This is actually a brilliant chess move on Trump’s part, and the press hasn’t figured it out yet. I think that the news media have so far misinterpreted what is going on here. It has been portrayed as retaliation and deflection for the recent leaks involving him, and that may be true, but in fact, that’s not the real purpose, nor what makes it so clever.
The brilliance behind it is that the FBI cannot release files or evidence related to an ongoing investigation. They can’t even comment on it. By opening an investigation, he has created a pretext to keep the files locked away (probably forever), and for nobody in the administration to answer any questions about it. If asked, they can simply reply, “We can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”
Once again – a scam with a real touch of genius!
Oh, you poor, sappy liberals, thinking you will ever get your hands on those files! It’s so adorable!
Of course, the legislative branch may eventually demand their release. (I doubt that will pass in the Senate, but it’s possible). In the unlikely event that passes both houses and survives a veto, that will still result in delay after delay as the administration fights it in the courts. If it comes down to the very last resort, and the Supreme Court rules he has to surrender the files … well …
The Trump modus operandi has always been to delay, deflect, deny, delay some more, and then, while the delaying tactics are occurring, to destroy documents mandated under discovery, essentially daring the courts to do anything about it. This will probably play out the same. If Trump has exhausted every other tactic to avoid releasing all of the files, he can just order some loyalists to destroy them, and there’s basically nothing anybody can do about it once it is a fait accompli. (Just like the destruction of the East Wing.) You either accept it or impeach/convict, and I don’t see the impeachment route as realistic, given the lack of backbone among Republicans in Congress, and the need for 67 votes in the Senate.
Trump would not be doing this if he wan’t a pedophile. Everybody with a brain realizes this whether the files are released or not.
You never know with him. If it were anybody else, you’d think, “Man, he must be guilty of some really bad shit. He really doesn’t want us to see those files.”
But with Trump? His natural instinct is to deny, cover up, and attack no matter what. Admit nothing, no matter how minor. We thought there was something significant in the Mueller investigation because he tried so hard to obstruct it, but it turned out there was very little there. Trump’s worst action was the obstruction itself.
So I don’t know what he’s trying to hide. Maybe just more embarrassing things like the ones we’ve seen recently. We already know that he and Epstein were tight for a while, and we know that he was well aware that Epstein’s sexual interest was for girls “on the younger side.” We know that Trump walked into the dressing room of the Miss Teen USA pageant, so I guess there could be some deeply evil pedo shit, but I doubt it. The victims that have come forward have said that Trump is NOT one of the people who abused them, and none of them have accused him of wrongdoing..
When trying to figure out why Trump denies and hides everything, I try to remember the Roy Cohn bible:
1. Deny everything and admit nothing. Completely deny any accusations, no matter how obviously true. When caught in a lie, tell a different lie. Keep changing the story without ever admitting that it has changed.
2. Attack, attack, attack. Don’t defend yourself. Attack your accuser and make them the story.
3. Claim victory. Regardless of the outcome, always maintain that you have won and never admit defeat.
4. Manipulate the media ruthlessly. Plant stories. Create controversy. Distract from negatives.
5. Use fear as both shield and sword. Always position yourself as the only solution to these terrifying threats.
6. Build a fortress of loyalty around yourself.
There was actually a lot in the Mueller investigation. It seems you yourself have fallen for one of the Roy Cohn bible points when it comes to the Mueller investigation:
4. Manipulate the media ruthlessly. Plant stories. Create controversy. Distract from negatives.
I read every word of the Mueller investigation. There was basically nothing of consequence on Trump except obstructing the investigation. His underlings, like Manafort, definitely did plenty of shady stuff, and the Russians absolutely wanted Trump to win, but Trump himself emerged unscathed, except for his efforts to obstruct.
What do you think Mueller found on Trump other than obstruction?
Trump was aware of what his underlings were doing during the campaign. The idea that Trump had to be personally involved when he let his underlings engage in the conspiracy itself is nonsense legally and logically. This is the same illogic that Charles Manson’s supporters use to claim that ‘he didn’t actually kill anybody.’
That was never proved. You have connected the dots, perhaps rightfully so, but Mueller found no evidence of that. There was nothing to connect Trump, nothing close to a smoking gun. No physical evidence and no accusations by the underlings that led back to him. If he had simply let the investigation take its course, he would have emerged unscathed, just as Nixon could have stayed President if he had just said, “Some of my people did some bad things, and I’ll see to that the guilty will pay,” but chose to hide everything when he had nothing to hide.
