One of the most delightful parts of old school Twitter was happening to catch any tweet about an obvious news update or story, with a quote above it sporting a simple sarcastic, one-word quip: "Unexpectedly." More often than not, young grasshoppers of social media, these were the fine work of Professor Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit from the Legal Insurrection group blog. (His account on the old iteration of the X social media site was banned under the old regime, but happily, he was able to rejoin the platform since Elon Musk took it over.)
In other words, I cannot claim credit for the clever rejoinder made famous by Prof. Reynolds. It seems appropriate this time, though. I shall return to it later.
On Friday, a woman who was forced to take part in the nefarious crimes allegedly committed by late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, released a statement through her lawyers, after the Trump DOJ put out a tranche of partial files on Epstein on Friday. It included the "release of a complaint that Maria Farmer, who once worked for Epstein, filed with the F.B.I. in 1996 about his interest in 'child pornography,'" The New York Times reported.
The Trump 47 administration, readers may recall, started releasing parts of the Epstein files back in late Feb.
Farmer, as you will see, does not hold the same opinion as the main one held by Democrats and others, which legacy media has been trying to convince Americans of for months on end.
But some current lawmakers - including one Republican, Rep, Thomas Massie (KY- 4), who helped usher the legislation to the House floor, along with Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (CA -17) - were salty when the Justice Department (DOJ) did not meet Friday's deadline to release all of the files:
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky and one of the lawmakers who wrote the statute, said in a social media post that the release of the files “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
Khanna told The NY Times in the piece linked above that he was particularly perturbed that a document he believes will shed light on "others who watched or participated in the 'abuse of young girls,' which he referred to as a "draft indictment." The Golden State congressman then drew his sharpest daggers, the much dreaded "I" and "C" words:
“It is an incomplete release, with too many redactions,” Mr. Khanna said, adding that he and Mr. Massie were weighing whether they might impeach officials, move to hold them in contempt of Congress or refer them for prosecution “for obstructing justice.”
There were also scary threats and concern-trolling from the ranking members of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, Reps. Jamie Raskin (MD-8) and Robert Garcia (CA-42), along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY), but I'll spare you the pain of reading their thoughts. You can guess what they said. (And even if you are not sure in this case, it's in the NY Times story.)
Former President Bill Clinton was somewhat salty, come to think of it. You don't need anyone to explain that, either.
Guess what, though, readers? The DOJ has been clear with these rankled congresspersons that the redacting in order to protect innocent victims and their family members is taking time. And the department put out two more tranches on Saturday morning, as I wrote earlier.
READ MORE: Slick Willy Clinton Lashes Out at Trump Over Epstein Files Release, Offers Pathetic Defense
There is just one problem with the caterwauling from those folks, whether they are in the lefty gang, or they are a congressman from the Bluegrass State, or they're in the legacy media that salivates to get Orange Man Bad at last.
Early Saturday, The Hill was forced to publish a news story with this headline: Epstein survivor lauds even partial release of files: ‘I feel redeemed.’
Well, here's what the publication reported, readers: and from the victim-survivor's new statement, it's clear why the Biden administration, current and previous Democrats and Republicans in power in the states and Washington, D.C., and the entrenched permanent class that used to man the FBI, fought with their last breath to keep these documents from coming to light:
[Maria Farmer] came out publicly with her accusation in 2015, detailing how she met [Jeffrey] Epstein at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when she was just a teenager.
...
Farmer, who detailed reporting Epstein’s crimes to the FBI in 1996, said authorities “hung up” on her mid-sentence at the time. A lawsuit she filed against the federal government earlier this year outlines his alleged underground sex trafficking ring, which reportedly involved underaged girls.
...
She added that at one point she told police that Epstein possessed explicit images of minors and accused him of keeping a “modeling book” of child pornography in his personal safe. Those images included photos of her young sisters, according to the survivor.
Unexpectedly, there is plenty of blame to go around on this one.
She mentioned one of the tragic footnotes of the sex trafficking ring, a fellow survivor of Epstein named Virginia Giuffre, who took her own life at age 41 in April. Farmer wrote, in the most moving part of her statement:
“I feel redeemed. This is one of the best days of my life. Of course, it’s mixed with the fact that I’m devastated about all the other little girls like Virginia [Guiffre] (sic) who were harmed because the FBI didn’t do their job.
“I’m crying for two reasons. I want everyone to know that I am shedding tears of joy for myself but also tears of sorrow for all the other victims that the FBI failed.”
Let's be a force of light this season, readers. My prayers are with the survivors and their loved ones, including Giuffre's family, and with anyone who has to deal with political persecution over actions an evil man chose to do. No one should be made a scapegoat for the sins of Jeffrey Epstein, even if you disagree with a person politically.
