Why Releasing the Epstein Files Will Likely Undermine Justice
As far as President Donald Trump is concerned, the Epstein files are the last thing we should be talking about.
And yet, try as he might to get the public to talk about literally anything else — the popular deportations of criminals preying on American citizens, the massive tax cuts he’s bestowed on the American public, the ceasefires and peace treaties he’s managed to obtain in far-flung countries — they won’t. The internet, the media, and the general public do like a good scandal.
The Epstein case, of course, is the best scandal we’ve had the opportunity to obsess over in decades. For one, the crime was both spectacular and monstrous — the kind of thing Hollywood dreams up for James Bond films and that the public still finds revolting. There is, as far as crimes go, nothing quite as vile as ensnaring underage girls to satisfy the sexual appetites of the world’s rich and famous. (READ MORE: Democrats’ Latest Epstein Play Falls Apart)
Then, Jeffrey Epstein’s death hardly seems on the up and up. It seems difficult to commit suicide while being constantly monitored by two prison guards, and even though Trump’s FBI affirmed the official story back in July, even the most die-hard MAGA fans among us struggle to believe it.
On top of that, the scandal potentially involves almost every member of America’s rich and famous: Bill Gates, Larry Summers, Woody Allen, Leon Black, Michael Wolff, Kathryn Ruemmler, Bill Clinton, former Prince Andrew, and (the leftist media would like us to think) even Donald Trump himself. We’re talking about a pedophilic ring that may very well extend across the globe. Maybe.
Predictably, those same rich and famous seem loath to release the mysterious “files.” Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden were hardly interested in addressing the public’s curiosity (until, of course, they thought they might get something out of it politically). Trump hasn’t exactly been clear about his own position on the matter. He said he’d seriously consider declassifying the documents while on the 2024 campaign trail; he then seemed to do an abrupt about-face once he was actually in a position to do so, even calling out his own supporters who’ve had questions about the whole thing.
Then, this past Sunday, he changed his tune yet again (one imagines he did so while throwing his hands in the air and giving a loud, exasperated sigh): “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,’” he wrote on Truth Social. “I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
On Tuesday, legislation requiring the Department of Justice to release the files within 30 days (with some significant redactions protecting victims and preventing child sexual abuse material from floating around the internet) passed the House of Representatives and the Senate. If anonymous senior White House officials are to be believed, the bill will get signed into law. (READ MORE: Why the Epstein Scandal Won’t Matter)
That all said, the release of the files isn’t a given. The DOJ just opened a brand new investigation into the activities of a number of Democrats who were allegedly part of the Epstein friend circle — a proceeding that could provide Pam Bondi with a legitimately good reason to avoid releasing all or part of the files lest they impede that investigation.
As typically happens when popular legislation gets pushed through Congress at breakneck speed, there are some rather important questions we haven’t really bothered to ask. Perhaps the most important among them is: Will justice really be served by making all this information public?
Quite probably, the answer is no.
It seems like, in the popular imagination, the Epstein files list all guilty parties, the number of times they visited the infamous island, and a neat description of all the illegal activities they participated in. That would be nice, but it’s absurdly unlikely.
Instead, we’re more likely to get buried in piles of documents containing information that may or may not be true, all telling a one-sided story. The immediate aftermath will include a storm of internet accusations against both Democrats and Republicans, undoubtedly destroying the lives of the individuals they’re leveled against. Social pariahdom will be imposed as a penalty without any kind of due process.
It seems reasonable to expect that releasing the files will release the mob. Mob justice is rarely a good thing.
It’s not that we should have swept the whole Epstein thing under the rug; the victims deserve justice and the perpetrators should absolutely face the consequences of their actions. However, justice sometimes requires that the state step in, weigh the evidence, and decide (to the best of its ability) whether the accused is actually guilty.
Unfortunately, that process takes time and patience — something the media and the general public have in short supply.
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