Whatever Donald Trump fears is in the Epstein files, it must be bad. He clearly worries his base is not ready to move on from demanding a full release of all documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and alleged trafficker of underage girls — and a friend of Trump’s for over a decade.
Falsely accusing former President Barack Obama of “treasonous” behavior, a crime punishable by death, for conspiring against him in the 2016 election didn’t distract MAGA conspiracy theory enthusiasts. Calling on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to back up those lies didn’t work either. So now Trump is moving into abusing his presidential power to create the illusion that Obama did something wrong.
On Monday, after receiving a criminal referral from Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a grand jury probe into clearly false and laughable allegations that Obama and members of his administration committed federal crimes when they examined allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. Good thing for Trump that the Supreme Court granted him blanket immunity for all crimes he commits while president-ing — though one does wonder if Bondi and Gabbard consulted their own attorneys before abusing their own offices to do the president’s bidding.
The bad news is that this is an unprecedented level of corruption and abuse of power, far beyond even what former President Richard Nixon did in firing Justice Department officials, who refused to cover up the Watergate scandal, and weaponizing the IRS to audit his perceived enemies. It’s long been suspected, but never proven, that Nixon explicitly or implicitly ordered the Watergate burglary. We know for certain he attempted to hide his alleged crimes and cover-up for the burglars and his staffers. Trump, though, is trying to frame an innocent man to stop people from talking about the sexually graphic birthday card he allegedly wrote — and drew — for his buddy Epstein about “a wonderful secret” and how they had “certain things in common.” A former senior Justice Department official told NBC News the probe is “a dangerous political stunt,” and a former senior national security official noted there is “no logical, rational basis for this.”
The good news is that, right now, ordinary Americans aren’t going to be called upon to give up their daily routines and job duties in order to “serve” on this kangaroo grand jury. NBC News also reported on Monday that “there is no exact timetable” and “it could take months for the proceeding to begin.”
I’d add that “never” is a strong possibility here. Bondi fully understands that getting a grand jury to indict Obama means providing something resembling plausible evidence, which she simply does not have. She does, though, have an appetite for wasting taxpayer money and people’s time by forcing prosecutors to sic grand juries on people for the legal act of protest, even though those juries keep refusing to return an indictment. But pulling that stunt on a former president, especially one as beloved as Obama, will only boomerang by underscoring how weird and pointless this all is.
No one, including Trump, seems to fully understand what Obama is even accused of doing in this elaborate conspiracy theory. Trump and his people love to throw around scary words like “treason,” “coup” and “sedition” — it’s always projection with the Jan. 6th crowd — but there’s no evidence for any of it.
This may be backfiring already. No one, including Trump, seems to fully understand what Obama is even accused of doing in this elaborate conspiracy theory. Trump and his people love to throw around scary words like “treason,” “coup” and “sedition” — it’s always projection with the Jan. 6th crowd — but there’s no evidence for any of it. Basically, in 2017, intelligence officials reported there was an extensive Russian operation, directed by President Vladimir Putin, to interfere with the 2016 election. Multiple federal investigations found extensive contact between this effort and Trump’s campaign, though they fell short of proving outright conspiracy. Even Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was serving as a GOP senator from Florida and chairing the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged Russian interference.
Now, Trump and Co. are falsely accusing Obama of making all this up, even though Gabbard’s referral provides no evidence. I mean, Trump went on TV and told Russian spies to hack Hillary Clinton’s email. How’d Obama make him do that?
Fox News, Newsmax and other MAGA propaganda outlets are desperately trying to make this very dumb, very confusing conspiracy theory take off with the Trump base. So far the results have been lackluster. Oh, you can see Trump fans trying to care on Truth Social, dutifully asking AI to create images of Obama in prison, but their hearts don’t seem to be in it. Even they don’t quite see how Trump is going to convict a former president on made-up charges. He has installed some phony judges like Emil Bove, but seating an entire fake jury that’s rigged against Obama is beyond even Trump’s power at the moment. MAGA’s true thought leaders, like Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA or Trump’s companion Laura Loomer, are paying little to no attention to the Russia story — likely because they know their followers don’t really care about it either. On the contrary, their efforts to tweet about Obama lead to a sea of replies about the Epstein files, the very topic they are trying to avoid on Trump’s behalf.
Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Sign up for her free newsletter, Standing Room Only, now also on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Republicans seemed to realize on Tuesday that this distraction effort isn’t working, so they returned to their previous failed strategy: Pretending they are going to release the Epstein files, while doing everything in their power to not release the Epstein files. Even though House Republicans adjourned for the chamber’s August recess early to avoid a vote on releasing the files, a small committee briefly returned to vote to subpoena the DOJ for a small number of records related to the case. Unfortunately, much of the media took the bait, accepting at face value the Republican claims that this a major probe. That is a lie. They only want information from former presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, and some former officials that Trump now hates, like former Attorney General Bill Barr or former FBI Director James Comey. Notably, they avoided asking anything about Trump, even though he was close with Epstein and was serving as president when the sex offender died in prison while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
The White House also leaked claims it is considering releasing the Justice Department’s recent interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump’s former friend who is currently serving time in federal prison for her role in trafficking and abusing teenage girls for and with Epstein. This is being treated as a big revelation, as if Maxwell is some fountain of truth that cannot be discovered anywhere else. In reality — as befits a pedophilic sex trafficker — she’s famously willing to lie to authorities. Worse, she was interviewed by Todd Blanche, who formerly served as a Trump defense attorney and was rewarded for his loyalty with a Justice Department gig. After Maxwell’s interview, she was transferred to a minimum security prison, despite being convicted on five federal charges. No legitimate reason has been offered for this move. In response to a reporter’s question on Tuesday, Trump claimed he wasn’t told of her transfer, but he expressed confidence that “Whatever [Blanche] asked [Maxwell] would be totally appropriate.”
Unsurprisingly, “sources” revealed to ABC News that Maxwell said “Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern.” Direct quotes were not offered. Since Maxwell’s attorneys have been openly gunning for Trump to pardon her, or at least commute her sentence, these comments must be considered factually dubious at best, particularly in light of the sentencing memorandum submitted by federal prosecutors in 2022. “In short,” they concluded, “the defendant has lied repeatedly about her crimes.”
We need your help to stay independent
If Republicans or the White House were actually interested in transparency or learning more about this case, they wouldn’t be so keen to take the word of a known liar and convicted child abuser. Reports suggest there are hundreds of victims. Someone who actually cared would interview them. Or even better, they would spare the victims from being retraumatized by instead reading the reports that already exist in the Epstein files, which include oodles of victim testimony, as well as hard evidence. The FBI reportedly combed through all these documents, so if there was something exonerating about Trump in there, you can bet Bondi would have it released with a showy press conference. Instead, the president’s propaganda outlets like Newsmax are running cover for Maxwell, claiming she “just might be innocent.”
Trump’s goal has been to make the Epstein files, which the Wall Street Journal reported he is mentioned in multiple times, disappear beneath the waves like every other scandal he’s been involved in. Past is prologue, so he may pull this off.
So far, most of the efforts at a cover-up have backfired. The Obama distraction is just a reminder of how desperate Trump is. Releasing Maxwell from prison in exchange for her new “testimony,” which all signs suggest is a strong possibility, would almost certainly reignite the scandal. Even the MAGA faithful will struggle to explain why the public should believe a convicted sex trafficker over her victims, or why the word of a known liar should substitute for releasing the mountains of evidence gathered by the FBI and law enforcement.
With each escalation by Trump and his administration, it is increasingly hard to ignore the nagging suspicion that whatever is in those files about him must be truly disgusting.
