Mutually Assured Destruction
In what was a clear warning from Donald Trump, he alerted them:
Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem! Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him.
This, writes Kim Strassel in the WSJ, is what nuclear strategists call mutually assured destruction—which is meant to produce inaction. Congress, undeterred, rushed to vote for bipartisan immolation.
Amongst some 60,000 pages of documents released by the House Oversight Committee’s Epstein investigation, there seems not a lot to glean. Larry Summers, former Democrat cabinet secretary, took the first hit and now needs to explain why he schmucked about with Epstein. As Ms. Strassel is quick to note, Summers’s text exchanges contained nothing remotely illegal or related to Epstein’s crimes, yet are “cringeworthy enough as to have forced Mr. Summers to take leave from teaching duties at Harvard. “
Stacey Plaskett, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ delegate to the House, wondered how to question an upcoming anti-Trump witness. Republicans initiated a censure vote, notes KS, and “Ms. Plaskett only narrowly avoided a formal reprimand and removal from the House Intelligence Committee.”
Documents from Trump antagonist Michael Wolf showed him moonlighting as a PR adviser to Epstein.
Over at the House Oversight Committee, Chairman James Conner made clear his eagerness to demand former President Bill Clinton come for a deposition to explain, among other things, his flights on the “Lolita Express.” Comer has a team also digging into documents showing that in 2013, a fundraising and PR firm pushing New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, now House minority leader, invited Epstein to a campaign fundraising dinner.
There is more collateral damage, reports Ms. Strassel.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden settled for a favorite Democratic punchball—corporations—releasing a memo claiming Epstein files show JPMorgan Chase failed to report “suspicious” Epstein financial transactions to the Treasury Department. Mr. Wyden is calling for a Justice Department investigation. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) spent a few minutes skimming Epstein docs so she could rush to the floor and accuse former Rep. Lee Zeldin (now Environmental Protection Agency administrator) of receiving Epstein money—only to be informed that the donor was a Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, an infelicitously named physician, whose contribution came after the other Epstein’s suicide.
The Unloved, the Betrayed
However this turns out, it is a sorry mess…. a failure of the 21st-century elite, the WSJ’s Peggy Noonan accuses. It’s a feeling of betrayal, of shame. In America, it should be your job to shun those who behave criminally against its children, not to add to their power (Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Larry Summers).
They were the most powerful and successful people in America. And they maintained their friendship and association with him after June 30, 2008, when he first pleaded guilty, in Florida, to charges of solicitation of minors for prostitution. Before that date he was “millionaire playboy Jeffrey Epstein.”
After that date he was a criminal who preyed on children.
