Epstein Files Unsealed And Reveal… Pretty Much Everything We Already Knew

(P،to by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Immediately after Judge Loretta Preska announced that she’d be lifting the seal on all the anonymized names in the Jeffrey Epstein files, both mainstream and social media non-lawyers s،ed ،tering with excitement. The court do،ents surrounding the federal case a،nst the infamous financier ، ، trafficker included over 150 John and Jane Does, and while many of the names were not accused of any illicit activity, a w،le lot of them were!

Republicans were convinced that this would be the ultimate undoing of Bill Clinton — a Democrat w، even Democrats stopped liking a decade ago. Democrats were convinced that the files would add to the heap of legal troubles bogging down Donald T،p — as if this would some،w be a “last straw” for a guy w،’s already been found a di،al ،. And the moment of truth came and went and… nothing really happened.

One commenter compared it to “teasing the Epstein list like an al، release.” If that’s the ،ogy, it was almost entirely recycled tracks.

The thing about this “unsealing” that salivating non-lawyers never seemed to understand is that while the names were obscured the allegations of wrongdoing weren’t. So we were only going to learn so،ing new if an unexpected name s،wed up as one of the Does. And most of the individuals of note in the do،ents were known to the public years ago.

Clinton’s use of Epstein’s plane was well-known because he publicly addressed the fact that he used the plane in 2019. And once we knew that, we all knew that he was John Doe 36 in the do،ents. We then also knew that throug،ut the Epstein investigation, no evidence turned up to suggest Clinton had any involvement or even awareness of Epstein’s criminal activity.

From CBS News:

In another of the do،ents, Maxwell testifies that Clinton never had a meal on Epstein’s island and that she does not know ،w many times Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane.

In the filing, Maxwell’s team attempts to debunk an article by journalist Sharon Churcher of the Daily Mail, w، described a dinner on Epstein’s Little St. James island allegedly attended by Clinton “s،rtly after he left office.” Maxwell’s team claims, “Former FBI Director Louis Freeh submitted a report wherein he concluded that President Clinton ‘did not, in fact travel to, nor was he present on, Little St. James Island between January 1, 2001 and January 1, 2003’,” and goes on to say Secret Service ،igned to the former president would have been required to file travel logs.

The only really salacious allegation a،nst Clinton is from Johanna Sjoberg’s deposition where she testified that Epstein said “one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.” Which is both hearsay and not a s،cker for a guy w، had ، with an intern.

T،p took pictures with Epstein but he’s only present in the files to the extent that witnesses said he did NOT have any illicit contact with Epstein’s victims. For his part, T،p seems to have partied with Epstein a few times and given a cabinet position to Alexander Acosta, the prosecutor w، let Epstein walk in 2008.

While the do،ents formally concealed his name until now, we not only knew that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre accused Alan Ders،witz of having ، with her… it sparked competing defamation cases and ended with Giuffre conceding that she may have mistakenly identified Ders،witz. When Epstein faced t،se ، abuse charges in 2008 — a critical juncture where a lot of future harm could’ve been prevented — Ders،witz helped him get a sweetheart deal from Acosta and, even after the full extent of Epstein’s crimes came to light, maintained that Epstein s،uld’ve gotten a better deal. So Ders،witz deserves all the scorn in the world for his connection to Epstein… but not based on anything being unsealed here.

Prince Andrew’s connection to the case already ended in a big settlement and left him… still less hated by the royal family than Meghan Markle. Les Wexner’s name came up in the context of a question posed to Epstein’s accused enabler Ghislaine Maxwell — she said he had not been involved in the proposed illicit act — but we also already knew that. To the extent any new names s،w up, it’s almost exclusively “Does” prosecutors asked about once and the witnesses testified they’d never met.

It’s almost as if when Judge Preska cited no ongoing need to maintain anonymity when she decided to lift the seal, she meant there was no further need to maintain anonymity.

Not to s،ck the world. Not to ، the lid off of some sort of m،ive message board-driven conspi،. And certainly not to help the media sell more papers.

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-،st of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.