Trump’s Epstein call is coming from inside the house
There’s something we know for certain, and the media is failing to convey it clearly.
When a House committee released some documents related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein last week, the overtly partisan media did what it always does: grab a few lines out of context and rush to sweeping conclusions. Mainstream media did what it always does, as well: find any morsels to play up in hopes of getting people to click, watch, listen, or read, even if it’s unclear what those morsels mean. So, yet again, the public has been subjected to a confusing morass in the news.
In the latest episode of They Stand Corrected, I do what the mainstream media refuses to: sift fact from conjecture, to determine how much—and, in this case, how little—we really know now.
Take a line that has made its way across big mainstream media: Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.” As Politico reported it, “Epstein alleged that President Donald Trump knew about the girls he was trafficking.” But it isn’t clear Epstein actually alleged that. He wrote that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.” That might have been a reference to Trump knowing that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator, was wooing young female employees working at Mar-a-Lago, not a reference to trafficking.
Many people feel certain one way or the other and just want their suspicions confirmed. Regardless, news media should always provide the two ingredients of truth: facts and context.
With Congress expected to demand the release of the big trove of documents controlled by the Department of Justice—the collection that the news has often referred to as “the Epstein files”—we can expect more of the same ahead.
But amid all this, there’s something we know for certain, which the media is failing to convey clearly. This isn’t a story of Democrats vs. Republicans. It isn’t even just a story of Trump loyalists against other Republicans who want the files released. It’s a situation Trump brought on himself.
Top Trump officials called for declassification
While campaigning last year, Trump indicated a willingness to release the Epstein files, although he also hedged. In an interview on Fox News, he was asked about a few sets of files and whether he would declassify them. One was the Epstein files. “Yeah, yeah I would,” he replied.
But he followed that up with, “I don’t know about Epstein so much as I do the others. Certainly about the way he died…. But yeah, I’d go a long way toward that one.” Still, at the time, his own campaign posted on X that Trump “says he will DECLASSIFY the 9/11 Files, JFK Files, and Epstein Files.”
Meanwhile, other prominent MAGA figures made the release of the Epstein files a big issue. And Trump chose them for top posts in his administration.
Take Kash Patel, who now runs the FBI. In a conversation with right-wing host Glenn Beck in late 2023, Patel played up the Epstein files as a Democratic conspiracy. “That’s a thing I think President Trump should run on on day one,” Patel said. “Roll out the black book” -- a reference to Epstein’s alleged client list. Dan Bongino, now Patel’s deputy, talked about Epstein numerous times on his radio show. One episode was even titled, “The Epstein Files Reveal The Shocking Truth.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now runs the Department of Health and Human Services, told Fox in 2023 that information about Epstein’s death and “any of the high-level political people that he was involved with, all of that should be open to the public, it should be absolutely transparent. I don’t see why any of those records would have any redactions in them.” (He also said he had ridden on Epstein’s jet twice, decades ago.)
To their credit, some news agencies have reported on these remarks in the past. But over the past week, this important piece of the reality has been drowned out by a cacophony of claims.
Trump chose to bring these folks into his administration. He chose to indicate that he’d release the files. And he chose to renege on that promise—until it became politically inexpedient, which is why he’s now claiming that he wants the files released.
He’s used to presenting himself as a victim, and is doing so now by screaming “Democratic hoax.” But even for much of MAGA, it isn’t flying this time.
Josh Levs is host of They Stand Corrected, the podcast and newsletter fact-checking the media. Find him at joshlevs.com.
Hello all, and thanks as always to The Contrarian for running my latest column. In the new episode, I also highlight journalistic violations exposed by the release of documents, including how a New York Times reporter tipped off Epstein, and how a best-selling "non-fiction" author advised him. Ugh. Join me over at https://theystandcorrected.substack.com/!
"I do what the mainstream media refuses to: sift fact from conjecture, to determine how much—and, in this case, how little—we really know now."
You know, Josh, some of us are pretty smart and can figure things out for ourselves. I see a lot of Substacks based on consuming news and then telling us what to think about it. Anyone who needs that should give current events more attention and more thought--you know, the way you would your vote. Who's to say that you're always right?