President Donald Trump “may not outlast” the scandal surrounding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the files related to investigations of the disgraced financier who died in jail six years ago, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said on Wednesday.
Newsweek reached out to a legal analyst via X for additional comment on Wednesday night.
Why It Matters
The release of new emails from Epstein’s estate has reignited controversy over Trump’s past connections to the sex offender. As House Democrats and some Republicans push for full transparency, the potential release of thousands of pages of government files has heightened public and political scrutiny.
Legal analysts and congressional representatives question whether the unfolding events could have significant consequences for Trump’s political standing, public perception and institutional accountability.
What To Know
In a post on her Substack Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, the former prosecutor said in part that “nothing that’s in the Epstein emails is a surprise,” as it relates to the president.
The newly released emails include Epstein describing Trump as “the dog that hasn’t barked,” recounting that Trump allegedly spent time at Epstein’s home with an unnamed victim, and saying that Trump requested Epstein resign from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, after learning of misconduct allegations.
The victim is widely thought by House Republicans to be Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died earlier this year by suicide.
“Given everything we know about Donald Trump, everything he himself has said about girls and women, it’s hard to envision what innocent behavior he would have been engaged in for ‘hours’ spent with a victim of abuse at the scene of the crime—Epstein’s home, where sexual abuse was rampant,” Vance said.
Vance later wrote in part: “As bad as the emails released today are, there is more. The FBI’s investigative files have not been released. The Trump White House is still doing everything it can to prevent their release. People like [FBI Director] Kash Patel, who called for their release, and Donald Trump, who promised it during the campaign, have gone mum. Draw your own conclusion.”
“Trump has survived other moments like this, where he turned his glaring racism and misogyny into bonus points with his base. But he may not outlast the Epstein Files controversy,” Vance later concluded in her post.
The House will soon vote on whether to publicly release the full set of Epstein-related government records. The petition to compel a vote surpassed the required 218-signature threshold with the swearing-in of U.S. Representative Adelita Grijalva of Arizona on Wednesday.
The bipartisan push is led by Democratic U.S. Representative Ro Khanna of California and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who contend that only full transparency can address the lingering public mistrust stemming from the Epstein case.
What People Are Saying
Trump, on Truth Social Wednesday: “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap. The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price. There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”
The president added in a second post, “In other words, the Democrats are using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax to try and deflect from their massive failures, in particular, their most recent one — THE SHUTDOWN!”
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, wrote in a statement: “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President.”
What Happens Next
In defiance of party leadership, Republican Representative Thomas Massie has gathered signatures on a petition to force a vote for the release of the Justice Department’s files on the investigation into Epstein.
Read the full article here
