On Saturday, writer and documenter Michael Wolff talked about the existence of audio tapes of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein that he possesses and noted that many publishers won’t touch the topic because it is too hot to handle. On the same day, Trump came out with a highly defensive and rageful tweet, angry about the continued talk about Epstein, creating the classic Streisand effect, doing nothing but fanning the flames about undisclosed evidence. The two newly breaking elements seem easily connected or at least framed.
From Rawstory’s new report:
The author Michael Wolff is “still waiting for the right context to tell” the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s long friendship with Donald Trump, because the “hours and hours and hours and hours and hours” of tapes Wolff has of the late sex offender discussing the current president have proved “too hot to handle” for a series of publishers
One can easily see where he is coming from. A series of audio tapes could be put through sophisticated computer analysis to ensure that the voice on the other end is Epstein, and while Epstein could have lied to attract attention, it is likely that publishers are reluctant to release them – if Wolff has what he claims – because of the potential backlash from Trump himself. Never in history have we had a president who so nakedly attacks his critics, from law firms to news organizations. This would likely be too hot to handle if Trump’s name were mentioned in the tapes. The tapes could also be chock-full of very salacious details going beyond a mere list. Not just that people were listed, but “what they liked” right on down to age and hair color. Sorry, we’re talking about raping kids, but those are the details that may make the tapes simply too outrageous for even publishers. The hedonism on display may be so ugly as to turn off even the strongest publishers for fear of lawsuits and presidential attacks.
Wolff talked to former Clinton aide and Lincoln biographer Sidney Blumenthal and Princeton historian Sean Wilentz on their podcast, The Court of History, about the burgeoning scandal.
On Saturday, Trump raged:
“I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.
“For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again. Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 ‘Intelligence’ Agents, ‘THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,’ and more?”
No shit, he doesn’t like what’s happening. Both sides of the political spectrum are outraged. The only difference is that the Left doesn’t care if there are Democrats on the list; we want accountability. The Right only wants evidence of Democrats and either assumes there are no Republicans or assumes that Trump will bury his involvement.
He doth protest too much. He doesn’t have the perfect administration; he doesn’t even have a good one. Now he faces outrage from within his own administration, with FBI officials threatening to resign over Pam Bondi’s decision, when it almost surely was directed from the White House. (The Attorney General is supposed to be absolutely independent from the White House, as is the FBI, but does anyone doubt that Trump – who demands prosecution of certain “enemies,” would make the final call on releasing the Epstein materials?).
Additionally, Trump is now creating the classic Streisand effect. He wants all talk of the Epstein matter silenced, so he rage tweets on the day a prominent author discusses the existence of audio tweets – almost surely related. Note, too, that Trump may already be preparing the ground for claims of innocence if he is cited within the files. He is hilariously stating that the evidence was compiled by Obama, Clinton, Comey, and Brennan. I guess Trump forgets that he was president during the years that the case against Epstein was compiled, the arrest and suicide in 2019, and the fact that he’s president now over whatever the FBI has compiled.
Reading through the tea leaves, it sure seems as though Trump would be at least implicated as someone who either enthusiastically participated in the rapes of young girls on Epstein’s island, or knew and simply ignored them, which is almost as big a sin when he has now twice been president and surely knows what went on and who was there. Yet he fails to hold them accountable. No one hates the Clintons more than Trump, but Bondi’s refusal to release any of the evidence acts as a big shield for Bill Clinton. So one has to wonder why Trump would provide that shield. Is it because Trump would suddenly need one? The answer for many is yes.
Trump knows he cannot release a partial list stuffed only with Democrats because once the cat is out of the bag, those implicated will talk, and they will talk a lot about Trump’s involvement. Some of us have always had all the evidence we’ve ever needed pointing to Trump sexually assaulting women and girls, given the number of legitimate claims. For those who remained on the fence (Unforgivably, in my opinion), this failure to hold anyone accountable screams that it is impossible to do so without implicating the biggest fish in the barrel.
The FBI arrested Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. They did so for trafficking children, teen girls, to be assaulted by grown men – on camera, or witnessed. Clearly, they had evidence of the rapes, which necessarily means they had evidence of which men raped teens. The claim that there is no compilation of men who participated can only be proof that the administration finds that it isn’t “doable,” or “too hot to handle,” and that leads one to conclude that there is white hot evidence pointing directly at the man who makes the decision on the release.
No wonder Trump is in a bad mood. It is hard to focus on the wonderful use of tariffs (cough, cough) or any other endeavor making his administration “perfect” in his eyes, when all anyone on the spectrum can talk about is the fact that he – as final decision-maker, is burying the compilation (If there is no formal list) himself. Now he’s simply amplifying it.
I have said over and over that Trump is immune to criticism from his voters up to and until the economy gets worse. This remains true. But the ground is certainly being softened now for a backlash from his voters. He is already a lame duck; his voters will already be looking for the “next one,” and as they do so, he is only one downturn away from becoming irrelevant or the “perfect target” for investigation should documents be leaked or people talk.
It is Trump himself who is surely too hot to handle right now. He will remain so for as long as the public focuses on the burying of the evidence. Keep tweeting, asshole.
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“The Streisand Effect” in another perfect example.