General Discussion

1. Clearly Epstein and Maxwell were partners.
2. Epstein developed "clients" (i.e Kompromat targets) and handled the business end of things.
3. Maxwell had the knowledge of and access to the spy agencies. And of course, Maxwell was the principal in the recruiting of prostitutes, especially the grooming of young ones.
4. Epstein recognized that Trump had some connections, including mob connections, and that Trump liked the young girls. This was about the time that the KGB was grooming Trump (aka Krasnov), so there is a good chance that the KGB made it known that any Kompromat on Trump would be well rewarded.
5. But Trump wasn't just a client and target. He fancied himself mingling in the same circles where the spy agencies wanted access and control. So the relationship with Trump was, shall we say, complicated.
6. Epstein was considerably smarter and more cunning than Trump and was able to compromise Trump (that's easy) while also getting Trump to assist with recruiting others who would go into Epstein's meat grinder.
7. My bet is that Trump never really knew how completely Epstein was manipulating him. Trump loves to be the center of attention. Epstein exploited that to get Trump to bring many others into the Kompromat house.
8. I'm not convinced the FBI or other agencies have all of this in a report. But you can be practically certain that there are people in those agencies that understand the whole picture. And that is why Trump is panicking. He probably didn't realize just how big and deep the Epstein operation was until the past few years, and Trump really isn't sure what others know and who might expose the details.