Meanwhile in the Epstein files

 

[I]t’s jaw-dropping to learn — some seven long years later — about the phone call that came into a popular Albuquerque disc jockey and was passed onto local authorities from a man who claimed he’d worked on a rural New Mexico ranch belonging to Jeffrey Epstein, the uber-connected financier and convicted sex offender.

The man said he knew where the bodies were buried.

Literally. Two of them, in fact — young girls whose life of abuse in Epstein World allegedly ended in murder and were hidden somewhere in the hills near the ranch not far south of Santa Fe.

[...]

New Mexico authorities were told back in 2019 not to investigate by U.S. Justice Department prosecutors in Manhattan who just as abruptly lost all interest in the matter.

[...]

[A] flurry of smaller but significant details in the latest and supposedly last tranche of Epstein Files has me convinced that 1) there might be some very active landmines in the case that haven’t been touched off yet, and 2) there definitely was, and still is, an active coverup at the highest levels of government.

[...]

The recently released files contain some surprising discoveries from the FBI’s investigation, especially centering on the actions of one of the two guards on duty that night. Both were fired for failing to check on their famous inmate and allegedly falsifying records.

The normally Trump-friendly New York Post reported last weekend that one of the two guards made an unusual $5,000 deposit just 10 days before Epstein’s death and, perhaps even more suspiciously, Googled “latest on Epstein in jail” twice, just 50 and then 40 minutes before her co-worker discovered the body. (The guard has denied in a sworn statement that she had anything to do with Epstein’s death.)

  Philadelphia Inquirer

Perhaps she believes that taking $5,000 for "falling asleep" while it happened isn't having something to do with it. It's a technicality.

The online commentator Alison Gill also notes that Epstein and his associates were discussing the possibility of blackmail material on Trump, presumably with the goal of ending Epstein’s criminal case, in the days right before he died.

Recall that one of the victims claimed Trump threatened her (and her family) with an allusion to a 12-yearold girl being killed.

[N]ow we know from a recently released 302 that Epstein was not just blackmailing the victims, but also his clients and he discussed this with Trump. (A 302 is the number of the FBI form that is used for interviews)

And [Gill] reported that he also discussed some dirt he might have on Trump

And that interview with the FBI took place 3 days before Epstein was found dead in his jail cell

Gill’s pointing out that some of the 302s especially about Trump and how he trafficked girls from his modelling agency are also missing.

[...]

Also reminds us that the DOJ withheld accusations of Trump committing sexual abuse of a minor (discovered by NPR sleuthing)

[...]

Also suspicious was the discovery of these documents in the time of Bondi and Blanche. When these were discovered, Bondi closed the case (or tried to on a 4th of July weekend) and Blanche went to talk to Maxwell. Also that closing memo talked about how no evidence of blackmail found. (Which makes us think that blackmail was found)

  Daily Kos

[T]he Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., near where the [Trump] accuser [who was 13 years old at the time of her accusations] grew up [...] assigned reporters to look at anything and everything that could either confirm or cast doubt on what she told the FBI — real estate records, court filings, old newspaper clippings, and more — and even sent a journalist out to the West Coast,

The result? The things they could check out pretty much checked out, including her family’s relationship with an Ohio businessman whom she said introduced her to Epstein on Hilton Head Island. None of what the paper found relates to her veracity about the Trump encounter, but both its findings confirming other details, and the fact that the FBI spoke to this woman four times, bolster her credibility.

[...]

We know that during the fraught days between Epstein’s 2019 arrest and his death, the FBI ordered the New York Police Department and local Manhattan prosecutors to back off their own investigations into Epstein. Why? We know that in the New Mexico case, federal prosecutors hijacked the investigation and then absolutely nothing happened. Why? And we know that the three temporarily missing FBI interviews with the Trump accuser are part of a much bigger pattern of disappeared files, constant slow-walking, and other Justice Department irregularities. Why?

  Philadelphia Inquirer

I think we know the answer to those questions is the same answer: protect Trump and the Epstein class.

[L]ocal prosecutors in New York, New Mexico, Florida, the Virgin Islands, and elsewhere need to step up.

Welp

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday posted three memos previously unreleased and related to allegations against President Donald Trump.

The uncorroborated accusations previously came to light as part of the massive trove of documents related to the investigation of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that were released by the DOJ on January 30. A Democratic lawmaker raised concerns of “serious allegations” missing from the public release, however, and a CNN investigation discovered three documents related to the allegations had not been publicized.

Democratic U.S. Representative Robert Garcia of California last month said he had reviewed the unredacted documents—available to members of Congress—and said some files listed in an official log appeared to be missing, including those relating to a woman who alleged in 2019 that Trump forced her to perform oral sex and struck her in the head after Epstein, the disgraced financier, introduced them.

[...]

The documents consist of three follow-up interviews with the alleged victim conducted in 2019 after she came forward with her accusations.

