And this has nothing to do with anything fishy or any potential funny business…
It has to do with the fact that at the time of his death, Epstein was being held on child sex abuse charges in a facility that’s part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which is a division of the Justice Department, which is run by Attorney General Bill Barr, who was hand-picked by and reports directly to Trump. And Trump is the Chief Executive.
So while we’re not at all implying Trump was directly responsible for Epstein’s death (we’ll leave that, or the debunking of that, or the spread of other scenarios, to conspiracy theorists), we’re just pointing out today that no one seems to be pointing out Trump is absolutely, ultimately responsible for the ball drop that led to Epstein’s death. It happened on Trump’s watch.
So when Attorney General Barr says he’s “appalled” by Epstein’s death, what he’s actually literally saying is he’s appalled by himself. When he speaks of “failure” on the part of prison officials, he’s really speaking of his own failure since he’s the nation’s top prison official. Because the Attorney General of the U.S. is directly responsible for the federal prison system, and Trump’s his boss. So, wait: is he “appalled” at the “failure” that he didn’t make sure Epstein was watched 24/7?
Of course, his and other similar statements are actually intended to accomplish the opposite, and distance himself (and the President) from it.
And yeah, there are more than 150,000 inmates in custody right now in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities, and we certainly don’t expect the President or Attorney General to be paying special attention to each of them personally and continually. But this is a little different since at least as of this moment in time, Epstein was the highest-profile and most-highly-connected suspected criminal in the country.
And it’s not like Epstein was on Devil’s Island or in some weird, out-of-reach prison, a la “Midnight Express”. He was in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which is described on Wikipedia as:
“United States federal administrative detention facility in Manhattan, New York which holds male and female prisoners of all security levels. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.”
We’ll say it again: it’s part of the Department of Justice, run by the Attorney General, direct report to Trump.
And look, it’s hard not to let some conspiracy theory or other sneak in when thinking about the unbelievably strange way Epstein’s case progressed, or what just happened. And it’s why we kept telling our friends who were getting really excited that something was finally going down that’d bring down the rich and powerful and famous that it never actually would.
But Trump Retweeting conspiracy theories himself as he’s been doing, is completely separate from that. And it’s why we felt compelled to write this today. Because it’s yet another crystal clear example of the President manufacturing scapegoats for things that fall squarely on his shoulders. Such as blaming Obama for immigrant family separations, or today, first crediting a “Clinton-era law” for the White House’s decision to change the rules midstream for legal immigrants, which will threaten the ability of many to stay in the country.
Yet it seems to work, because except in the context of conspiracy theories, no one is even talking about the actual, real true responsibility Trump bears for failing to make sure he and his people–who were directly responsible for the circumstances of Epstein’s incarceration since they alone run the federal prison system–saw to it that he stayed alive.
Instead, everybody gets caught up in a morass of mayhem that’s majorly assisted by the President’s own leap into the fray, from which Trump emerges, as always, unharmed, freely and volubly casting aspersions at everybody else.