For over a month now, much of the news cycle has been dominated by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and Trump’s close connection to the deceased financier and sex trafficker.
Since Esptein’s suspicious death by suicide in federal prison in 2019, many conspiracy theories have emerged about his death, his crimes and the ruling-class circles he was connected to. Uncovering the truth about Epstein has been an important issue for many among Trump’s MAGA base.
During his second run for president, Trump reluctantly committed to release the Epstein Files if elected. However, he hasn’t done so, despite increasing pressure, and has even publicly criticised his supporters for pursuing the issue, which is now plaguing him.
Of course, it is now clear that Trump’s refusal to release the file is because he is named in them. He was informed of this by his Attorney General Pam Bondi. Exactly how Trump is implicated, or what he is covering up, we don’t know, but every day that goes by only adds to further questions.
And there are many serious questions surrounding Epstein, and not just about Trump. Many want to know why no third parties linked to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s trafficking of girls and women have ever been arrested. From the information currently at our disposal, it seems that the FBI went out of its way to avoid investigating the involvement of third parties. Why was that?
A close inspection of the trials of Epstein and Maxwell reveals an epic miscarriage of justice from the survivors’ point of view. The victims were given barely any acknowledgement of the scale of what was done to them. They’ve also been given no explanation as to why so much of this scandal has been covered up.
Crisis for Trumpism
Trump skillfully played the anti-establishment card throughout his first term as president, as it was clear that he was being reined in by his more moderate circle. At that time, many of his more dramatic proposals were blocked by civil servants and moderate politicians. His second term has seen the clearing away of any such impediments as he populated his administration with hardcore MAGA stalwarts.
Despite his freedom to deliver on the promises he made during the 2024 election, he has nosedived in the opinion polls over the past few months and weeks. Trump gained support amongst Gen Z in the 2024 elections with the help of reactionary ‘manfluencers’ such as Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Andrew Schultz.
Now, 72% of people aged 18-29 disapprove of his performance. He promised to end wars in the Middle East but has bombed Iran and said he will displace Palestinians to turn Gaza into a holiday resort. He said he would fix the economy, but the cost of living has continued to rise.
But, more than any other issue, Trump’s support has plummeted due to the Epstein scandal: 84% of Gen Z disapprove of his administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Almost half of Americans (46%) believe that Trump was directly “involved in crimes” with Epstein. That’s compared to 32% who say they don’t think he was criminally linked to Epstein and 23% who aren’t sure.
Is it a conspiracy theory?
Some conspiracy theories posit that the world is being run in the interests of lizard people who operate behind the scenes. Others believe that liberal politicians and celebrities are ingesting the blood of children to extend their longevity. Many conspiracy theories lean into racist and antisemitic prejudices to explain societal inequality and injustices – from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion conspiracy that assisted the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, to the racist QAnon and Great Replacement conspiracy theories today.
These ideas often tap into the genuine fears people have about the safety of children and women. Most women or children who are survivors of sexual and physical abuse know the perpetrator. Perpetrators are often relatives.
People have also experienced the widespread Catholic Church cover up of child sex abuse that took place across the world in its institutions, and many sports clubs and scouts organisations have also been marred by shocking cases of child sex abuse and cover-ups.
So, there is good reason for people to be suspicious of the establishment and elites in positions of power. While some aspects of the online discourse about the Epstein scandal can wade into conspiracy theory territory, a lot of this story is based on fact, making it more of a real conspiracy rather than a conspiracy theory.
It’s no surprise that so many people are angry about the mishandling of the Epstein scandal. Epstein’s actions involved the trafficking and abuse of girls by super-wealthy, powerful men under the noses of the FBI. Many of these men had strong connections to the Israeli state. The cover-up has involved the FBI, as well as Democrat and Republican politicians to one degree or another.
“A pal is a wonderful thing”
You’ve likely seen the 1992 video footage of Trump whispering in Jeffrey Epstein’s ear and pointing at cheerleaders at a party in Mar-a-Lago (Trump’s Florida mansion). You’ve no doubt also read the quote by Trump in a New York Magazine interview from 2002: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Last week, the New York Times released new information about Trump arranging another Mar-a-Lago party in 1992, “for young women in a so-called calendar girls competition” where Epstein was remarkably “the only other guest”. This prompted the event organiser George Houraney to ask, “Donald, this is supposed to be a party with VIPs. You’re telling me it’s you and Epstein?”
As more and more information emerges about the sordid relationship between these two obscenely rich sexual predators, the bulk of the media coverage tends to overlook the immense trauma suffered by the victims of Epstein and his network of powerful, ruling-class men. The truth has been hidden about so many aspects of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. However, what’s crystal clear is that the survivors have been completely failed by the justice system.
Travesty of justice
Police investigations of Epstein began in 2005 when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported him for coercing their daughter to give him a massage. This was followed by statements from many other teenage girls that he had sexually abused them at his mansion.
The conclusion of this process amounted to Epstein getting a slap on the wrist after he pleaded guilty to two charges concerning one 16-year-old child, even though the police had interviewed 40 women who had accused Epstein of abusing them. He received a sweetheart deal from a top prosecutor, Alex Acosta (who in 2017 became Trump’s Labour Secretary).
Epstein was given an 18-month sentence, but was allowed to leave his minimum-security prison for 12 hours each day when his limousine would collect him in front of the prison each morning at 10am. Incredibly, the deal also included a non-prosecution agreement that gave immunity to Epstein and “any co-conspirators” from further prosecution. He was released after serving fewer than 13 months in prison and then went on his merry way to wreck the lives of many, many more children.
