I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it now appears that the only Trump administration figure who acted with anything resembling a conscience in the matter of the “Epstein files” disclosure fiasco wasDan Bongino. According to the new book,Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency,byNew York Timesjournalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, it was Bongino—and Bongino alone—who repeatedly told the White House they were fumblingthe Epstein scandalwith their continual obfuscations, half-measures, and broken promises.
At one point, Haberman and Swan write that he yelled at Chief of Staff Susie Wiles during one of the frequent White House meetings called to perform damage control on the Epstein story: “Iwarned you guysabout this the whole time, and you ignored me. And exactly what I said was going to happen happened. And now you’re pretending I was in on this.”
A few months later,Bongino resigned.
What theNew York Timesexcerpts from the book demonstrate is a remarkable lack of a coherent strategy regarding the “Epstein files,” combined with an even more remarkable lack of curiosity regarding the veracity of the claims therein against Trump. And despite what the President of the United States wants you to believe, thereareallegations against Trump. One, as the excerpt recounts, involves painfulnipple play: “One official would later describe it as a ‘surreal’ experience to be discussing nipples in the White HouseSituation Room.”
The fact is, I have no idea if Trump had sex with women—or, indeed,underage girls—trafficked or ensnared by Epstein. (The president, of course, has repeatedly denied any and all such allegations. ”I have nothing to hide. I have been exonerated. I have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein,"Trump claimedduring a press gaggle on Air Force One in February.)
What I do know, however, is that there are allegations that he did so, a fact that never seems to even enter the conversation among thoseTrump flunkieshuddled together in a room designed to facilitate crisis communications during national emergencies. In this case, the emergency they were discussing wasn’t the administration’s illegal tariffs, illegalwar in Iran, or illegal deportation agenda, but the one involving their boss’s close relationship with the world’s most notorious pedophile.
Nobody bothered to ask whether the claims were true.
Nobody expressed any discomfort with the accusations.
Nobody questioned whether they ought to be working so hard to save the skin of a man already found criminally liable for rapingE. Jean Carroll.
Nobody brought up the fact that 27otherwomen have charged the president with rape,sexual assault, and groping. (Trump has also repeatedly denied all these women’s allegations. “I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody…I’m not a pedophile,” Trump said in an April 26 interview with60 Minutescorrespondent Norah O’Donnell.)
Nobody questioned why Trump grew irate when the subject came up.
Nobody—not even Bongino—looked at the “Epstein files,” compared them to the broader facts of Trump’s life and said, “You know, I think there might be a pattern here?”
Of course, the Trump people will argue that he has never been charged with wrongdoing regarding the “Epstein files.” That is true. But we also know that he lied about his relationship with Epstein, claiming, for example, that henever flewon Epstein’s plane. We now knowthat was a lie. He flew on the plane at least eight times. Trump alsodenied sendingthat grotesque 50thbirthday greeting to Epstein. He said hecut off all tieswith Epstein following their split in 2004. Just this week, however, Epstein’s personal secretary, Lesley Groff, testified to Congress that shearranged callsbetween Trump and Epstein shortly before Trump assumed the presidency.
In short, Trump has done nothing but lie about his relationship with his “best friend” of 15 years. Yet nobody in Trump’s inner circle bothered to ask themselves whether they ought to be working so hard to defend such a man. They didn’t ask because they’d already determined the answer.
We’ve blown right past asking the quaint Clinton-era question of whether character matters. We’re not even asking if criminality matters. The only question still on the table regarding this criminal presidency is whether past crimes currently matter. And among those whose salary/influence/prestige is tied to Trump’s fortunes, they do not.
