Epstein Files

News Source
EXCERPT:

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was connected with several prominent people including politicians, actors and academics. Epstein was convicted of having sex with a girl.

Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images

  • A US judge ordered the release of a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein.
  • The note was said to have been found by Nicholas Tartaglione, his former jail cellmate.
  • The judge did not vouch for the note’s authenticity, nor assess its chain of custody.

A federal judge on Wednesday released a document described as a suicide note purportedly written by the late Jeffrey Epstein and including the line: “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.”

Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell ‌in August 2019 in what was ruled a suicide.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Your Majesty,

We’ve both had a very busy week. While you enjoyed the pageantry of your American state visit, red carpets, garden parties, and carefully staged moments of compassion, I stood outside the White House with a chair reserved for you – waiting. Not as a spectacle. Not as a stunt. But as a survivor asking to be seen.

I prepared that moment with care. I studied the traditions you value – Darjeeling tea, cucumber sandwiches, the details that matter in your world. In mine, what matters is this: You didn’t show up.

Your visit celebrated 250 years of America’s history. I watched as you stepped onto American soil, greeted with flower bouquets as the red carpets rolled out for you. I hoped you had heard about my efforts.

While you met President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attending cultural engagements, mingling with those who sit in power, I amplified unheard voices, preserving stories, standing with people who have nothing, who have been ignored for too long. You missed the opportunity to be a king who could’ve been remembered as the one who stood alongside us in this pivotal moment where abuses of power are coming to light.

News Source
EXCERPT:

What the Epstein files have done is crystallize for all of us how power actually works in the shadows,” says journalist Vicky Ward.Davide Bonaldo/SOPA/ZUMA

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In 2002, journalist Vicky Ward—then a writer for Vanity Fair magazine—was assigned to investigate a mysterious New York City financier named Jeffrey Epstein. During her reporting, she stumbled upon sexual abuse allegations against Epstein by Maria and Annie Farmer, whose account was ultimately cut from Ward’s piece, titled “The Talented Mr. Epstein.” That decision sparked recriminations between Ward and then–Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter that have continued for more than a decade.

In previous interviews, Carter has claimed that Ward’s reporting didn’t meet Vanity Fair’s editorial standards and that the allegations came too late in the editing process. But Ward says the magazine left out the Farmer sisters’ account after Epstein personally pressured Carter to remove it.

“I’ve since been asked if Tina Brown or any other woman had been an editor at Vanity Fair at the time, do I think the Farmer sisters’ allegations would have run?” Ward tells More To The Story host Al Letson. “The answer to that is absolutely yes.”

News Source
EXCERPT:

The federal government paid out more than $338,000 to settle allegations of sexual harassment on behalf of House members or their offices since 2004 — far more than had been previously known — according to Rep. Nancy Mace and a person granted anonymity to describe data provided to the House Oversight Committee.

The panel subpoenaed the information detailing the government payouts after a March committee vote, seeking a full accounting of secret payouts made before the settlements were ended in 2018. Some of the payments have been previously reported, but not all.

Mace (R-S.C.) released a list of offices that had been implicated in the settlements, including former Reps. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) — all of whom have been previously publicly implicated in misconduct.

News Source
EXCERPT:

Shortly after she was fired as attorney general, Pam Bondi refused to appear before the House Oversight Committee to testify about her mishandling of the Epstein files, saying that since she was subpoenaed in her official capacity and was no longer in her job, she wouldn’t show up.

Now that she’s agreed to appear in her private capacity, however, she seems to be getting official representation from a high-level attorney at the Department of Justice. There’s fairly strong evidence that Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon—who is currently vying for Bondi’s old job—will somehow represent Bondi rather than Bondi hiring a private attorney.

If you’re wondering how this works, it doesn’t. Bondi is a private citizen and has insisted on being called in that capacity but somehow is also sort of still a government employee that our tax dollars should pay for representation?

A little timeline shows how Bondi and the DOJ continue to play reindeer games in an effort to protect President Donald Trump from any fallout over his longtime relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Blurb:

House Republicans indicated Wednesday they will continue to seek sworn testimony from Pam Bondi on the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, even after her ousting as attorney general.

The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bondi for an April 14 deposition, but that date was never confirmed by Bondi, and the panel said in a statement that it will continue to seek a date for her testimony.

“The Department of Justice has stated Pam Bondi will not appear on April 14 for a deposition since she is no longer Attorney General and was subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General,” a spokeswoman for Oversight Republicans said in a statement. “The Committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition.”

