General Discussion

"How did Trump put it last year when explaining why he dropped Epstein as a friend, that Epstein "stole" young women. Strange that he would use language implying some sort of ownership, don't you think."

The "ownership" implication comes from the fact that Virginia Guiffre was recruited from Mar-A-Lago by Maxwell, wherein she quit working at MAL to go work for Epstein. By "stolen from him" it's logical to conclude he was referring to "employee pilfering" in the context it was said

But more importantly, that Trump statement was bullshit revisionist history. The falling out was over a S.FL 2004 real estate deal, where Trump snaked a property from Epstein at auction. It was an estate that Epstein had found, was interested in buying, then took Trump to give his professional opinion on. Trump's recent quote was him trying to make it sound like he cut things off with Epstein over his abuse of minors, but that's bullshit. He did not. And Epstein stayed a member at MAL until like 2009-2010, whereas the pilfering of Guiffre was like 2001.

Also, that real estate deal? In 2018 Epstein told Wolff that he thought Trump got the money for that deal from Russians, because he was broke AF at the time it happened. It's the property that Trump sold to the Russian oligarch in 2009 at the bottom of the housing market, for *at least double* the market value (which has been widely reported). Epstein thought the initial $40M (in 2004) Trump used to outbid him also came from that same oligarch. Illegally. The whole thing was "money laundering".

This part I also agree with "I think he was an active participant in international sex trafficking, in one capacity or another" but I also think too much of the focus has been on the idea that Epstein was trafficking minors at scale and/or for profit purposes. Sad reality is that trafficking gorgeous international models from 18-25yo is something that can be done with FAR greater impunity, to a FAR larger client base, than would ever be the case with minors. Non-minors can also be trafficked to mainstream pornographers, and we all know how much $$$ there is in that

I think the idea that Epstein was grooming the 30-or-so known-minor victims for eventual, for-profit work e.g. the moment they turned 18 is one that has been way underexplored, in favor of the more titillating (but actually much less practical) "trafficking minors to his rich buddies" interpretation. NOT that Epstein was not also a total perverted sicko who got off on controlling and abusing minor girls, I'm not saying that's not ALSO true. But to the extent there was a BUSINESS? It was very likely *not* minors, and the evidence that it was is far thinner than the public's perception of "what's actually there".

Although it's perhaps a less satisfying accusation, Epstein's trafficking of non-minors is the part of the story Trump should be really, really be considered likely to have been a part of, IMHO.