Trump Keeps Trying to Change the Subject from Jeffrey Epstein

I have long held the view that if one is not guilty of something, then they do not try to change the subject and withhold or try to stamp out information about the story behind the accusations. The Felon and the ongoing fascination by many with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is a case in point.  Rather than prove his - doubtful in my mind - innocence by calling for a release of all information, the Felon has continued to lie and keep information locked up and, worse yet, through meetings between his former counsel and Ghislaine Maxwell  given the appearance of seeking to silence her and/or cut a deal.  In addition, the Felon has gone out of his way to distract both the public and the media from the Epstein saga.  Imposing tariffs, alleging possible planned meetings with Putin, the Texas GOP redistricting effort, renewed screams about the "Russia hoax," and calls for investigations into Obama and Hillary Clinton all appear aimed at changing the conversation and distracting attention from the reality that the Felon is acting lake someone who is guilty.  Luckily, so far the Felon's efforts are not working and in some ways are serving to keep interest in Epstein and his ties to the Felon the center of media attention.  A piece in The Atlantic by a former conservative Republican looks at the Felon's ongoing gyrations aimed at changing the subject to anything other than Epstein:

Donald Trump doesn’t want you to read this article. Don’t let it go to your head, and I won’t let it go to mine; we’re not special. He doesn’t want anyone reading anything about Jeffrey Epstein, or his own relationship with the late sex offender. And yet his intensive efforts to change the subject to something—anything—else seem to bring only more scrutiny.

This evening, CNN reported, a group of top administration officials, including the vice president, attorney general, FBI director, and White House chief of staff, had been planning to gather to discuss whether to release the recording of an interview between Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker and an Epstein associate, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Then, this afternoon, Reuters reported the meeting had been canceled, with Vice President J. D. Vance’s spokesperson denying that it had ever even been planned. Yesterday, Republicans in the House subpoenaed the Justice Department for some records related to Epstein.

As the Epstein story’s lock on headlines enters its second month, the president has employed three main tactics to try to dislodge it. First, he has ordered his supporters to stop talking about Epstein. . . . . This has been somewhat effective in certain quarters: In the days after Trump’s pleas, Fox News aired less coverage of the story.

Trying to stifle coverage this way has flaws. Much of the interest in Epstein originated in MAGA media itself, so claiming that these supporters fell for a hoax is dodgy—especially when the attorney general and the FBI director were among the foremost merchants of innuendo. And it almost goes without saying that screaming at people not to pay attention to a topic will only make them suspect there’s something to see.

Some Trump-aligned outlets may be willing to take his lead, but other media organizations are not. A press that might have treated the Epstein story as either old news or somewhat prurient just a few months ago is now eager to find new information about it.

Second, Trump has tried to change the subject, whether that’s attempting to breathe new life into his claims of a “Russia hoax,” threatening to federalize the District of Columbia, or taking a walk on the White House roof. Distraction has long been an effective tactic for Trump, but it’s also a familiar one. Trump’s efforts have produced an amusing dynamic where no matter what he does, many people treat it as an attempt to distract from Epstein, which only points back to Epstein. Trump also keeps stepping on his own ploys. When the president announced the return of the Presidential Fitness Test last week, he invited the Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor to join him. But Taylor is a sex offender, having pleaded guilty in connection with paying a 16-year-old to have sex with him. This was not only a strange invitation on its own; it was also a reminder about Trump’s former friend Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of girls.

Third, the Trump administration and its GOP allies have tried to provide at least some information to the public, in the hope that it will sate appetites. Frequently, these moves have just whetted them. The Justice Department released what it said was “raw” footage from the jail where Epstein died, only for Wired to report that the tape was, in fact, spliced.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for “full transparency” about Epstein, yet he also adjourned the House rather than hold a vote on releasing files related to the case. The mystery of the reported planned meeting scheduled for tonight is more fuel for intrigue.

When Trump himself has spoken out recently, he has brought only more attention to the matter, to borrow his phrase. The president was evidently aware of Epstein’s sexual proclivities—“It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” he told New York magazine in 2002—but has said that he didn’t know about Epstein’s criminal activity. . . . . Last week, however, Trump suggested that their clash came after Epstein “stole” employees from Mar-a-Lago—possibly including Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who died by suicide in April. This drew understandable outrage from Giuffre’s family but also raised questions about what Trump might have known about Epstein’s trafficking.

Yesterday, I wrote about how Trump talks about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In that case, Trump’s heated denials fed a belief among many of his critics that he must be hiding something. But the juiciest rumors did not prove true; the worst of the scandal had already been made public. Perhaps the same is true of Epstein: We already know that Trump was friends with him, and we already know that Trump was seemingly aware of his interest in young women. If Trump isn’t hiding anything, though, he’s not doing a good job of convincing the public of that.