Analysis: New files deepen a critical mystery about those who partied with Jeffrey Epstein
Analysis: New files deepen a critical mystery about those who partied with Jeffrey Epstein
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/politics/epstein-files-trump-clinton-musk-blanche-analysis
Publish Date: 2026-02-04 00:02:00
Source Domain: www.cnn.com
“The American people need to understand that it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”
Perhaps Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is right, given the high evidentiary bar required for prosecution.
But his comment Monday on Fox News cruelly disregarded victims of Jeffrey Epstein left with lifelong trauma after being trafficked into his sordid orbit.
And it doesn’t fully capture the broader implications of a new mountain of disclosures from the Department of Justice.
Several million documents peel open the rarefied upper echelon of Epstein’s globe-spanning social and business network. The disgraced financier was the curator and connective tissue of an elite circle open to those with wealth, fame, power and influence.
His contacts over the years included a former US president and a current one; a prince, a crown princess, cabinet secretaries and ministers; and titans of business, entertainment, the law, banking and diplomacy. Related scandals that threaten royal dynasties and governments are now raging in Europe.
Epstein’s former friends, associates and dining companions have governed us and have built an economy that enriches them and sidelines many of us. They’ve appeared on our TV screens, owned sports teams or sold us consumer goods. They’ve written software operating systems that power modern life and are imposing a future dominated by artificial intelligence.
While the beau monde partied with Epstein in the gilded age when the 20th century flipped to the 21st, many Americans not in the club were dying in foreign wars or struggling to stay solvent through the ravages of the Great Recession.
A social and networking whirl
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s maxim that the “very rich … are different from you and me” is…
