Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks in Longworth building on June 10. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein may have acted as an unregistered foreign agent — and tried to leverage his past relationship with President Trump, when doing so, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee alleged in a letter demanding records.
The big picture: Rep. Jamie Raskin's (D-Md.)inquiry previews the types of investigations the party could launch with subpoena power if they retake a chamber this fall.
Driving the news: Raskin wrote
to administration officials that the Epstein files show the disgraced
financier seemingly tried to become an emissary for Saudi Arabia and
appeared to advise leaders in Kuwait, Israel and Russia.
In one exchange,
Epstein appeared to pitch himself to Saudi Arabia as a "Financial
Confidant to the Prince /court / Ks.a whatever entity suits you . . .I
am happy to represent KSA interests. period."
Raskin wrote that Epstein's "close relationship" with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "became obvious" in the emails.
There were also indications Epstein coached the Kuwaiti emir on how to deal with Trump, the letter alleges. Epstein told
a redacted sender in 2017 there was "much to do around the trump trip"
and asked what "concrete" things the emir would "like to see happen from
the US."
The letter also alleged Epstein
advised former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, serving as his "sherpa
through U.S.-Russia-Middle East diplomacy," and, "most disturbingly …
appeared to give advice on how to handle President Trump to high-level
officials in Russia."
Epstein appeared
to have given Russia's late United Nations representative, Vitaly
Churkin, advice on Trump, writing in 2018, "churkin was great. he
understood trump after our conversations, it is not complex. he must be
seen to get something its that simple."
What he's saying: "Jeffrey
Epstein never registered as a foreign agent," Raskin wrote to acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and and
Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and
Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence.
"Yet
numerous recently released documents now show he acted aggressively on
behalf of multiple foreign governments, including several with interests
adverse to the United States, in order to influence policies of the
first Trump Administration," he continued.
Raskin warned that
Epstein's ties with foreign leaders posed a major national security
liability and raised questions about what information he could have fed
them about the president.
White House spokesperson Abigail
Jackson said in a statement to Axios, "Just as President Trump has
said, he's been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein."
The DOJ did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
What we're watching: Raskin
gave the government until 5pm on Aug. 3 to provide records tied to
Epstein's contacts with 19 nations — including Saudi Arabia, Israel,
Kuwait, Russia and Qatar — as well as entities that may have been
structured to avoid federal registration.
He also asked DOJ
whether there have ever been Foreign Agents Registration Act
investigations into Epstein and, if not, why it hadn't initiated any.
FARA
requires what its name suggests: for foreign agents representing or
doing advocacy work on behalf of foreign governments, people or
organizations to register with the DOJ.
The bottom line: The files exposed the breadth of Epstein's far-reaching business and political web, prompting additional investigations and derailing careers.
Photo illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast
Got a story you want telling without fear or favor? Contact Tom in complete confidence on Signal, Threema, or at punchuptom@proton.me
My three-part PunchUp
interview with Beatrice Keul, a Swiss beauty queen who has alleged she
was assaulted by Donald Trump after her participation in a 1993 pageant,
concludes here with Keul’s interactions with Trump’s ex-wife Ivana.
Ivana, Keul tells PunchUp, was a piece on Epstein’s chessboard, if not a
player. Read part two in which Keul details how Donald Trump’s beauty pageants provided the ideal environment for Epstein to procure his victims.
A
beauty queen who has claimed Jeffrey Epstein attempted to recruit her
into his sex trafficking network at a pageant where she was allegedly
assaulted and threatened by Donald Trump also alleges the president’s
first wife, Ivana, played a role inside the disgraced financier’s
operation.
Former Miss Switzerland
and Miss Europe contestant Beatrice Keul, 55, says she believes the late
socialite and model was operating as a cog in the ecosystem that fed
the convicted child sex offender’s abuse network—just like Epstein’s
jailed co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the final part of PunchUp’s
exclusive three-part interview, the whistleblower said: “Ivana played a
major role in this whole cosmos, bringing in women in the same way as
Maxwell. Was Maxwell a madam or an enabler? However you would describe
her, Ivana was the same.”
Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana. Photo credit: Bob Sacha/Getty Images
Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty
A
woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump when she
was 13 years old has gone into hiding over fears of retaliation.
