The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Epstein Letter Isn’t the Scandal You Think It Is

Starting point is 00:00:00 What's the status of the so-called Epstein files? Recently, Donald Trump, his administration, Pambani, did not release the full quote-unquote list as had been promised. That sort of embarrassed Cash Patel and Dan Bongino, who said that they had had FBI material that would be released. And now, apparently, they're going to release names. But here's the thing. The Democrats did not release any of this information. Donald Trump initially didn't. Then he, under pressure, says he will.

Starting point is 00:00:25 There's another subtext to this, and that is, we were told by the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump wrote a letter to Jeffrey Epstein to congratulate him on his birthday, and that has set the world on fire. But let's just say that everything the Wall Street Journal alleges is true. It's not a scandal for a variety of reasons. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. I know all of us are not that interested in the Epstein letter and the Epstein controversies, but let's just go through it very quickly. Recently, Donald Trump, his administration, as characterized by the Department of Justice Pambani,

Starting point is 00:01:12 did not release the full quote-unquote list, as had been promised. That sort of embarrassed Cash Patel and Dan Bongino, who said that they had had FBI material that would be released. Turns out Donald Trump then got angry at his base, but especially at the Democrats who said that Trump was trying to hide something. The long and the short of it, there was never a... a list where he had a list of people who had engaged in pornographic or pedophilic behavior at his various residents.

Starting point is 00:01:44 What the list implied was that in 2008, when his first trial, and then again, a few years later, there was a lot of testimonies in these indictments and convictions and text and evidence that was subpoenaed. So names came up in text messages, emails. maybe some video on logs on the airplane. So there's a long list apparently of over 170 people. And for some reason, Donald Trump initially ordered Pam Bondi or she did spontaneously to contradict her earlier promise to release all the information. That started the controversy.

Starting point is 00:02:26 And now apparently they're going to release names. We already have about 90 names. And they range from Louis Free, the former strong Catholic, father of six, FBI director, to Leonard DiCaprio, Bruce Willis, Kevin Spacey, Senate, former Senate Majority Leader, George Mitchell, what am I getting at? All of these people had come in contact with this near billionaire, Jeffrey Epstein. Apparently, he was close to Harvard University. He had a temporary office there.

Starting point is 00:02:59 His modus operandi was to lavish money on political candidates, foundations, foundations, universities, celebrities, entertain. And there was a subset in that group that engaged in pedophilic behavior. Because remember, he was charged with trafficking. Jacelle Maxwell was convicted for 20 years as his accomplishment for hiring out or forcing, I should say, a 14-year-old girl and others to have sexual relations with these prominent people. But here's the thing. The Democrats did not release any of this information, Donald Trump initially didn't, then he, under pressure, says he will. What's going on? What's going on is there's all of these people of various statuses and no one knows to what degree they happen to meet Jeffrey Epstein, they happen to talk

Starting point is 00:03:51 to them on the phone, they had a business engagement, they wrote on an airplane, are they actually engaged in wrong behavior? But the point is, unless you become transparent and let it sort out, this controversy will turn into a near scandal. So what's the status of the so-called Epstein files? I think Donald Trump is going to release all the information that the government has. There'll probably be 150 or 200 names. And we'll let the Internet mob or individuals or Freedom of Information Request or Lower Court judges. They will adjudicate it and we will find out the particular statuses.

Starting point is 00:04:31 The vast majority of people will be very innocent. They didn't do anything wrong, but there will be some people that will have a shadow of doubt. We'll have to find out. There's another subtext to this, and that is Donald Trump, it was told. We were told by the Wall Street Journal, wrote a letter to Jeffrey Epstein to congratulate him on his birthday. It was very risque, I think they used the word body. We also had letters from people like Alan Dershowitz. This was at a period where Donald Trump was apparently bumped into him or knew him and he saw him at Morlago.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Remember, though, in 2019, he said that he had kicked out Jeffrey Epstein a couple of years earlier than his first indictment. So whatever the letter is, and I'll get to that in a second, Donald Trump had already apparently severed relationships with him after the birthday congratulatory letter. But before he was indicted, so what am I getting at? Donald Trump can say I didn't know what he was involved in. That's why I wrote this kind of risque letter, but he's not saying that, but he could say that. And then I found out that he was under indictment for sexual relations. I had seen him at my club. He was hitting on a young teenager, so I broke all relationships before he was indicted.

Starting point is 00:05:55 The letter just is a very strange imaginary conversation that somebody typed out. Trump, Epstein, Trump, Epstein. It doesn't sound like Donald Trump's vocabulary or his modus operandi. I don't think he uses the word enigma. There's a lot of vocabulary that's non-Trumpian, and I don't think he use a platonic dialogue type of communications. And then there is an addendum where he has a picture of a nude girl, and he writes his name in such a fashion that might be construed as offering pubic care in the growing area.

Starting point is 00:06:31 And that has set the world on fire. Donald Trump denies all of this, and I think it'll be very hard to prove that that typewritten letter was his, unless they can, you know, the machine or something like that or fingerprint. I don't know, but it's going to be very hard. I don't know why the Wall Street Journal jumped to that conclusion. But let's just say that everything the Wall Street Journal alleges is true. It's not a scandal for a variety of reasons. Donald Trump had no knowledge, I guess, at least that he was involved in these activities.

Starting point is 00:07:03 He was just a risque character, like many people in Manhattan. And then once he did discover at Marlago that he was hitting on pre-adolescent or 14, 13-year-old girls, then he supposedly kicked Jeffrey Epstein out. and then later he was indicted. But there's also another scenario, and that is, Donald Trump, this has all been invented. This is all computed into the Trump candidacy and presidency. We went through the Access Hollywood scandal,

Starting point is 00:07:35 supposedly when he used risque words. We went through the Stormy Daniels, Embroglio, we went through the E. Jean Carroll. We know that Donald Trump is a multi-billionaire and that the Manhattan social life for men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s was sort of wild, and we don't quite know exactly what he did, but we're not shocked that he used a type of language or he associated with other people, but there's no evidence he was involved in criminal activity. And so I think it'll die, and I think the Wall Street Journal will have to make a correction

Starting point is 00:08:10 unless they want to take Donald Trump to court, and Donald Trump wants to see, he's filed suit against them, and then there'll be a lot of discovery and who knows what will happen. But for right now, I think he's salvaged this problem and aborted a controversy by just saying, get the stuff out there and let the people decide. It's the way it always should be in a democracy and an open society. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hanson for The Daily Signal.

Starting point is 00:08:40 Thank you for tuning in to The Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.

The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Trump’s Epstein Letter Isn’t the Scandal You Think It Is

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