It’s always the cover up that gets ’em.
There was plenty of circumstantial evidence. The Trump Tower meeting between several Trump campaign officials including Donald Trump Jr. and various Russians, Trump’s slow walking the enforcement after becoming President of the Magnitsky Act, which was the likely quid pro quo.
I think there was plenty of circumstantial evidence that (likely) would have led to a conviction had this been a normal trial and I think an investigator not as concerned with the propriety of investigating the President as Mueller was would have made these claims more explicitly.
I think part of the problem with the Mueller investigation that makes the whole thing kind of ‘quaint’ now is that the context has been lost. In 2016, bot farms and misinformation/disinformation over the internet were relatively new and a major concern. Any attempt to control misinformation/disinformation in the United States has been lost, so I’m sure the reaction from nearly everybody now would be to shrug their shoulders at the possibility that Russia assisted Trump in the 2016 election for a quid pro quo.
I don’t know whether there was a quid pro quo, Russia just wanted Trump to win. More specifically, they wanted Hillary to lose. What has been lost in time is that the same Russians made the same effort to get Bernie the nomination.
I can’t fathom their endgame. Did they just want to make sure that Hillary didn’t become President, or did they support Bernie to give Trump a softer opponent?
Looking back on it, Bernie might have had a chance to win. A lot of people who channel their white grievance through Trump also love Bernie, who also shits on the elites. Just different elites. Bernie’s candidacy might have left Trump without a bloc.
.”If we had confidence the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
As I mentioned, that was specifically about obstruction. (Part II)
There’s no doubt he committed obstruction. He did that out in the open. But they had nothing else to pin on him.
Exactly. To paraphrase Hamlet “The president doth protest too much, methinks”.
I guess the question is, who is worse? The pedophile or the person that covers up for the pedophile? There’s no doubt in my mind that Trump knows he’s in big trouble, but honestly, when someone eventually gets their hands on an incriminating picture or video, exactly how much loyalty does this man command? Look, politics is one thing, but is America so divided now that people are willing to cover up sex crimes against minors just because they want a pat on the head from the ‘big strong’ billionaire? The mind boggles.
The US is one fucked up country.
Great eye, Scoopy! I was seeing this as just another pissbaby tantrum.
It’s been mentioned prominently in the non MSM media. The MSM has totally failed on this.
The FBi can’t comment on an ongoing investigation . . . unless you’re James Comey a a month before a presidential election.
That was definitely not one of Comey’s shining moments. As the boys say, “He screwed the pooch.”
Understatement.
This Epstein thing is akin to the situation with moon landing deniers. If the US hadn’t actually been the first to the moon, the Russians would’ve spent 50 years and $50 trillion proving it by now, just out of spite.
If Trump diddled an underage girl on Epstein’s Island, Hillary would’ve shouted it from the rooftop back in 2016, Biden would’ve released everything in 2021/22 when he had control of the House and Senate and wanted to bury Trump forever, and Kamala would’ve shouted it from the rooftop in 2024.
The ONLY other plausible reason for the lack of undeniable evidence of wrongdoing by Trump not being released yet would be because Bill Clinton, Joe and Hunter Biden, and dozens of other prominent Dems committed more/worse crimes on the Island.
That’s it. Only two possible answers at this point. Either DJT didn’t actually commit a crime, or half the Dems in Washington did, and have no desire to go down in flames with him. Period.
As mentioned, I have never seen any evidence that Trump committed any Epstein-related crimes, and the victims who have come forward have specifically said he was not an abuser.
With Bill Clinton, who knows?
As I’ve pointed out, if the Democrats wanted the files so desperately, they could have had them at any time. They had control of the government for several years and did not release them. But then again, maybe they never figured on Trump’s comeback, and just decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
But there’s one way to know for sure. Release the files and let the chips fall where they may. I don’t care which side of the aisle they are on. If they did sleazy shit, let ’em face the music.
The way I figure it, there are certainly things in there that will embarrass Trump, similar to what we’ve seen this week. We all kinda know that. And his natural instinct is to cover up everything, no matter how insignificant. This whole issue seems to be blown up out of proportion by Trump’s adherence to the Roy Cohn rules. He wants to deny and hide everything. By doing do, he seems guiltier and guiltier every day. Even his supporters have to wonder why he’s so determined to contain that release.
I, too, have to admit that all of his efforts to hide the files make me ever more suspicious, even though I haven’t seen any indications that he has committed any crimes.
If the files never come out, the victims have apparently assembled a list of their abusers, and I like Marjorie Taylor Greene’s promise to read all the names of the abusers on the floor of the House.