A family member of the woman, identified only as Jane Doe 4, has come forward to The Guardian
to say that the alleged victim has resorted to “staying off the grid”
and away from the Trump administration amid the fallout from allegations
that resurfaced in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The news comes one day after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s final appeal
to overturn a jury’s finding in civil court that he sexually abused
writer E. Jean Carroll. On Wednesday, the acting attorney general, Todd
Blanche, must unredact the FBI’s Epstein files or enter an argument as
to why he should be allowed to keep their contents hidden and protect
his boss from further recriminations.
Jane
Doe 4 alleges she was abused and trafficked by Epstein, and that the
disgraced financier took her to New York or New Jersey and introduced
her to Trump when she was about 13 years old in 1984. The
White House has described the allegations as “total baselessness,” a
view it says is supported by the fact that the Biden administration was
aware of the claims but did “nothing with them.”
Trump and Epstein enjoyed a long friendship, before it ended sometime in the 2000s. Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
The woman was interviewed four times
by the FBI in 2019, when Trump was serving his first term, soon after
Epstein was arrested on federal child sex-trafficking charges.
There is no indication that an official investigation into the allegation involving the president was conducted.
“Trauma
is brutal. Chronic trauma destroys,” the relative said, adding that
Jane Doe 4 has suffered abuse since early childhood. “She’s coping as
best she can.”
A redacted FBI report released as part of the botched release
of the Epstein files revealed that the woman told interviewers Trump
had forced her to perform a sexual act on him and punched her in the
side of the head after she allegedly “bit the s--t out of” his penis.
Trump
is then alleged to have yelled, “Get this little b---h the hell out of
here,” according to an FBI memo detailing one of Jane Doe 4’s
interviews.
Donald Trump has long denied being involved or even knowing about his former close friend Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes. Thomas Concordia/Thomas Concordia/Getty Images
The
woman also alleged that she was assaulted multiple times by Epstein in
South Carolina, as well as by a third man identified by The Post and Courier as businessman Jimmy Atkins.
The
Post and Courier, which reviewed handwritten interview notes from Jane
Doe 4’s FBI interviews, was unable to corroborate any of her allegations
involving Trump.
There
is also no evidence that Trump and Epstein were friends as far back as
the early 1980s, when Jane Doe 4 alleges Trump assaulted her in a “very
tall building with huge rooms.”
Last week, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Blanche to release unredacted versions
of files already made public by the DOJ or explain why the department
should be allowed to keep them secret. The DOJ was also ordered to
release interview notes related to Jane Doe 4’s allegations.
White
House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told the Daily Beast
that accusations from Jane Doe 4 are “backed by zero credible evidence.”
“The
total baselessness of these accusations is also supported by the
obvious fact that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice knew about them for
four years and did nothing with them—because they knew President Trump
did absolutely nothing wrong,” Leavitt added.
“As we have said countless times, President Trump has been totally exonerated by the release of the Epstein Files.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for further comment.
Well now that the war with Iran is toned down, we can get back to important stuff, like the full Epstein files. Innocent people do not try so hard to hide evidence and employee enablers to help them. The truth will out, Mr. Trump. Guess he better invade Cuba.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale.
A tale of a fateful trip.
Jeffrey Epstein collecting girls.
Onboard a tiny ship.
Maxwell was arranging conditions bad,
The outcome sad but sure.
The passengers for sale that night
To clients impure. To clients impure.
That's the tale of our catch today,
Trump shou...
See more
Release the Epstein Files.. Redact those who were victims.
That is what the LAW says.
Since when has "what the law says" mattered one whit to this degenerate or his cabal of flying monkeys?
25th Amendment!
The crime of not releasing the Epstein files is happening every day in plain sight. The Republicans clearly don't care.
Many Republicans have been to trumpstien island
If the Epstein files contain a video of the incident happening to Jane Doe 4 in real time Trump, MAGA and the Republicans will blame the victim and say the video is fake. Release the files anyway!
Expect a premature evacuation and less than honorable discharge. 😣
The entire American system is corrupt should these files, dating back 20 years, not be released in full and investigated. This is the Swamp which helped get Trump elected and which 51% of Americans apparently recognise and are concerned about.
Drain the swamp why don't you!
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