OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE

Back in August, 2017, I wrote a post speculating about the possibility that Vladimir Putin’s hold over Donald Trump was connected to the workings of Trump Model Management, which ostensibly represented aspiring models, many of them teens from Eastern Europe. 

Be that as it may (and it still strikes me as plausible), I mention it now because one of Trump’s pals is about to return to the spotlight.  As I wrote back then, in an interview with New York Magazine in 2002, Trump expressed his admiration for a guy named Jeffrey Epstein: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.  He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

“On the younger side” in Epstein’s case meant 13 or 14 years old.  In 2007, Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and served a few months in prison.  Definitely a terrific guy, lots of fun to be with.  Unless you were a teenage girl.

Thanks to the Miami Herald (link below), Epstein’s whole sordid history will finally be revealed.  The Herald demonstrates that Epstein basically got away with a slap on the wrist for molesting hundreds of under-age girls, some of whom he passed around to his buddies.

How did he avoid decades of jail time?  He can thank Alexander Acosta, the man who was Miami’s top federal prosecutor back then.  For reasons that remain unclear, Acosta offered a sweet deal to Epstein’s attorneys (among them Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, who gravitate towards sleaze like flies gravitate towards garbage).  The hearing was secret, and none of Epstein’s victims were allowed to testify.  Epstein did 13 months instead of multiple life sentences.

If the name Alexander Acosta rings a bell, you might be a public policy wonk.  Acosta is now our Secretary of Labor.  Yes, Donald Trump rewarded the prosecutor who gave his pal Epstein a break with a Cabinet appointment.  Alexander Acosta is now in charge of enforcing America’s labor laws, including those against human trafficking.  You can’t make this stuff up.

As the old saying goes, everything Trump touches, dies.  And Jeffrey Epstein’s time in the barrel may be at hand.  There’s a civil suit in Miami that will begin next week, in which Epstein’s victims will finally be allowed to tell their story in court.  Check out the details via this link.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html