Who was Jeffery Epstein and what's this case against him?
Jeffrey Epstein was a well-connected financier who influenced a lot of who's who of politics and entertainment domains in the US, Europe and many other parts of the First World. He faced allegations of sexually assaulting young girls. However, his prosecution came to a halt when he committed suicide by hanging himself in a New York prison in August 2019.
What's the connection of Clinton and a Trump with Jeffrey Epstein?
Among all the John Does and Jane Does in the declassified Epstein files, Bill Clinton has been referred to as “Doe 36” in court documents. His name is mentioned 50 times in the sealed records.
The accuser in the case, Virginia Giuffre did not accuse Clinton, but she claimed to have seen him with two young women on Epstein's island. But the Democrat and former US president denies ever visiting that island.
The problem with Clinton's denial is that flight records show he indeed used Epstein's plane for international trips after his presidency. He went to places like Paris, Bangkok and Brunei on Epstein's private plane.
According to the records, another victim, Johanna Sjoberg, testified that Epstein, while referring to girls, once told her that Bill Clinton liked his victims young.
It's facile to assume Bill Clinton must have done unethical things in his private life because the whole world knows of his affair with a 22-year-old White House intern Monika Lewinsky during his time as the US president. He is fortunate that he was not made an accused in the Epstein case.
And what about Donald Trump?
That's the most specious one. Trump's name appears in a document in which Epstein is quoted as saying he would inviteTrump, who wasn't yet the president but a real estate businessman, to join him at a casino.
In another document, a witness said she was never asked to engage in sexual relations with Trump. So, there's nothing against Trump in these files.
Stephen Hawking is another big name on the list. The late scientist used to suffer chronically from motor neuron disease, which kept him confined to his wheelchair. How could he have asaulted anybody?
That's right. But Stephen Hawking is not an accused either. And nobody even mentioned the late scientist assaulted anybody. In 2015, shortly after Virginia Giuffre filed a civil claim in the US, an email from Epstein to the disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell — the human trafficker and close associate of Epstein — revealed that Epstein had asked her to “issue a reward” to any of Giuffre's friends as a means to counter her claims of Professor Stephen Hawking participating in an underage orgy.
The email read: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false. The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”
Britain's Prince Andrew's name has also come up and he was also previously involved in a lawsuit that accused him of having intercourse with a 17-year old girl who apparently travelled with Epstein. So have these revelations again put the royal family in a spot of bother?
This one is the most serious of all allegations. Giuffre mentioned this disturbing incident in March 2001 where she was to be trafficked to Prince Andrew. She described it as a “wicked” and “really scary time”. She claimed that after a nightclub visit, Ghislaine Maxwell instructed her to — I quote — “do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey”. Unquote.
But Prince Andrew said he never met Virginia Giuffre and denied her claims.
The files also mention Johanna Sjoberg, who claimed that Prince Andrew groped her breasts while they were seated on a couch inside Epstein's Manhattan apartment in 2001. Sjoberg deposed that Prince Andrew placed his hand on her breast also for a photo.
The royal family of England has always been controversial. People who love and advocate democracy also question why Britain should continue with the anachronism of monarchy. It is a widely held belief that Princess Diana was ordered to be killed by the queen or her coterie and then they made it look like an accident.
Having said that, since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the snobbery of the Royal family seems to have reduced. After Prince Charles became king, he brought Camilla Parler Bowles, his lifelong girlfriend, to the palace. The queen had objected to his marriage with Camilla because she was a divorced woman with child. Then, in another development during the queen's lifetime, the royal family objected to the marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle because the girl was not White, let alone from another blue-blooded family.
But all that became things of the past once Charles was crowned. And scandals of the royal family are no longer earth-shattering news.
While the case was going on, Epstein committed suicide in 2019 which ended the case. Then what is the use of these files?
The US has a law that says all classified information or material, which is 30 years old or more, will be declassified under the following conditions. It is in the same spirit of transparency that US District Judge Loretta Preska, who made a ruling earlier this month, said that there was no legal basis for maintaining confidentiality regarding the names of individuals, including prominent figures such as Britain's Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
