Young teens were exploited. They were trafficked, used, and discarded. This isn’t a rumor or a conspiracy, these are facts. So I ask: does Congress really care? Do the courts? Do the politicians, the CEOs, the celebrities, the royals, the financiers – do any of them believe the rules apply to them?

Whether you’re far on one side or far on the other, it feels like we’re living in the multiverse. Let’s talk about Epstein’s friends, shall we?

Michael Wolff, a NY Times bestselling author, had this to say about one of Epstein’s friends, President Donald Trump, in 2004: “Epstein showed [Trump] photos from his safe of young girls topless sitting on his lap. Out of a dozen photos, three pictures he remembers. In one photo, Trump had a stain on his pants that the girls were pointing and laughing at. These photos were kept in a safe which was raided and emptied by the FBI.”

Wolff said in an interview with Michael Cohen on his podcast, “Everybody who talks about Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t really know Jeffrey Epstein. The people who know Jeffrey Epstein have been so very careful to hide that fact.”

Wolff tells the same story of the photos but changes details in an interview on The Daily Beast with Joanna Coles. Why did he switch up?

They say birds of a feather flock together. According to a well-known proverb, “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you’ll become.” The circle of powerful friends Epstein kept is shattered, and those same individuals claim ignorance.

“You have the right to remain silent,” according to the first Miranda warning. And silent they remain, hiding behind lawyers, pleading the Fifth. But if you’ve done nothing wrong, what’s there to fear? Release the Epstein files. Stop stalling. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You are innocent until proven guilty,” continues the Miranda warnings.

This is how justice works in America – or how it’s supposed to. But when the Epstein files are locked away, when names are hidden and deals are cut in the dark, justice is denied.

Mike Johnson (R) is the Speaker of the House. The speaker of the house is like the manager of the House of Representatives. Their main duties are presiding over the house, managing legislation, and acting as the leader of the majority party.

Speaker Johnson is refusing to swear in Arizona representative-elect Adelita Grijalva (D), who has sworn to vote to release the files. His refusal hints at the possibility that the President is in the files. I believe they don’t want that information out.

Grijalva says, “Any further delay reveals his true motive: Speaker Johnson is stalling because he knows I will be the 218th signature on the discharge petition to release the Epstein files.” Grijalva has been waiting for a month to be sworn in.

After Grijalva called out Speaker Johnson for not swearing her in, he responded sarcastically with a smirk in an interview on CNN, saying, “She doesn’t know how the job works.” Speaker Johnson claims she’s looking for her 15 minutes of fame, and doesn’t think she’s serious. Even GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Speaker Johnson is avoiding the Epstein vote. “It baffles me,” Rep. Greene said.

It takes 60 votes to pass a continuing resolution. The two parties must negotiate a bipartisan deal, but it still hasn’t happened. Has anyone seen the film “The Sixth Sense”? Specifically the Stuttering Stanley scene? I too have a sixth sense. Speaker Johnson stuttered. I believe Speaker Johnson is lying in his interview with Kristen Welker on MSNBC.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Some are desperate to save face, but the truth is simple: let the evidence out. Let those who will preside over it do it justly. Predators don’t deserve protection. If you shield well known child molesters and sex abusers, what about the countless others still in the shadows? Do they get a free pass, too?

Nobody cares if your name is royal, political, corporate, or that you’re a prince, a princess, a grandfather, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, or a family friend. If your name is on the alleged list, the American people have the right to know. I hope the victims find strength and peace they deserve once justice has been met. 

Senator Jeff Merkley quoted the U.S. Supreme Court: “Equal justice under law.” To withhold the Epstein files is to spit in the face of that principle. To resist disclosure is to obstruct justice. And let me be clear: anyone fighting to keep those files sealed is not neutral. They are shielding predators. They are complicit.

The jury is the public, and the verdict is already in: Release the files.