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena to Bondi last month after five Republican lawmakers on the panel joined with Democrats to compel her testimony. The campaign to force Bondi to sit for questioning was championed by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who brought the motion during a hearing.

Blurb:

Bill Gates is officially preparing to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee as Congress continues to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and powerful connections.

Gates, 70, will answer questions from members of Congress on June 10, according to multiple outlets, which note that the Microsoft cofounder is not being accused of any wrongdoing after he was named in the so-called Epstein Files.

Blurb:

The global Jeffrey Epstein scandal is detonating again as French financial prosecutors have launched raids on the prominent Roshchild banking family as part of the escalating investigations into the explosive revelations buried in the late child predator’s files.

Authorities confirmed searches were carried out across multiple locations, including the Paris branch of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild, as part of a widening investigation into potential corruption linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s network.

The investigations are being led by France’s anti-corruption and financial crimes unit.

Blurb:

 

House Democrats say Attorney General Pam Bondi is attempting to evade a congressional subpoena to testify about the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffery Epstein case.

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday evening walked out of a closed door briefing with Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, saying the nation’s lead prosecutor declined to commit to cooperating with a subpoena issued by the panel’s Republican chair earlier this week.

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters his members had only been informed about the planned Oversight briefing with Bondi and Blanche the day before. He accused the Trump administration officials of trying to stage “some kind of fake hearing” to avoid Bondi testifying under oath.

“This has been completely set up in a way that’s been irresponsible. And quite frankly, we believe a way for the Attorney General to get out of her answering questions under oath and to the public,” Garcia said.

Blurb:

The House oversight commitee subpoenaed attorney general Pam Bondi on Tuesday, requesting her to appear for a deposition on the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act – the legislation which resulted in the justice department releasing millions of pages of documents related to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s cases.

In a letter, chair James Comer requested Bondi’s appearance before the committee on 14 April.

Earlier this month, five oversight Republicans voted with Democrats and approved a motion to subpoena Bondi.

Separately, Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, will provide a private briefing for committee members on Wednesday.

Blurb:

Bank of America has tentatively settled a lawsuit claiming it ignored suspicious financial transactions involving Jeffrey Epstein while he was sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women.

The proposed settlement was revealed in filings in Manhattan federal court on Monday, the same day that billionaire financier Leon Black was originally scheduled to be deposed in the case. Terms were not disclosed. The bank declined to comment through a spokesperson.

Though not a defendant, Black was recently described as a “critical witness” in the case by Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Epstein victims.

During a hearing last week, a lawyer for Black persuaded Judge Jed S. Rakoff to postpone Black’s deposition for 10 days on the grounds that the parties were close to settling. The lawyer, Michael Carlinsky, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Blurb:

Though Democrats claim Republicans are “protecting the powerful by allegedly suppressing the release of the Epstein files, political contribution records show that Democrats have received tens of millions in campaign contributions from a major Epstein-files figure.

That figure is none other than Microsoft founder Bill Gates. On Thursday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked Gates to testify over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

At a recent staff town hall at the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder’s philanthropy, Gates admitted that he had an affair with two Russian women affiliated with Epstein, a Wall Street Journal report claimed based on a recording of the event.

Gates, however, told the staff that while he had those affairs, the women were connected to Epstein only later. Gates reiterated, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,” in his interactions with Epstein.

Blurb:

We finally have the full video footage of Hillary Clinton’s deposition from last week.

It’s entirely unclear to me why you would record this and then release it a few days later….why not just make it live?

But anyway, now we have it and we finally get to see her throw the fit we heard about last week.

Watch here:

Blurb:

On Monday, fallout continued from a closed-door deposition that is already reshaping the political conversation around Jeffrey Epstein.

Former President Bill Clinton, testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee on Friday, made a statement that quickly reverberated across Washington: President Donald Trump never gave him any reason to believe he was involved in wrongdoing related to Epstein.

The testimony came during a high-stakes session led by James Comer (R-KY), the committee’s chairman, at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York, near the Clintons’ longtime home.

Blurb:

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released full video of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimonies about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The depositions for each before the bipartisan panel lasted 4.5 hours. Hillary Clinton was deposed last Thursday. Bill Clinton was deposed on Friday, the first time a former president has been compelled to testify before Congress.

Clinton said he first flew on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and took trips to Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Blurb:

A bombshell leak has allegedly exposed the membership roster of one of the most secretive elite gatherings in America, the ultra-exclusive Bohemian Grove secret society retreat in Northern California.

