The Epstein Victims' Press Conference

Via The Postmillennial:

Outside the Capitol building on Wednesday, Reps Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna held a press conference regarding their Epstein Files Transparency Act they introduced to Congress in July. During the press conference, women who identified themselves as victims of infamous financier Jeffrey Epstein spoke out. One of the women said that survivors of Epstein would be compiling their own list of people who frequented Epstein's world.

Sundance at Conservative Treehouse adds an important qualifier:

Most of the various victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation have previously been paid victim compensation amid various lawsuits including a substantial $290 million financial settlement from JPMorgan Bank in 2023, one of the financial institutions used by Epstein. These lawsuits resulted in what has been reported as ‘various non-disclosure agreements’ (NDAs), which the victims signed.

After the DOJ and congress has released all of the available files, and with various courts refusing to break the seals on names and files within grand jury records, and against the background of multiple victims receiving considerable previous compensation, a group of Epstein victims held a press conference in Washington, DC today demanding the sealed names and NDA covered names be released.

The victims would not, most likely because they legally cannot, discuss the names; but they did say they would compile another private list of names of the people to whom they were trafficked. What the purpose of that private list would be is unknown. The entire thing now seems really weird.

This seems to be the problem with this whole production -- lots of maybe-sorta-kinda, but nothing new and nothing concrete. For instance,

A Jeffrey Epstein survivor recalled a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and how the convicted sex trafficker often bragged about his relationship with President Donald Trump during an emotional statement on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

Chauntae Davies, speaking during a press conference with other victims, said her nightmare with Epstein began in 2002, when she was introduced to Ghislaine Maxwell while living in Los Angeles.

. . . At one point, she accompanied Epstein on a trip to Africa with Clinton and “other notable figures.” She said she quickly realized how “powerless” she was as a young woman in the throes of Epstein’s orbit and his connections to powerful American figures and world leaders.

But this story is at least five years old, and it relates to a photo of Davies, at the time a 22-year-old working as a flight attendant on Epstein's plane, giving Clinton a shoulder massage, both fully clothed. It quotes a Daily Mail article that carried the photo in 2020:

Davies acted as an air stewardess on the flight and described being shocked when Clinton boarded the plane, saying he was "charming and sweet".

Davies, now in her early 40s, said of the massage pictures: "Although the image looks bizarre, President Clinton was a perfect gentleman during the trip and I saw absolutely no foul play involving him."

So if you scratch past the glitzy teases, this turns out to be old stuff, and there's nothing there. A number of the women who appeared at the press conference seem to be professional "Epstein survivors", like Lisa Phillips. From the Postmillennial link:

Lisa Phillips said she was taken to Epstein's island in 2000 while she had been on a nearby island for a photoshoot and said "what I experienced there was a glimpse into a very dark and disturbing world." She said that survivors would be compiling their own list.

She has her own website, where she promotes herself as an advocate for survivors of abuse in the modeling industry, but she makes very little specific reference to any direct abuse she may have had from Epstein or his associates. Again, there's nothing new here, and the context of the statements made at the press conference suggests that the speakers there have already been compensated and are legally constrained from making any other revelations. Sundance's conclusion:

The Occam’s Razor review of the current state of Epstein victims’ status, is one that points toward extortion. The victims having previously signed agreements, would be at legal risk to violate their various NDAs. However, for the purposes of structuring a political narrative, there are likely revenue sources willing to fund an ongoing victim narrative.

I suspect the lawyers representing the victims in the video (press conference) are likely compensated by the same entities who fund large domestic political operations. The “Republicans” who align with the intention of the efforts, seem to hold a commonality with the same financial interests behind former Republican candidate Ron DeSantis.

An even simpler explanation is pure narcissism: the ladies are now in their 40s and fading; here's one more chance to get in front of cameras. Rep Massie is pretty clearly a grandstander and is likely being manipulated by Rep Khanna. I wouldn't place many bets on his continuing political career.

But beyond that, there's that last, vain hope that somehow, some way, someone might come forward and tie Trump to Epstein once and for all. Short of a sudden medical emergency, which everyone seems to have been hoping for last week, that seems to be the one remaining possibility to end the whole nightmare.