The Future of Freedom Foundation
July 25, 2025
From what I can tell, there are four possible reasons for President Trump's refusal to order that the Jeffrey Epstein files be released to the public:
1. That Trump's name is possibly included in those files. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Attorney General Pam Bondi has informed Trump that his name appears in the files.
2. That wealthy, powerful, politically connected people who engaged in sexual relations with underaged girls, along with Epstein, are supposedly using their influence to persuade Trump not to release the files that incriminate those people.
3. A possible reluctance on the part of the Justice Department to let convicted Epstein assistant Ghislaine Maxwell see the files, given the possibility that her criminal conviction could be overturned, which could require a retrial.
4. The deep state - i.e., the national-security state - is possibly prohibiting Trump from disclosing the Epstein files because of possible Epstein connections to the deep state.
In my opinion, the first three possible reasons are meritless. In my opinion, the only explanation that makes any reasonable sense is #4.
1. What difference does it make if Trump's name is included in the files? If there is nothing indicating that Trump engaged in any criminal conduct, why should he care that people see his name in the files, especially since people already have learned from Bondi that his name is in the files. Moreover, everyone knows that Trump and Epstein were friends a long time ago and that their friendship ended a long time ago. Trump has steadfastly maintained that he never engaged in any criminal conduct with Epstein. Taking him at his word, there is no reasonable possibility that the files contain any evidence pointing to the contrary. Thus, this doesn't come across as a reasonable reason as to why Trump is refusing to order a full disclosure of the Epstein records.
2. Trump knows that he is paying an enormous political price for his decision not to release the Epstein files. Why would he pay that price just to protect some well-heeled, prominent, influential, powerful people? What can they do to Trump? They bear responsibility for their actions. Moreover, given the fact that he can't run for president again, Trump doesn't need to be concerned about losing some possible donors. While Trump might be tempted to show loyalty to longtime, big supporters, it is virtually certain that he would never sacrifice a tremendous amount of political capital to protect people who had criminally engaged in sexual relations with minors. That just wouldn't make any sense.
3. Maxwell was convicted in federal court of Epstein-related crimes and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence. A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her conviction. Her request for a full-court (en banc) hearing before the appellate court was denied. She has asked the Supreme Court to hear her appeal. But the chances that the Court will do so are slim. Even if it did, the odds are that her conviction would be upheld. But even she were to receive a new trial, it wouldn't make that much of a difference if she were to see the Epstein files before the new trial. After all, the prosecutors are required to give her any exculpatory evidence anyway. It defies credulity that Trump would be paying this enormous political price out of concern that Maxwell could benefit in a retrial from viewing the Epstein files.
4. The deep state. In my opinion, this is the most likely reason why Trump is refraining is from disclosing the Epstein files. The U.S. attorney in Florida who handled the Epstein case in 2008, Alex Acosta, was reported as saying that Epstein "belonged to intelligence" and to "leave it alone." If Epstein did, in fact, belong to intelligence, it was almost certain that the "intelligence" was the Israeli Mossad or the CIA or both. Even if it was only the Mossad, the CIA would do whatever the Mossad asked, given the extremely close relationship between the U.S. government and the Israel government.
If this is true, then there is no reasonable possibility whatsoever that the Epstein files will ever see the light of day. The deep state would never permit people to see that it was involved with Epstein.
When one examines the plea bargain that Epstein was given in 2008, it is actually shocks the conscience of any reasonable person. The feds had him dead to rights. They easily could have secured convictions based on his sexual relationship with numerous under-aged girls. They could have easily sent him away to prison for the rest of his life.
Instead, they gave him a plea deal that has to rank among the most shocking in the history of U.S. criminal jurisprudence. The deal enabled him to plead guilty to state officials, not federal officials. He received a 13-month jail sentence, which he was permitted to serve in a county jail, not a state prison. And get this: Every day, he was permitted to freely leave the jail in the morning and return at night to sleep there. He was also given immunity from prosecution for all the crimes with which he did not plead guilty. The entire deal was done secretly and quickly so that the victims would not have time to object to it.
That plea deal is the very definition of a super "sweetheart" deal. And it is my opinion that the only entity that could ensure that type of super sweetheart deal for such heinous crimes and for such an unattractive defendant was the U.S. national-security establishment - i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA.
As longtime readers of my work know, I have long maintained that it is the national-security branch of the government that is actually in charge of the federal government. The other three branches - executive, legislative, and judicial - are permitted to have the veneer of power, but it's only a veneer - an appearance. The real power lies in the national-security branch.
In my opinion, it is the omnipotent power of the national-security establishment that is now manifesting itself in all its glory to the American people. If there is anything good that can come out of the Epstein scandal, it is that the scandal might cause the American people to begin processing that reality.
Reprinted with permission from Future of Freedom Foundation.