It is a strategy with at least four very defined pillars. The first one, instructing the Department of Justice to try to make some documents from the Grand Jury that addressed the Epstein case public. A Grand Jury is a common procedure in which the prosecution, before launching a major case, convenes a group of citizens and presents them with evidence to ask if they believe there is sufficient cause to open a case. In Epstein's case, the response was positive, and that's why he was arrested. Now the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, following Trump's orders, has asked the courts to make public the transcripts and evidence used in 2019. But it is not clear if they will succeed, and certainly not enough for conspiracy theorists who believe that the truth is hidden, not in those records, but among the documents in the hands of the Government. For now, this Wednesday a Florida judge denied the request, stating that stronger reasons are needed to compromise the security of witnesses and jurors.
To give it more strength, the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, intends to meet these days with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's associate who is serving 20 years in prison for helping him in human trafficking, providing him with victims for a decade. Rumors have sparked about a possible offer to reduce Maxwell's sentence if she collaborates... in a way that serves the Administration's interests.
The efforts are against the clock, as the more time passes, the more links between the president and the pedophile come to light. For example, photos from 1993 confirming for the first time that Epstein attended Trump's wedding to Marla Maples, something that had not been published. Or other images from a Victoria's Secret fashion event in New York in 1999 showing Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting before the show. "These are nothing but out-of-context screenshots from harmless videos and images of crowded events to infer, in a disgusting way, something nefarious. The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a scoundrel. This is nothing but a continuation of the fake news invented by the Democrats and liberal media," reacted the White House. Hours later, The Wall Street Journal shook the table again reporting that back in May, Attorney General Bondi had informed Trump that his name appeared many times in the papers she was reviewing.
Therefore, Trump's second step has been to order his pawns in Congress to prevent more noise. They tried to stop votes and debates in the House committees, after several Democrats pushed resolutions calling for the declassification of all government-held papers. But they couldn't, because Republican congressmen themselves face the anger of their voters, who overwhelmingly demand transparency. So, Republican leaders have taken a drastic measure, and the Speaker of the House, the president's right-hand man in the legislature, Mike Johnson, has simply decided to close Congress for vacation until September. Not subtle, but effective.
The third, a smoke screen. Or rather, two. On one hand, declassifying hundreds of thousands of documents on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., weeks after doing the same with those of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This way, conspiracy enthusiasts have overwhelming material to review while boasting of transparency, even if the reverend's family has opposed the operation.
However, the central part of the plan, the fourth element, focuses on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has become the executor of the maneuver, applauded and viralized by the president, ensuring that they have found evidence of the former president's involvement in an attempt to "reverse democracy" in the case of Russian interference in the 2016 electoral interference, the year Trump won the elections for the first time.
The week has been marked by Trump's efforts and media 'trumpism' to cover up the Epstein case by creating an Obama case, asserting with convoluted theories, alleged new information, meeting minutes, and much confusion that the president invented the Russian involvement, or above all, Vladimir Putin's intentions. And that they would have built a case out of nothing to favor Hillary Clinton and try to make her win the elections. "Obama was trying to lead a coup", Trump stated. "And he did it with Hillary Clinton".
Gabbard's report says that in late 2016, intelligence officials under pressure from the White House would have changed their conclusions from Russia not making a significant effort to hack the US electoral infrastructure to stating that the Kremlin was trying to boost Trump. But the Senate's official investigation established both things: that Russia had not tried to alter the vote itself, but had sought to harm Clinton in every possible way.
The desperate effort has not resonated as they would like, but enough, because it has given conservative networks material to cling to, hypothetical scenarios to discuss in talk shows instead of Epstein and its ramifications. "Out of respect for the presidency, our office does not usually dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation emanating from this White House with a response," said Obama's spokesperson, Patrick Rodenbush, yesterday. "But these outrageous accusations are scandalous enough to deserve a response. These absurd allegations are ridiculous and a feeble attempt at distraction."
The Epstein case has gradually become the Trump Administration's first Achilles' heel. The financier, a king of the New York and Florida jet-set, committed suicide in prison in August 2019, a month after being arrested on a string of charges of child abuse and human trafficking. He had been convicted years before for something similar, but his social circle, which included Donald Trump, seemed to have ignored it. However, since his death in a cell, all kinds of conspiracies have emerged, fueled largely by Donald Trump's voters and supporters, who were already president when it all happened.
In the last five years, with the Republican in opposition, his base developed all kinds of theories and speculations against the so-called "deep state" and the Democratic presidents, who, according to them, were behind everything and would have killed Epstein to prevent a supposed super-secret client list from being known. Among the main prophets of this creed are some who are now part of the Administration, such as the FBI director and the deputy. The 'trumpism' assumed that with their people in power, the whole truth would be known, all censored documents would be published, and the names of the rich, famous, and powerful who were at Epstein's sex parties would be revealed. And none of that has happened. On the contrary.
Hence the maneuver this week, amplified by all members of the Administration. Even those who were on the other side before. "Nothing in the published document contradicts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia influenced the 2016 presidential elections, but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These conclusions were confirmed in a 2020 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee, a bipartisan body led by then-President Marco Rubio," Obama's office retorted.