  MSN

Gotta assume the FBI took her seriously if they conducted four interviews with her.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in an emailed statement to Newsweek said: “These are completely baseless accusations, backed by zero credible evidence, from a sadly disturbed woman who has an extensive criminal history.”

Sure.

Interviews are linked here. She says she bit his dick. I hope this is true.

UPDATE 08:46 pm:

UPDATE 03/20/2026:

Raffi! on Bluesky

 

Getting closer to the Trump child rape case

 

Roger Sollenberger report on this is here:

A case of Trump in the Epstein files

 And how did Bondi's people let this one get by?

Denied

It's a triple-trial news day for Trump.  His presidential immunity claim is being heard at SCOTUS, and his fraud/election interference/hush money trial is in session in Manhattan.

Some post-award analyses

To have a meritorious appeal, you have to preserve a reversible error at the trial level. This is why you hire competent counsel. You need someone who actually knows the rules of evidence and procedure.

Alina Habba had no clue what was occurring throughout the trial. She not only failed to preserve any remote grounds for appeal, like a moron, she repeatedly and unintentionally waived them over and over.

For example, she kept saying "no objection" as exhibits were entered into evidence.

[...]

There's no appeal here. And because people have asked me in the past, no, there is no such thing as an incompetent counsel defense in civil cases. That's for criminal matters.

  Brian Manookian

Yeah, they don't like losers.

Mr. Trump can pay the $83.3 million to the court, which will hold the money while the appeal is pending. This is what he did last year when a jury ordered him to pay Ms. Carroll $5.5 million in a related case.

Or, Mr. Trump can try to secure a bond, which will save him from having to pay the full amount up front.

A bond might require him to pay a deposit and offer collateral, and would come with interest and fees. It would also require Mr. Trump to find a financial institution willing to lend him a large sum of money at a time when he is in significant legal jeopardy.

[...]

Mr. Trump has tapped his political action committee’s coffers to pay for his own legal fees and other expenses stemming from his criminal indictments and civil trials.

Yet $83.3 million eclipses the amount in his political accounts. The verdict on Friday will require Mr. Trump to reach into his own pocket.

Still, if the verdict survives Mr. Trump’s appeals, Ms. Carroll should eventually be paid.

[...]

He has enough cash to cover the verdict in various accounts, a person close to him said. In recent years, Mr. Trump has unloaded several assets, including his Washington hotel, which sold for $375 million.

Yet the verdict on Friday is not the only payout upcoming for Mr. Trump. The New York attorney general is seeking a $370 million penalty from the former president and his family business as part of a civil fraud trial that wrapped up this month.

The judge in that case is expected to issue a decision in the coming weeks.

  NYT

Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.

Or his attorney.  Jesus Christ, this woman.

UPDATE 01/27/2024:

How'd that go for you, beautiful?

P.S.  I expect Jared might come across with Trump's dollar damages.  After all, it's because of Trump that he got $2 BILLION from the Saudis.

UPDATE 

I don't think there is a number big enough to shut him up.  I still think he'll get the money to pay damages from MAGA dupes and Jared, who got $2 BILLION from Saudi Arabia because of his relationship to Trump.

UPDATE 01/28/2024:

I don't think there is a number big enough to shut him up.  I still think he'll get the money to pay damages from MAGA dupes and Jared, who got $2 BILLION from Saudi Arabia because of his relationship to Trump.

Trump at closing arguments as it happened

His instructions were that Trump's guilt was already decided in a previous trial and they are not to try to relitigate that question.

I would have loved it if someone had pulled out this photo right then:

Really?  Five hours?  MAGAts are still learning about what he said several days later.  I'd give it five days at least.

(Inner City Press says Trump posts on Truth Social are taking place while he's here in the courtroom.  I'm guessing he's got one of his lackeys posting shit.)

When she sticks to the rules, Habba makes decent points.  She probably should have steered clear of objectional claims that got her in trouble with the judge.  But I guess that depends on the jury.

Well, she's a Trump lawyer.

His two things: "You can be wrecked inside but also have moments of triumph."

Habba tried to dismiss the plaintiff's expert witness' assessment of damage reparations.  She laughed at the expert noting that only Trump's supporters believed him ("Duh!" she snarked) and that reparation of Carroll's reputation could be effected by Joe Rogan and Candace Owens. ("What planet is she living on?") This is Crowley's response:

Say what, Judge?  I hope he clears that up in jury instructions.

"When you're a star, they let you do it."

$7.3M general damages, $11M reputational repair, $65M punitive damages.  Unanimous decision.

It's not going to be enough to stop him.*  And I assume they'll appeal the verdict anyway.

This is in addition to $5 million awarded at the original trial for sexual abuse.  I have a feeling she'll have a hard time collecting any of it.  

Coward.

"And the Republican Party" ???  And...what does Biden have to do with a private citizen's lawsuit?

Pretty much what you'd say to a mob trial jury.**

UPDATE 01/27/2024:

UPDATE 01/29/2024:

*

**