Wasn’t there still an active investigation when Biden was President? The same reason now that you acknowledge Trump is doing this.
Not that I recall. Everything went pretty quiet after Maxwell’s conviction. Do you remember such an investigation?
that seems to be correct. Maxwell was convicted on June 28, 2022 and I suppose the files could have been released after that.
I may be undermining my entire argument here, but maybe they would have to keep all files sealed until the appeals process was complete. (Which would make your original point correct, that the Dems could’t go after the files.)
?????
I don’t know. This is way beyond my legal knowledge.
Her case was on appeal throughout Biden presidency – therefore, no files release.
Maybe, I don’t know enough about that policy and/or law, but following that logic, Trump could not have released the files until last month, when her last appeal was exhausted by the Supremes.
Merrick Garland was utterly unsuited for the AG job…he was clearly going to let sleeping dogs lie until Trump decided to run again which prompted the Jack Smith appointment.
Probably so.
Could be worse, AG was a consolation prize cos he didn’t get to be a Supreme. With all his lukewarm dithering, he might have actually been worse than Gorsuck.
Just this week, a Republican Rep. called the Dems’ bluff and proposed a unanimous consent vote to fast-track the release of the Epstein files. The Democrats, who’ve been loudly demanding that they be released, blocked it. That should tell you all you need to know about how much they really want those files released. It’s all political theater.
The claim that a Republican called for this fast track and the Democrats blocked it both come from Republican Representative Tim Burchett. It’s actually unknowable, if Burchett was sincere in this fast track, who blocked the vote, as House rules keep this secret.
Most likely, since Burchett is the one who released all this, is that Burchett was never sincere, that it was the Republican leadership that blocked it (if it even matters) and that the whole purpose was for the brain-dead Trump cult such as yourself, to then spread this false claim.
Precisely.
“A push on Wednesday by Burchett to force an expedited vote to release the files was blocked for not following proper legislative procedure.”
Complaints about ‘political theatre’ ring hollow when they come from someone who themselves tried to rush through action outside proper legislative process — which is, in essence, political theatre. It’s like you heard this from your right wing news source and went ‘Yeah, Democrats are the problem here’…
There is some political theater involved that goes beyond the release of the files.
I believe that the Democrats will (and should) refuse a unanimous consent decree because they want every single Republican on record as casting a vote. If they vote for release, they get on Trump’s bad side, and maybe he tries to primary them with some lunatic who can’t win the general election. If they vote against, they face their next election as a protector of pedophiles. Either way, the Democrats win.
The only way the GOP can get out of the trap is a unanimous consent decree. Trump can’t primary everyone, and his ire will have no focus,
I understand both positions. I would do the same if I were in either set of shoes.
Exactly. All evidence NOT filtered through MSNBC says Epstein hated Trump, LOL.
So, using liberal logic: If Epstein hated Trump, Libs must love Epstein = Libs are pedos.
David, just stop with the “logic” replies.
We already know any Trunt is wrong whenever they try to use the word.
Your gibberish sounds like Trump.
(Shhhhh, he’ll take that as a compliment.)
Ok, pedo-lover.
Look at what you’re defending. You must be so proud.
Tough days for guys like KidFuckerBob and pedo-adjacent incels like MagaTwat2028.
Hope you boys have fun sticking up for your kid-fucking hero for the rest of your sad lives, fuckwits.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
Whoa, that’s some real retro-chic there. What was that from, Gulf War 1? Damn, first time I heard that one, Bobby Stinson was still alive.
Since you’re dusting it off, though – for the umpteenth time – of course absence of evidence fucking is evidence of absence. It just isn’t *proof* of absence. Nothing is. You can’t prove Bigfoot doesn’t exist, though you can look at the available facts and make your own call.
English not your first language?
Oh, confused would we?!?
Who gives a shit about Epstein? If the names were ever released, 90% of liberal donors would end up in jail. Trump is doing people like Bill Clinton a favor.
Steverino – yet another pedo-adjacent incel that worships a kid-fucker.
By your attempt at logic, you’re in favor of releasing the files in their entirety, pedo-lover?
Really? You think Trump would be hiding the files if he could hurt Democrats? You dear, sweet child. So innocent.
If he thought he could damage Democratic politicians and donors without damaging himself, he would call a press conference and have his favorite right-wing actors do a dramatic reading of the files. He’d have the most damaging files secretly released to Newsmax and OAN.
