Release the files, victims of Epstein and Maxwell deserve to be heard
To the editor:
Does anyone with a working brain cell believe world-class horndogs like Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew and others had no idea what Jeffrey Epstein was up to?
Epstein’s private jet, nicknamed “The Lolita Express” took passengers to his private island where nubile young females were everywhere, just waiting for instructions from their boss about how to please his guests.
Does anyone believe Alex Acosta, at the time federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, was not pressured into giving Epstein a sweetheart of a plea bargain in his first sex trafficking case in 2005? Victims in the case were not informed of deal he made with Epstein’s lawyers to give him blanket immunity from federal prosecution as well as minimum jail time on state charges. He served his short sentence in county jail, not state prison, and he was allowed to leave the jail, unsupervised, for 12 hours each day! Was it just pure coincidence that Acosta was later named Secretary of Labor in the first Trump cabinet in 2017? He resigned in disgrace in 2019 after the Miami Herald ran an expose of his shameful handling of Epstein’s 2005 conviction.
Part of Trump’s campaign for president was his promise to release all DOJ files on Jeffrey Epstein, but Trump never intended those files to ever be made public. He intended to keep the files locked away for the same reason Joe Biden did: The files contain photos and content that would prove highly embarrassing to prominent, wealthy men, both Democrats and Republicans; the files would certainly give the lie to Trump’s assertions that he hardly knew Epstein. Trump fought tooth and nail to keep the files secret, only backing their release when it became obvious Congress was going to pass legislation mandating the files be made public so the victims could achieve some closure and Epstein’s enablers be unmasked.
Does anyone really believe Epstein committed suicide? Was it just coincidence that the door to his cell was right on the edge of the security camera’s viewpoint and that it was later discovered several seconds of the videotape were missing!
And whose decision was it to transfer Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner in crime, who is serving a 25-year sentence for sex trafficking, from state prison to a country club minimum security facility? The obvious conclusion here is that Maxwell received this special treatment in exchange for her silence regarding Epstein’s relationships with the powerful, wealthy men who were his friends.
The victims of Epstein and Maxwell deserve to have their stories told and their abusers revealed, if not held accountable for their actions. Or will we find out again that the rich live by one set of rules and the rest of us by another?
Ray Clasen
North Fort Myers