The Epstein Files Are Going to Haunt Trump’s Presidency

The truth was somewhat less salacious. Trump was openly encouraging Putin to help his campaign because he wanted his help—and because he thought Clinton was already “cheating” in numerous other ways. He also respected Putin as a strongman and had long railed against alliance systems like NATO—meaning that the Russian dictator had ample reason to aid Trump without a secret deal. Trump, meanwhile, didn’t disavow Putin because he never disavows anyone who supports him.

As a result, though, the scandal dragged on for years, undermining Trump’s first term practically from its inception. The drip-drip of news meant that the story never fully went away. As with Epstein, Russia was far from the most serious issue of Trump’s first term, which was defined by family separations at the border, efforts to rob millions of health care, and naked corruption and cronyism. But it was an effective metaphor for a president who was an aspiring autocrat who would do anything, even court a longtime U.S. foe, to amass more power.

The Epstein scandal threatens to be something similar, and possibly worse. With Russiagate, the right largely stood in lockstep behind Trump, echoing his complaints that it was a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” The problem with the Epstein scandal is that the leading propagators of various conspiracy theories relating to the pedophile financier are strident backers of Trump himself. The president’s denials ring hollow given his longstanding friendship with Epstein.

As with Russiagate, it seems possible—perhaps even likely—that the most salacious allegations will be false; there is, for instance, no evidence that Trump visited Epstein’s notorious private island. But that hardly matters. Trump again faces two clear choices, and both are bad: He can continue to stonewall the release of all files on Epstein and hope that people move on (which they probably won’t do), or he can release everything and have to own up to the fact that he was friends with the twenty-first century’s most notorious pedophile (that is, assuming he wasn’t also an Epstein client). For now, Trump is taking the first approach. On Thursday, he demanded the release of grand jury testimony in the Epstein case (in which he is unlikely to appear). It seems highly unlikely that will satisfy anyone, particularly those in MAGA who have been demanding the full release of the “Epstein files.”