimony. But he simultaneously slammed those who would perhaps like to see the grand jury testimony — and then some.

“I have asked the Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“With that being said,” he continued, “and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!”

Well, on Democrats, Trump is right. Democrats had years to investigate and conclude investigations on Epstein, and bring to the public light all the files, documents, lists, etc. they wanted — and they chose not to do anything. They chose silence. So silent is what they should now be. They are truly “troublemakers” and “left lunatics” who only want to use the Epstein story to destroy Trump.

But with all due respect to Trump, and even more so, to MAGA, there are still valid questions to be asked and answered in relation to Epstein. And they really don’t have to do with Epstein — except that he’s the central figure. In other words: Nobody cares about Epstein. But everybody should care about Epstein’s victims, and obtaining justice for these poor, exploited souls. Amid all the chatter, let’s not forget what’s important.

Go back to the beginning of the Epstein case.

In 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to two felonies of soliciting prostitution and soliciting sex from a minor. He pleaded this to U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, but in Florida state court. And the guilty plea came after investigations into Epstein that accused him of sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of underage girls, some as young as 14. 

From the Justice Department’s website, dated July 8, 2019: “From at least 2002 through at least 2005, Jeffrey Epstein enticed and recruited, and caused to be enticed and recruited, dozens of minor girls to visit his mansion in New York … and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida … to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash. In order to maintain and increase his supply of victims, Epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional underage girls whom he could similarly abuse. In this way, Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit, often on a daily basis. … Epstein’s victims were as young as 14 at the time he abused them. … Moreover, Epstein knew that many of his victims were under 18, because, in some instances, victims expressly told him they were underage. In creating and maintaining this network of minor victims in multiple states to abuse and exploit sexually, Epstein worked with others, including employees and associates.”

That’s a small blip of what Justice alleged regarding Epstein. 

But no matter; in 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty only to the sex solicitation felonies and received, in return, an 18-month sentence. He only served 13 months, most of which were spent on a work-release program or in the private cell section of the prison facility. More crucially, Epstein was granted an allowance that shielded him and his co-conspirators from future federal prosecution of the crimes. It was a deal that shamed Lady Justice, and there was an outcry.

Fast-forward to July 2019, and Epstein is again arrested, this time on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. Epstein pleaded not guilty. A month later, in jail, he was found dead. Suicide — we’re told. Suicide — this White House has concluded. Meanwhile, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking charges tied to her procurement of girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. She was sentenced to 20 years.

And now the questions remain: Who were the men to which these girls were trafficked? Who were the girls — the victims? Some have come forward. But not all. Who were the ones who had sex with the girls? What ages were the girls? Were they old enough to consent to freely engage in sexual activity? Were these girls paid for their sexual acts, and if so, by whom? Names, names, names. 

The list of names would be nice. The list of names of the abusers would be nice.

Without names, Maxwell’s imprisonment would seem nonsensical. How can she be convicted of pimping girls on behalf of Epstein if there are no individuals who engaged in sex with girls she pimped?

There is no list, we’re told.

OK. Maybe “list” is the wrong word. Perhaps there is no golden list of names, all alphabetized and organized and bullet-pointed and what have you. Perhaps there are only — as some in the administration are now saying — graphic and disturbing videos and images that show minor-age girls engaged in seedy and likely unlawful sexual activities with partners; and perhaps it’s true that the nature of these images makes them impossible to release for public scrutiny. But couldn’t a list of names of abusers be drawn from these images, videos and materials?  

Couldn’t a couple of names, at the least, be forthcoming?

Virginia Giuffre died at the age of 41 in April, again we’re told by suicide. She’s the lady who accused Epstein of sexually trafficking her as a teenager. She’s the one whose picture as a youngster with long blond locks standing alongside Prince Andrew wove through the media for months. She’s the one who accused via a civil suit in 2021 that she was forced at the ages of 16 and 17 to have sex with Prince Andrew — an allegation the prince denied, but ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount of money, after relinquishing his military titles.

Maybe it’s all coincidental.

Maybe Giuffre’s suicide and Epstein’s suicide were really suicides, and there truly is nothing more to see — no more files to unpack, no more records to rope in co-conspirators — that last, despite the fact Epstein in 2007 won a court-ordered protection for his co-conspirators. Maybe Maxwell procured girls for sex for Epstein, without knowing anything about the girls, or the sex, or the people with whom the girls had sex — or not. Maybe coincidence is the real nature of the Epstein beast.

But that’s quite reach. That’s quite a leap.

To dismiss the Epstein matter as a conspiracy and to deride those who continue to ask questions and dig for truths as conspiracy theorists and nut jobs is to only ratchet up the questions. It’s not conspiratorial to insist that if there are sexual abusers, then there must be sexually abused victims.

It’s not nutty to insist that if there are victims, the perpetrators ought to be named and brought to justice.

This is not about Epstein. It’s about justice. It’s about getting justice for the girls, now women, who were abused by Epstein and his many associates and colleagues and partners and partners-in-crime — the names of whom we know are out there somewhere. They do exist; the abusers do exist; and no amount of gaslighting will erase them. And if some of the victims are afraid to come forward and tell what they know, that’s understandable. That makes it all the more necessary for the questions to be asked, and the answers to be insisted upon, and those who hold keys to the answers to be held accountable and pressed until the questions are fully answered.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.