During his first presidential election campaign, Donald Trump He summed up the loyalty of his base in a very powerful image: “I could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and they would still vote for me.” He was right. Since then, Trump has fomented a coup attempt, been convicted of sexual abuse, been indicted for financial irregularities, and been investigated for revealing secrets by keeping classified papers at his Mar-A-Lago residence.
None of this prevented the New York billionaire from getting more than 77 million votes in the last November 2024 elections, the highest number ever achieved by a Republican candidate. The question now is whether he can also emerge unscathed from his increasingly tested relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and suspicions of his participation in one of his “parties,” where the businessman prostituted minors to the delight of his famous friends.
This Wednesday, the Democratic Party took advantage of the delivery of Epstein’s personal documents to the commission studying the case in Congress to leak to the press several emails in which the pedophile suggested that Trump knew perfectly well what was happening on his island… and hinted that he could have participated in the company of one of the girls, who, despite the fact that her name appears crossed out in the document, the Republicans have identified as Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Giuffre, who committed suicide last April after years of media and judicial fight against Epstein and his entourage, was one of the victims who decided to break the silence in 2015 and managed to put the pedophile in jail and to a very strange death, and against the Prince Andrewrecently removed from the British Royal Family by his brother Carlos. In addition, he worked for years at Trump’s residence in Mar-A-Lago, where his father also worked.
The Republican Party’s response
In fact, the GOP’s response to save its president has gone something like that: Giuffre already stated in a trial in 2015 that she “did not believe” that Trump had anything to do with Epstein’s orgies. Neither as a participant nor as an observer nor even as a connoisseur. If the victim referred to in the documents leaked by the Democrats is indeed Giuffre, her sworn testimony is worth much more than any private communication on Epstein’s part.
Separately, the White House has accused the Democratic Party of feeding a “false narrative” by cherry-picking emails out of context solely to implicate the president. For this reason, the Republicans decided to release within a few hours up to 20,000 sheets of documents related to the case, in which there is hardly any mention of Trump or any reference is based on personal impressions and not on definitive evidence.
Republicans emphasize a conversation between Epstein and his lawyer, in which he encourages him to involve Trump in the matter. “It will distract people and by taking an anti-Trump position, the press will treat you better,” his legal representative tells him at one point. For the GOP, this is evidence that all subsequent communications are designed precisely for that purpose, although the truth is that Epstein never publicly involved the president, neither when he was convicted in 2008 by a Florida jury, nor when he was arrested and imprisoned in 2019.
A friendship of several decades
However, the friendship between Epstein and Trump is already very public, with images and documents that attest to it. An anonymous woman even sued both in 2016, but withdrew her complaint and the press conference she had called after alleging threats a few days before the elections that pitted the billionaire against Hillary Clinton. At first, Trump insisted on denying the relationship, but when it became too obvious he has changed his strategy.
According to his account and that of the White House Press Secretary, Caroline Leavittit would have been Trump himself who would have broken the friendship by not trusting Epstein. What there is no data to support this statement. Videos have been published of both of them at parties during the nineties and the Wall Street Journal recovered a congratulation that the president had written to Epstein on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, that is, in 2003, when Epstein’s “business” of prostitution of minors was in full splendor.
Is it possible that Trump did not know that one of his great friends and with whom he said he “shared a secret” was a criminal? Maybe, but it doesn’t seem likely. Another thing is that he participated in said crimes, although the Democrats insist a lot on the fact that he already has a conviction for sexual assault of the writer. E. Jean CarrollThat is to say, violence against women is no stranger to them.
What will MAGA think of this?
The issue, in any case, is whether his base will forgive him this too. One is inclined to think so, but the “Epstein papers” have been one of the constant references of the alt-right and the MAGA movement to blame Hollywood and, in general, progressives. From time to time, supposed lists come to light with names of actors, directors and politicians, generally Democrats, who would have flown to the island.
It is not known how, Trump had managed to avoid any connection until now. It must be remembered that even when it is said that Epstein’s friendships were limited to the Democratic side, it is obvious that, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Donald Trump recognized himself as such. Perhaps, in the end, the patience of the conservative voter will run out and they will consider that, well, killing someone in the middle of New York is fine… but traveling to an island of forbidden pleasures with a pedophile is already too much.