The main reason he faced a second trial at all was due to public pressure after the #MeToo movement arose against other powerful men like Harvey Weinstein, whose abuse of women had also been an open secret in elite circles.
A well of trauma for the survivors
Epstein was, of course, represented by top lawyers such as outspoken Zionist and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz. It is well documented that Dershowitz and his other defence lawyers waged a campaign of intimidation against the survivors.
We saw a public display of this when Alan Dershowitz viciously attacked and undermined Virginia Giuffre every time he got in front of a microphone for years after she alleged Epstein trafficked her to have sex with him (Dershowitz), Prince Andrew, and Democrat politician George J Mitchell. Another victim also said she was trafficked to Dershowitz.
Julie K Brown, a journalist from the Miami Herald, has extensively investigated the grooming and abuse that Epstein and Maxwell committed across southern Florida. She interviewed 80 survivors in the process. Two hundred women received compensation from a fund for victims that was paid out of Epstein’s estate after he died. So, there are at least 200 survivors, 98% of whose stories have not been given in court trials.
It is also alleged that Epstein orchestrated a sex trafficking ring in Eastern Europe. Most survivors are currently maintaining their anonymity. Virginia Giuffre sadly took her own life in April 2025. Mother of five, Carolyn Andriano, waived her anonymity after she testified against Ghislaine Maxwell alongside three other witnesses in 2021. She was found dead in a Florida hotel in 2023 due to a drug overdose.
The Trump administration has categorically refused to release the mountains of information that the FBI has compiled about Epstein. News reports have stated that Trump’s name was in the Epstein Files.
It’s also now been confirmed that the FBI team responsible for reinvestigating the crimes of Epstein in the first months of 2025 redacted (blacked out) the names of Trump and other high-profile people before higher-ups in the government said last month that releasing the information “would not be appropriate or warranted.”
Instead of releasing the information they have, Todd Blanche, the No.2 official in the Justice Department, visited Ghislaine Maxwell in prison to interview her about information that could be politically useful to the administration.
As a thank you for her cooperation, Maxwell has been moved to a minimum security prison that mainly houses white-collar criminal inmates.
In response to this move, survivors of Maxwell’s abuse, Annie and Maria Farmer and the family of Virginia Giuffre said in a statement: “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received… Without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas… This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better.”
What we don’t know
Epstein’s financial wealth was $578 million at the time of his death. While it’s not clear whether the FBI ever “followed the money”, journalists at Forbes have uncovered that Epstein made most of his money operating as a money manager for super wealthy clients. Around $480 million was made through charging fees to billionaires by helping them avoid taxes. Billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret, Les Wexner, paid him over $200 million, while billionaire Leon Black paid him $170 million. Fees of that scale are highly unusual for money managers, even in the high-flying world of Wall Street. Forbes couldn’t account for where about $100 million of his fortune came from.
Epstein had many friends in high places. Flight logs show that Donald Trump flew on his private Boeing 727 jet at least seven times while Bill Clinton flew on it no less than twenty-six times. He met with Bill Gates many times after becoming a convicted sex offender in 2008, and he was a close friend of former Harvard President Larry Summers.
The Forbes report notes how the online discourse alleges that “Epstein secretly taped his wealthy friends engaging in sex crimes with trafficked minors in his homes and on his islands and then blackmailed them, with his financial business serving as cover.” We just don’t know to what degree this is true or not at this stage.
When Alex Acosta, who arranged the sweetheart deal for Epstein in Florida in 2008, was asked whether Epstein was given barely a slap on the wrist because he was an intelligence asset for the CIA, Acosta gave this answer: “I can’t address it directly because of our guidelines”.
Journalist Vicky Ward, who worked for Vanity Fair and The Daily Beast, has reported that a source she had in Trump’s first administration confirmed to her that Acosta told Trump officials, “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”
Many suspect that Epstein may have had connections to the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack met with Epstein dozens of times between 2013-2017, including on a 2014 private flight to Florida.
Les Wexner is an outspoken Zionist with many connections to Israel, including a foundation called the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program. There is also much evidence that Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, had connections to Mossad. Again, whether Epstein was working on behalf of Mossad, and/or the CIA, we may never know.
What we do know
Some people are disgusted when they realise that pro-capitalist politicians whom they voted for turn out to be liars and hypocrites. That the ideals of democracy, equality and justice that liberals and conservatives profess to stand for are just empty rhetoric used to prettify the status quo of capitalist exploitation.
Socialists see the entire economic system as the fundamental problem rather than the morality of its leaders and rulers. But given that the system is fundamentally based on labour exploitation, competition, individualism, and imperialist violence, is it any wonder that it breeds narcissists and sociopaths like Epstein, Maxwell, Dershowitz, Prince Andrew, and Trump?
The #MeToo grassroots movement from below played a huge role in bringing down Epstein and Maxwell in the late 2010s. Today, the pro-Palestine movement is exposing Western Imperialism’s full complicity in the genocide in Gaza. Support for Israel is plunging in the US, as a new poll shows 60% of respondents disapprove of Israel’s military action in Gaza. This is another sore spot for Trump’s fascistic regime. The movement for socialism, for feminism, and for Palestine must organise a working-class offensive against this sick system and its depraved ruling class.