Moses Mikey Johnson is beside himself. Not as much as Trump of course but it’s clear sending Congress home early hoping the Epstein scandal would go away didn’t work. If MAGA quieted down some it’s likely because of a combination of late summer doldrums and getting kids ready for the new school year. Some in the House however were loaded for bear and ready to ratchet up the pressure this week when they got back to DC. Rep. Massie’s Discharge Petition has dropped. Worse, a closed door meeting was held with women who were victimized by Epstein and Maxwell. Worse for Johnson and Trump, they’ve suggested taking matters into their own hands.
According to this article from Alternet multiple survivors of the Epstein-Maxwell sex trafficking operation are preparing to do what Trump, Bondi, Comer and Johnson have so furiously fought to keep from happening. They are preparing to name names.
Let’s backtrack for a minute. I don’t know about you but I was surprised by yesterdays closed-door meeting even took place. I was even more surprised that Republicans took part! The infuriating part is that whatever was said was kept under wraps. I saw some news stories about not just Democrats being unhappy about yesterday’s meeting with the survivors being ‘closed door.’ Some, perhaps a half-dozen according to reports are willing to testify publicly in a hearing format and it’s not just Democrats who want to allow them to do exactly that.
That of course is the LAST thing Johnson wants and Trump is probably ready to have a stroke just thinking about such a spectacle. I suspect AG Bondi dreads hearing her phone ring knowing what Trump will be demanding of her. And Johnson? Without Trump’s backing his tenure as Speaker (and the extra salary which HE really, really needs) will be over if he can’t protect Trump. For the moment at least, by having that meeting with victims held behind closed doors Johnson has held the line but it looks like that’s about to change.
It seems some of the girls now grown into women are fed up. If GOPers that met with them are in “oh sh*t!” mode (and Johnson having heard what went down) it’s understandable. MAGA has been demanding the release of ALL the Epstein files. They want NAMES and it seems as if Trump, Bondi, Johnson and Comer won’t provide them, the women who went to Capitol Hill yesterday will. To put it bluntly they are tired of the stonewalling and are letting it be known they’re preparing to take matters into their own hands:
Several of the women are quoted in the linked article. Jones said a lot of those people ‘think they are in the clear’ and are probably still doing it. She went on to say a lot of adults were around Epstein’s properties that knew what was going on. Jones noted they haven’t been saying anything. She poses a powerful and haunting question about why they STILL aren’t speaking up on the victim’s behalf? Well, that’s the proverbial setup pitch in the linked article.
Here’s the blazing “knockdown pitch” fastball heading towards the skulls of Trump and GOPers trying to protect him. Phillips spoke of being groomed at Epstein’s estate and seemed to suggest if Congress and/or the DOJ don’t act more names could emerge. She didn’t name any names but suggested she and others have their own ‘lists’ and the potential to escalate if that’s what it takes:
“A lot of us survivors know we’ve been compiling lists of our own, and we have so many other survivors,” Phillips told NBC. “Please come forward, and we’ll compile our own list and seek justice on our own. I mean, I think that’s what’s going to happen next.”
In other words some of these women are working together and even trying to get others they know to join in. And GO PUBLIC. Even if it’s just the ones who went to Capitol Hill yesterday putting out a list of names, not just of those who committed sex crimes but powerful people around as it happened and knew damn well what was going on and said nothing will be a bombshell. Remember some news blurbs recently about this reaching all the way into Trump’s cabinet? An awful lot of powerful men (perhaps some women too) who looked the other way are going to face an avalanche of questions.
Stay tuned folks because the fuse on this bomb is lit and it looks like nothing will be able to put it out.
This is just OUTSTANDING NEWS! These women have more courage than most of the congress critters, combined. I saw Rep. Massey make a statement that he believed Trump wasn’t specifically named in the files, but that he was protecting other wealthy and powerful people. I suspect he is in for a revelation. He is giving Trump credit for something he doesn’t do-protect other people.
Yeah. If Drumpf’s name really wasn’t on the ORIGINAL list (before Bondi and her minions forced FBI agents to “unlist” Drumpf’s name from the files), there would be ZERO reason for his not releasing the list in full. HE knows his name is there and HE knows that ANY other big names will not hesitate to bring him down with them if he releases the Bondi edit.
As far as “protecting” any of those names–not unless they paid him BIG bucks (and, if I were a Democratic Congresscritter, any list that came out without Drumpf’s name on it would be followed with an IMMEDIATE investigation into Drumpf’s personal finances to see if there were any “correlations” between “interesting deposits” and “sources on the list”). Drumpf is, and always has been, “pay to play”–you want something from him, well, you’d better be willing to pay for it. And that’s going to include the Epstein list and “protection.” Of course, doing that leaves Drumpf open to corruption charges that not even his allies can protect him from for very long.
I’m not sure there was ever a black-book or some actual file with a list of names. What I KNOW is that every Epstein property was wired for video and sound. That’s a matter of record. I also know, and it’s a matter of record from Bill Barr’s investigation that in Epstein’s NYC Brownstone at least there was a safe that the FBI opened. AND that it contained tapes, DVDs, flash drive and other records/evidence neatly labeled with who/what was on it.
Barr knew better than to destroy all that BUT he knew how to bury evidence in a way that would ensure it would never see the light of day. That’s how and why he could and did assure Trumpty nothing would blow back on him. But as I said Barr, both for his own sake (like Trump he’s proof only the good die young) and that of his family who also worked at DOJ there was no way in hell he’d destroy or even fuck around with/alter all that evidence. Too many FBI agents and prosecutors had seen enough to make that the dumbest thing possible to do. But Bondi and others (Patel) learned about it and assumed Barr had at least altered the evidence to scrub any mention of Trump and destroy any video of him at the NYC Brownstone in particular. Trump’s rape of a then 13 year old was I’m sure on video in that safe. Oh, another reason Barr knew better than to destroy anything was that he knew how likely it was both Russian and Israeli intelligence had the ability to crack that safe whenever they wanted and to make copies. Which they almost certainly did AND periodically they’d go back to both inventory and document anything that had been removed, and of course copy whatever new was in it since their last intrusion. I’m also certain Epstein’s other properties had their own safes with stuff damaging to lots of powerful people.
Bondi, Patel and of course Bogdino had to have been shocked having proclaimed they had all those “Epstein files” and even had a client list. It was probably the FBI’s own inventory of the contents of the safe I talked about! Then they started looking at actual evidence and were horrified at what was there. Hence all the CYA backtracking and claims of no “there” there!
However as I said Bondi at least might be smart enough to realize the real problem which I’ve already stated – the likelhood that the FBI isn’t the only entity that has much if not most of all that evidence. Uh oh…