The leaked names read like a who’s who of political power, corporate influence, and Silicon Valley dominance.

According to the San Francisco Standard, independent journalist Daniel Boguslaw obtained what appears to be the full 2023 attendance list for the Bohemian Grove encampment, a two-week annual retreat held at the club’s 2,700-acre compound in Sonoma County.

A club member reportedly confirmed the list’s authenticity.

Blurb:

Jeffrey Epstein was not a lone predator. He was an intelligence asset whose network reached into the highest levels of American and British power, and the just-released files barely scratch the surface.

Frank Wright lays out the case: Epstein’s rise through Leslie Wexner (who claimed to be possessed by a “dybbuk”), his connections to Harvard academics, billionaire Zionist donors, Clinton associates, and members of the Trump administration. The question is not who visited an island. The question is why an entire ruling class protected a known operative for decades — and why President Donald Trump resisted releasing the files that name his own friends.

Blurb:

Hillary Clinton’s deposition about her interactions with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was halted Thursday after a picture taken from the closed-door hearing was leaked.

The hearing took place in Chappaqua, New York.

Not long after the hearing began, a picture of Clinton appeared on social media.

Benny Johnson indicated on his X account that the picture was shared by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, according to Mediaite.

Blurb:

While taking questions from reporters after her closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked why Ghislaine Maxwell — the convicted sex-trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein’s former mistress — was a guest at her daughter’s wedding in 2010.

“Why was Ghislaine Maxwell at Chelsea’s wedding?” the former secretary was asked shortly after the deposition wrapped up. “She came as plus one with a guest who was invited,” Clinton responded shortly before the press conference wrapped up.

Blurb:

An explosive, newly released Department of Justice (DOJ) email has revealed that federal prosecutors were secretly investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s death as a “murder,” despite publicly claiming that the convicted child predator died from suicide.

The bombshell discovery has reignited fierce debate over what really happened inside a federal jail cell in 2019.

The email is part of the latest document tranche released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Copies of the documents have quickly gone viral across social media platforms, fueling fresh skepticism about the government’s long-standing claim that Epstein “killed himself.”

Blurb:

PBS’s Washington Week with The Atlantic remains a reliably Democrat-boosting/Republican-bashing political roundtable, but this Friday, the show featured a tiny, overdue peek into an under-covered angle of the sordid Jeffrey Epstein saga, which thus far the media has used as a cudgel against President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.

It turns out Democrats have their own hypocritical partisan reasons for not pursuing the Epstein case, according to a story by Sarah Fitzpatrick of The Atlantic magazine, going back to the elitist media’s favorite power couple, the Clintons.

Blurb:

During his Friday deposition before the House Oversight Committee, former President Bill Clinton threw cold water on Democratic hopes that could link President Donald Trump to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In a video posted to X, House Oversight chairman James Comer said that Clinton said that “the president, Trump, has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved, and he meant with Epstein.”

Blurb:

A Republican member of Congress is raising explosive new allegations about Jeffrey Epstein’s operation, arguing that it was far more than a simple trafficking ring.

After sitting through closed-door testimony from former President Bill Clinton, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said she believes Epstein was running what she described as an “intelligence-gathering operation.”

“Jeffrey Epstein was running an intelligence gathering operation, in my professional opinion,” Luna said during a press conference.

“I do believe it was a honeypot operation.

Blurb:

 

Larry Summers used racist language in messages to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein about a woman he was pursuing romantically. “I’d be happy to have a rational affair w yellow peril,” he wrote, minutes after telling the pedophile he was “way smitten with her so woukd sacrifuce lots for being w her.” — Read the rest

The post Larry Summers used racist language in messages to Epstein appeared first on Boing Boing.

Blurb:

The former Prime Minister of Norway has been rushed to hospital after a reported suicide attempt.

Thorbjørn Jagland was hospitalised on Tuesday, February 24, just a few days after he was charged with serious corruption offences, linked to his association with paedophile Epstein. Reports of Jagland attempting suicide were denied by his lawyer.

Jagland was charged with “gross corruption” after newly released documents appeared to reveal a transactional relationship between the ex-PM and convicted paedophile, between 2011 and 2018. Some Norwegian outlets have reported a suicide attempt, but the high-profile statesman’s legal team has insisted he was rushed to the hospital due to extreme stress instead of a deliberate act.