First Draft: Inside the Epstein ‘Torture’ Email
Trump’s administration may be playing games about a seriously disturbing Epstein file, a UK minister admits Israel is a rogue state, and Springfield, Ohio, stares down fascism.
On this day in 1967, the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution – which established procedures on presidential succession, including what to do if the president is deemed incapacitated – was ratified. Future historians may wonder why it was never invoked against the 45th and 47th presidents of the United States.
Good morning, friends. Prem here, still in shell shock at every Super Bowl ad being about AI, crypto, and sports betting. (Look out for my thoughts on that, and a certain NBA superstar, later this week.)
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ “unredacted” Epstein files are, in fact, redacted; a top British politician privately admits Israel is committing “war crimes”; and Australian police pepper-spray people protesting the Israeli president’s visit.
Tweeting Through the PedoFiles
Amid its confused efforts to protect at least six powerful men associated with Jeffrey Epstein, the Department of Justice may have just revealed the hidden identity of someone involved in one of the more disturbing exchanges revealed from the Epstein files. We say ‘may’ because the Trump administration flatly refuses to give Americans real transparency.
This week, after repeated insistence from Congress, the DOJ allowed lawmakers to see the Epstein files, unredacted.
Except, as Rep. Ro Khanna told me, much of the important information was, curiously, still redacted.
Khanna said Monday night that some such redactions covered survivor statements “implicating rich and powerful men who raped these underage girls.”
“And that’s the information that the American people want to know: who are these powerful people who committed these heinous acts? Who were these people who showed up on Epstein’s island? And the fact is that they are being protected, and it’s disgusting,” Khanna added.
He noted that some of those redactions “protected” six specific individuals – “prominent” men from both the US and other nations.
But it appears that as the DOJ defended its stonewalling, it may have walked into a rake, perhaps accidentally revealing the identity of an individual whose identity was previously redacted. Or were they playing games?