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| Andrew Blum |
What do Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Mick Jagger, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen, Larry Summers, Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Peter Thiel, Naomi Campbell, Michael Wolff, Noam Chomsky, and David Brooks have in common?
They all have shown up in recent weeks in emails, photos, documents or the files released starting Dec. 19 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. There is no allegation of wrongdoing in what has been released. But being in the Epstein files is not good PR.
The Justice Department first released thousands of pages from its investigation into Epstein, the alleged pedophile and sex trafficker; then if said it found 1 million more documents. Epstein died in jail in 2019 after he was indicted, escaping prosecution. Maxwell, a friend of his who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021, is serving a 20-year sentence.
Epstein’s estate has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to more than 200 survivors of sex abuse and trafficking, according to media reports. Other estimates say there may have been as many as 1,000 victims. They lobbied for release of the files.
References to and photos of well-known people in the files were not in context and were undated. The files do not suggest any of them were guilty of anything. But what were they doing with Epstein?
Former President Clinton was pictured in several images in a hot tub and swimming in a pool. He also posed with Maxwell and other well-known people connected to Epstein.
In the weeks leading up to release of the files, there was speculation that photos of and references to Trump and Epstein together would be few, and others, like Clinton and Epstein together might be more plentiful.
Once the files were released, Clinton had the strongest PR pushback, with his spokesperson saying the photographs were more than 20 years old and that Clinton ended his friendship with Epstein when crimes emerged.
“There are two types of people here,” the spokesperson said. “The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”
She said Clinton wanted the release of all Epstein files related to him, adding that the DOJ was selectively releasing documents to imply wrongdoing where there is none. "We call on President Trump to direct Attorney General Bondi to immediately release any remaining materials referring to, mentioning, or containing a photograph of Bill Clinton," she added.
"The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So, they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be."
Summers, the former president of Harvard and Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, meanwhile, is one of the few high-profile people who has stepped back from public life after an Epstein relationship emerged. Prince Andrew is another, having his title stripped by King Charles.
The release of the files culminated weeks of back and forth and comments by Trump, Bondi, Congress, Democrats, and Epstein victims and their families.
The records, did, however, contain hundreds of references to Trump. Many are mentions from media reports, but some were more focused on Trump, once a friend of Epstein’s. They also contained two subpoenas sent to Mar-a-Lago, where, he once said, Epstein “hired away” an employee.
Epstein mania 2.0 has seen Trump calling MAGA supporters gullible “weaklings” for believing a radical left” hoax that the government withheld Epstein files, and he said Democrats created the files.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein or Maxwell. The DOJ said some of the new material contained false accusations, without specifying which ones it believed were untrue.
The files also disclosed that after federal agents arrested Epstein in 2019, they were also apparently trying to contact about 10 people they called potential “co-conspirators,” according to a redacted email exchange.
Trump himself denied any knowledge of Epstein's alleged crimes and said at the time of Epstein's arrest that they hadn't spoken in 15 years; he has also spoken about kicking Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago.
All of this from someone who has been featured in pictures and videos with Epstein, and who has been found civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump appealed both Carroll verdicts.
Yet Trump seems somehow impervious to any sexual-related PR crisis starting with the NBC “grab them by the pussy” tape in 2016.
So far, the PR winners in the Epstein saga are the victims and members of Congress who pushed for release of the files. Clinton does not look all that good, and Trump and his DOJ look bad for stonewalling their release until forced to by law and public opinion.
Getting to the bottom of all this is going to take a while. It will be up to the media, Epstein victims, Congress, the public, and perhaps a special master to review the documents, or a special prosecutor to investigate and figure out what the files truly mean.
Naturally, there will continue to be a lot of political maneuvering and PR spin.
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Andrew Blum of AJB Communications is a PR consultant and media trainer who has directed proactive and crisis PR for a wide range of clients and issues, and has done PR for more than 40 authors, professional and financial services firms, NGOs, startups and PR agencies. email: [email protected] or X: @ajbcomms
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