He wants the files contained for a reason. I don’t know precisely what that reason is, but there must be some reason why he’s so desperate to keep them out of the public.
I think EVERYONE is on that list. That’s why the Dems didn’t release it. That’s why Trump isn’t releasing it. Actors, government officials, athletes, billionaires, Fortune 500 CEOs. Everyone. And that’s why it will never see the light of day.
So you’re on the list?
Ah…the moron opines.
If you truly believe Trump was in Epstein files and Biden and Garland did not leak it or release it considering according to them and retards like you the biggest threat to democracy. You really should not be allowed to debate here they spent 4 years trying to destroy Trump if they had the destroyer they would have used it please seek help for your TDS and bring the retards who are going to reply to this with you. And on your way to therapy see if Dove cameron is naked in love me dead or caylee cowan in double exposure make yourself useful with what you supposedly do
So why do you think he is so desperate to hide the files?
he’s not why did dems who are screaming about the files block a release the other day
Look at what a moronic clown you’ve turned into to justify your worship of a pedophile, Angelo.
Trump would deport you just for having a stupid name like “Angelo,” you pathetic fuckwit.
1st off fuck you and may your family drive off a cliff 2nd seek help for your TDS
Hey Angelo – why do you seem so upset, fuckwit?
I hope you and your family enjoy El Salvador or wherever Trump is sending brown people these days.
Remember that you asked for this – you pathetic, pedophile loving cunt.
The Dems did not block the release the other day. They are the ones that voted to bring the release to a vote. Some rando Republican proposed a Unanimous Consent to bring it to an immediate vote. The proposal failed on a procedural level, and the Repubs *state* it wasn’t them that blocked it. As they are known liars, we can’t know what actually happened. However the VOTE to release is scheduled for next week, so nothing has been blocked. But then it has to go to the Senate and eventually to the President. So all this is really doing is making the R’s show their constituents which of them is protecting Pedo Trump
Explained above.
First of all, they didn’t block the petition to release. They blocked doing it by unanimous consent. They want a vote. It’s a trap.
In their own interest, the Democrats should refuse a unanimous consent decree because they want every single Republican on record as casting a vote. If they vote for release, they get on Trump’s bad side, and maybe he tries to primary them with some lunatic who can’t win the general election. If they vote against, they face their next election as a protector of pedophiles. Either way, the Democrats win.
The only way the GOP can get out of the trap is a unanimous consent decree. Trump can’t primary everyone, and his ire will have no focus.
I understand both positions. I would do the same if I were in either set of shoes.
Another Bill Clinton blow job story??? Hollywood will reboot ANYTHING to avoid investing in original screenplays
Can’t wait! It’s Clintonmania again, for those of us who miss the 90s!
While Bubba thought he popshot on the blue dress was fun he really appreciates the way Donald always swallows the evidence.
Somewhere, Ken Starr is making sure his suit is pressed.
I have to dust off my poem:
http://www.scoopy.net/humor/grinch.htm
I think folks are wrong about “spineless Republicans” in Congress. I think what they are planning is to establish a Republican one-party state, leaving them in permanent control of the country when Trump has his inevitable massive heart attack — unless, of course, he has a fatal stroke first.
J.D Vance makes much more sense as the right wing authoritarian dictator of a neo Feudalist state than Donald Trump. Trump is often underestimated and is not a moron but has a basic understanding of some aspects of game theory, but he’s also genuinely erratic and petulant.
Vance, while playing the fool for Trump, is known to be knowledgable and intelligent and is basically from central casting as a dictator willing to do the bidding of the mega church owners and the tech and manufacturing business elites: he’s an Ivy League educated lawyer and a high tech venture capitalist.
From what I’ve been told, despite how he behaves, the best comparison to J.D Vance is Robert Taft, the man who nearly defeated Eisenhower for the 1952 Republican nomination: an ardent nationalist and midwestern protectionist.
Just to brighten your day – Fred Trump lived to 93. I guess it’s a battle: meanness and genetics vs. cheeseburgers and aspartame.
I sincerely doubt there is anything in the Epstein files that links Trump to trafficked girls. It’s not that I don’t believe Trump would take advantage of attractive underage girls. This is a man who was fucking a pornstar while his wife was pregnant. It’s just that all of the Epstein files were in the possession of the Biden administration for 4 years, and I find it difficult to believe that they wouldn’t have released or at least leaked anything damaging to Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election. Of course, Trump seems to be dragging his feet on releasing all the documents. Could the Biden Administration have been so incompetent that they didn’t go through the files for dirt on Trump?
