The Epstein Follies Return

First order of business after the shutdown: Emails from the grave!

Could there be a better example of Congressional dysfunction than that its first pressing business after the government reopens is . . . the return of the Jeffrey Epstein follies? This is exactly what the American people weren’t waiting for.

A protester holds a sign related to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

But this is Washington in 2025, so everyone is obsessing about Epstein’s emails from the grave that mention Donald Trump long before he was President. Democrats selectively leaked the emails (acquired as part of a Congressional investigation) that refer to Mr. Trump. Republicans countered by releasing thousands of other emails that are embarrassing for many but tell us little new about the deceased sexual offender.

Everyone knew Mr. Trump and Epstein palled around in New York in the 1990s and early 2000s, though they later had a falling out. This was clear in the 2024 election and it had become an issue in Mr. Trump’s first term when Democrats assailed a plea bargain struck by Labor Secretary Alex Acosta when he had been a prosecutor in Florida. Mr. Acosta resigned—needlessly, we said at the time, because the plea deal at least guaranteed a felony conviction and Epstein served 13 months in jail.

The new Epstein email getting the most attention is from 2011 addressed to his fellow trafficker in young women, Ghislaine Maxwell: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. . . [Victim’s name redacted] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75% there.”

The email’s context isn’t clear, nor do we know what being “75% there” means. The victim in question, the tragic Virginia Giuffre, said publicly before she committed suicide that Mr. Trump never participated in anything nefarious. She certainly wasn’t reticent about other men in the Epstein circle.

Democrats, and a few Republicans, are demanding again that the Justice Department release all of its Epstein files for the sake of “transparency.” There appear to be enough votes in the House to pass a discharge petition commanding the release of those files, with a possible vote next week.

The complication for the transparency crowd is that the Biden Justice Department had all of these documents for four years and could have released them. They also could have used them to prosecute others besides Ms. Maxwell (now in prison) and Epstein if they thought they could get a conviction. Biden officials certainly weren’t shy about attacking or even indicting Mr. Trump.

As is so often the case, Mr. Trump has been his own worst enemy here. As a candidate he fanned the expectations of the Epstein conspiracy theorists who think government is protecting the rich and powerful. Once in power, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel teased explosive findings but later said there’s nothing to see.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has resorted to his usual default that it’s all a “hoax,” even as he strong-arms Republicans to oppose the discharge petition. He looks like he has something to hide even if he doesn’t.

What Ms. Bondi should have done long ago is call a press conference, explain why she doesn’t want to release more files than she already has, and take the media heat. There are good reasons of privacy and unfair guilt by association not to dump hundreds of thousands of pages of raw FBI investigatory files into the public arena. Some victims who so far may not have been publicly identified could also be hurt.

Democrats want to keep the Epstein story going because it embarrasses Mr. Trump, and maybe the files will cough up something worse. Republicans don’t want to get cross-wise with that part of the MAGA base that thinks everything is a deep-state conspiracy. This is what passes these days for doing the people’s business in Washington.