Amid all the investigations into the Epstein affair, there is much talk – and no argument – about the importance of listening to the survivors.
And yet, at a lectern outside the venue where she’d just been questioning a former president, Republican Nancy Mace told the media this: “Epstein victims have exonerated President Trump. This is a trope, a rabbit hole that you guys have been going down, but he’s been exonerated over and over again by Epstein victims.”
Which is news to many survivors. I asked Rep Mace when survivors had told her the president is exonerated because they had only ever told me they wanted to see him questioned by her committee. She replied: “I’ve never heard that from a single victim.”
Anna Paulina Luna, her Republican colleague on the House Oversight Committee, has expressed similar views that Epstein survivors see the president as being in the clear.
You have to wonder at the extent of their research.
Dani Bensky, an Epstein survivor, told Sky News: “Trump has certainly not been exonerated. There is evidence, and there are investigative leads that need to be looked into. Just because a survivor doesn’t raise a hand in a group setting, doesn’t mean that they didn’t experience or witness harm. It means that safety and defamation are extremely real fears.
“To suggest Trump is exonerated is an insult to survivors and speaks to the continued failures of the DoJ [Department of Justice] to follow the investigative leads that are in front of them.”
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Jess Michaels, an Epstein survivor, posted on Threads: “Rep Luna did not meet with all 1200+ victims from an over 30-year time span. WE, as a collective, have not cleared President Trump of wrongdoing. He IS a person of interest. He should testify.
“Signed ~ an Epstein survivor.”
They are two women among many who hold a similar view. It’s clear that Epstein survivors want questions asked of Donald Trump, a former friend of Jeffrey Epstein, who is featured in the files.
To state that they have exonerated him is simply wrong and risks undermining their pursuit of justice.
It also feeds the theory – whether it’s true or not – that Republicans are providing cover for their president at the expense of a proper and full investigation.
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Politics are laced through the Epstein affair. The transcripts of the Clinton interviews, when they are released, will reflect the truth of their testimony. It will also provide proper context for the closing statement of Republican chair James Comer, who said that former president Bill Clinton had “exonerated” President Trump as he “has no information that President Trump did anything wrong, and that President Trump never said anything to Clinton to make him think that he was involved with Epstein”.
Read more:
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Notwithstanding that, Democrats dispute the Republicans’ characterisation of Clinton’s evidence, the notion that Trump is exonerated because he didn’t confess to an old foe is simply absurd.
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The calls for the current president to appear before the House Oversight Committee didn’t end when Clinton left the room.
Donald Trump emphatically denies any knowledge of, or involvement in, Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal behaviour.
Inclusion in the Epstein files is no indication of guilt.