As for whether Congress can compel Trump to release all the documents, it’s my understanding that not only would the Senate have to pass the bill after the House passes it, but that Trump could veto the bill. There wouldn’t be enough votes to overturn a veto, but the MAGA crowd would likely go ballistic if Trump were to veto the bill. It really depends on what is in those files.
It’s unlikely that the bill would pass, but the Dems seem to have pulled off a procedural coup by getting everyone’s vote on the record. (Assuming that happens as expected.)
Trump really, really, really doesn’t want those files made public. Frankly, I don’t know why. Like you, I don’t think he did anything criminal, and the victims’ group has specifically said that he’s not one of the abusers. So what is it that he doesn’t want us to see? Maybe some financial transaction with Epstein? I don’t know and I don’t even have a good guess.
As for a veto, if it comes to that, Trump will come up with some pretext, and the base will probably accept it.
I read about something related to Epstein having emails talking to people linked to the Russian government, maybe Epstein really was some kind of informant for Russia on issues involving Trump? Not necessarily sexual crimes, but perhaps somewhat illegal businesses and transactions and things that could be suspicious in that sense. Maybe Trump doesn’t want to touch this shit too much because he might have his tail caught up in other things, not necessarily something sexual, abuse, etc., it’s the only thing that makes sense… he’s so afraid of these files
There are rumors, likely credible, that Epstein assisted the CIA and probably other foreign agencies, and not for illegal purposes. I appreciate that it’s hard to defend a pedophile these days without being accused of being one yourself (which is partly why I won’t defend the pedophile Trump) but Epstein was a man with seemingly genuinely broad interests who liked to be a player on the international scene, and he knew how to contact people who the CIA and probably other foreign agencies couldn’t find. It’s likely Epstein happily acted as a messenger service for the CIA and probably didn’t even understand or even know about what he was passing on.
Some say that all the Epstein scandals on the island, etc., were a CIA and Mossad operation to blackmail politicians and businessmen. In fact, a prosecutor in the Epstein case has already stated that at the time of Epstein’s first arrest, government officials ordered him to leave Epstein alone because he was from intelligence.
“Some say” is a fave phrase The Peckerhead uses as a synonym for “here’s something I just pulled out of my ass”.
“Some say”? OK, name three of these “some” and explain their evidence for saying it.
What the government prosecutor said is most likely true – Epstein ingratiated himself with an enormous number of different types of important people, however that does not make the first part about the CIA, Mossad and Epstein Island true.
google Epstein Files .PDF
Fun fact: The Biden admin did not release these files because they didn’t want to hurt Trump’s chances in the 2024 election.
Kamala was such an unpopular candidate, her own party didn’t want to burn themselves to help her. Checks out.
Fun fact – you’re a fucking moron that had no clue what he’s talking about and you worship a kid fucker.
I bet you’re a kidfucker too, aren’t you, Matt?
Adam Tondowsky
Regarding Epstein’s island, it’s definitely true, buddy. Epstein was arrested and would have been convicted if he hadn’t died first; Ghislaine Maxwell herself didn’t escape conviction. Now, the issue of it being a CIA and Mossad operation is more complicated to prove… Although there is very solid evidence of Epstein’s links to Mossad and the CIA Ghislaine Maxwell’s father was a Mossad informant, he even had a state funeral in Israel
I meant that the CIA/Mossad sent people to Epstein Island to blackmail them. Just because Epstein very likely worked for the CIA/Mossad and they, in turn, protected him, does not mean the blackmail part is true.
Again, there are significant and eerie parallels between Jeffrey Epstein and a Belgian from about 20-30 years ago named Marc Dutroux.
It probably isn’t a conspiracy, given all the interest in true crime but how few people these days know about Marc Dutroux, that the CIA, Interpol… have asked/told the major true crime programs/podcasts to not cover him. There has been a Belgian movie about him and, as far as I’m aware, just one fairly minor podcast did a series on him.
Yes, as I said, there is not enough evidence to say that the scheme on Epstein’s island was designed by CiA and Mossad, or even by the FSB itself, there is a possibility that this is true, but there is no way to say for sure. And we’ll probably never know, whether it’s true or not
Seriously? Almost no one thinks that the files will ever be released. They have probably already been destroyed.
What is definitely true though, is that the republicans have put in an incredible amount of work to stop files from being released that they claim would prove that they aren’t pedophiles.
“Besides 14 is old enough to make your own decisions!!” – Trump
If that isn’t blatantly saying he raped the kids, I don’t know what is.