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List? What list?

Posted

To the editor:

As far back as mid-May 2017, I noted that Donald Trump reacts predictably when in trouble: he changes the news cycle. I described his tactic this way: “Trump is not unlike a criminal on the run who took along his laundry hamper. Every time the hound dogs closed in, Trump got them off his tail by dropping a dirty sock in a different direction.”

He’s dropping socks again. Since Jeffrey Epstein died in custody on July 23, 2019, Trump has vowed to expose the truth. He and his MAGA supporters have suggested that Epstein’s “liberal elite” clients were involved in the infamous sex trafficker’s death and their names appear on a list. 

On Feb. 21, 2025, Fox News host John Roberts asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about Epstein’s client list and she said, “It’s sitting on my desk right now.” A few days later, Bondi told Fox’s Jesse Watters, “you're going to see, hopefully tomorrow, a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information."

Yet on July 7, Bondi announced the case is closed, no list exists, Epstein committed suicide, nothing to see. The MAGA-sphere was outraged. Trump tried to calm his supporters claiming the client list was a “liberal hoax”; no one chased that dirty sock. Trump next promised to release grand jury transcripts, but the MAGA world wants a client list, not reams of boring court documents. When The Wall Street Journal published that Trump sent Epstein a bawdy birthday card, Trump played the victim by suing the WSJ; yet, MAGA anger remains. 

Trump’s last soiled garment? Gin-up the base by posting that the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians should go back to the offensive names they abandoned out of decency.  Who falls for this?

Joseph Cannisi

Comments

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  • krell1349

    Despite wimpy Mike Johnson shutting down the House of Representatives, this scandal is not going away. I can't wait to see Trump testify in the Wall Street Journal's lawsuit. Keep the heat on this administration and ignore the distractions. More distractions are coming. This is far from over. And his DOJ is complicit in this. His DOJ can't be trusted.

    Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Report this

  • fcannisi

    As the Trump faithful so often quotes the bible, I offer Matthew 26:52 "all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

    It's quite ironic that Trump might fall due to a conspiracy theory of his own making!

    Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Report this

  • Valete

    As liberals act holier than thou, they should read the Bible more carefully, especially the following verses: Proverbs 6:16-19, which states that God hates a lying tongue and a false witness who breathes out lies. Additionally, Colossians 3:9 advises, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices."

    A most interesting turnaround in the Epstein scandal. A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied a request by the Trump administration to release grand jury transcripts from an investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, stymying efforts by President Trump to blunt criticism from many of his supporters.

    Judge Rosenberg ordered that a new case be created “in the public interest” to provide access to the government’s requests and the denial order, as the Epstein grand jury docket remains sealed. However, she closed the case, where the government had filed its request, which began with the investigation into Mr. Epstein in Florida in 2005.

    The Justice Department has also requested that records be unsealed in New York, where Mr. Epstein faced a later investigation in 2019

    Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Report this

  • fcannisi

    I have news for Quad Zero - all Grand Jury records are sealed by federal law. Trump knew his request to release those records would be denied based upon that law. When Eric Garner's family requested that Grand Jury records regarding Garner's death be released, the family was denied on the same grounds.

    As has been extensively reported, Trump was told by the DOJ in May that his name appears throughout the case files. Two months later Pam Bondi shut the investigation down.

    Let's all remember that Epstein died in a federal jail in July 2019. Trump was the president, and he had a year and a half to release whatever documents, files or LISTS he thought would shed some light on Epstein's suspicious death. He did NOTHING! Where is the client list Pam Bondi said she had on her desk? Assuming such a list ever existed, it likely no longer does.

    BTW, using a biblical quote about lying in the context of defending Trump is laughable. Trump lies and proceeds to lie about his lies. He has been caught in tens of thousands of provable lies, including yesterday when Trump falsely added expenditures from a building project completed 5 years ago to the cost of current FED building renovations. FED Chair Jerome Powell called Trump out on live TV. It was priceless!

    Friday, July 25, 2025 Report this