General Discussion

The revelations dovetailed with Republicans on the same committee releasing a tranche of 20,000 documents it received from the Epstein estate in response to a congressional subpoena. An MSNBC report noted that some of the additional email correspondence between Epstein and his associates was “unflattering” to Trump. A related report in The New York Times summarized, in reference to the documents: “Mr. Epstein insulted Mr. Trump and hinted that he had damaging information on him.”

In the immediate aftermath of the reports, the usually talkative president had very little to say about the reporting (which includes allegations that have not been substantiated by MSNBC). The Republican published a handful of missives to his social media platform on the matter, but most focused on his appeals to GOP lawmakers to follow his lead on the scandal......

There’s no point in trying to summarize in a single blog post every error of fact and judgment in the president’s 116-word rant — the Russia scandal, for example, still isn’t a scam — but the bottom line comprises three key elements.

The first is that Trump wants federal law enforcement to initiate an investigation into a variety of prominent figures mentioned in the Epstein materials — but not himself. That’s a tough position to take seriously.

The second is that the president wants the public to see the underlying controversy as a hoax, except for the parts related to people he doesn’t like. How does Trump reconcile the obvious contraction? By ignoring it.

Finally, it’s worth emphasizing that the president continues to act as if he has decision-making authority at the Justice Department and the FBI. There is no modern precedent for a White House publicly declaring which of the president’s political foes deserve to be targeted with federal investigations, but in 2025 it has become an alarmingly common occurrence.

In late September, Trump used his platform to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after three of his perceived political enemies. In October, he did it again, adding additional names to his enemies list. On Friday morning, he barked related orders.