As Yogi Berra would say, it’s déjà vu all over again.
Last month, after reviewing more than 23,000 pages of files from the estate of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three documents. Two were emails in which they inexplicably chose to redact the name of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre — even though her name had not been redacted in the original estate records.
Why did they do it? In a sworn deposition, Giuffre stated she had never seen Donald Trump engage in any wrongful or illegal behavior. Leaving her name unredacted would have undercut their narrative and exonerated Trump.
The Democrats wound up with egg on their face when their ruse was exposed. But undeterred, they tried the same tactic again on Friday. This time, however, they redacted faces.
In the social media post below, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) attached one of the photos released by House Oversight Democrats on Friday — a 1998 image of Trump posing with five young women at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The women’s faces were blacked out, creating the impression that they were underage.
Ansari disingenuously wrote, “Vile, disturbing new photos of Donald Trump that raise even more questions about knowledge of abuses at Epstein’s estate. @OversightDems are demanding the DOJ comply with our subpoena and release the full Epstein files. Stop protecting pedophiles. Survivors deserve justice now.”
But the Democrats were foiled again when The New York Post published the original version of the photo, which clearly indicates that none of the women were minors.
The Telegraph provided some important context to the story. The women were models for the suntan lotion company Hawaiian Tropic, who were participating in an event held at Mar-a-Lago.
One of the women who appeared in the photo told the British media outlet, “I don’t remember much of that. I was 22 years old and remember him being very nice. He was very gentlemanly, that’s the word to describe him.”
Gentlemanly. Now, where have we heard that before?
The Post published another set of photos, one redacted and the other not. Trump is shown aboard a private jet, his tie loosened. He is “sitting next to a blonde woman who does not resemble his wife, first lady Melania Trump, or his previous wife, Marla Maples.”
The unredacted photo confirms this woman was not a minor.
Questioned about the latest photo dump by a reporter at the White House on Friday, Trump replied, “Well, I haven’t seen it, but I mean, everybody knew this man.
“He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him,” Trump said. “So that’s no big deal. I know nothing about it.”
From the Post:
The legal team for Epstein’s estate told The Post that faces were redacted based on their request….Early Friday, the committee received 95,000 images from Epstein’s estate, but only released 19, showing celebrities, royalty, political heavyweights and dark glimpses of Epstein’s twisted kinks….About 70 more images were released Friday night, showing a disturbing photo of a naked Epstein lounging in a bubble bath.[This photo can be viewed on the Post’s website.]
People Magazine published all of the photos released by the House Democrats. None of them are compromising. Nor does Epstein appear in all of the images.
In one photograph, Bill Gates and then-Prince Andrew are seen chatting at a social gathering during the Malaria Summit at the 2018 Commonwealth Business Forum in London, England.
According to People, “in the original photo, which appears in the Getty Images archive, Gates is shown speaking with then-Princes Andrew and Charles.”
In the photo released by the Democrats, however, Charles has been cropped out. Asked why Charles was removed from the image, a spokesperson for Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, “told People that the photo arrived with Charles cropped out when Congress received the files from the Epstein estate.”
Other photos show Epstein in business settings with Steve Bannon, Woody Allen, Richard Branson, Alan Dershowitz, and businessman Dean Kamen. Larry Summers is pictured seated on a private jet, presumably Epstein’s, speaking with Allen and an unidentified woman.
During an appearance on the CNN program The Arena with Kasie Hunt on Friday, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) confirmed that some of the photos show “people engaged in sexual acts.”
“The last time when there was a big production [of photos], what we tried to do was release all the files eventually,” he said. “We’re trying to be selective about what we release now. And so in this case, we’re not really quite sure yet who is who. Certainly, there is a lot of people involved in some of these acts.”
No doubt committee staffers are furiously sifting through the 95,000 images obtained on Friday. So far, however, much to the Democrats’ chagrin, it looks like Trump has nothing to worry about.
But they remain ever hopeful.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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