Signed Up For Email Alerts Error Signing Up For Email Alerts Enter your email to receive alerts for this author. Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. You're already subscribed to the aa_Mary_Harris newsletter. You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Advertisement With Trump, it’s playing out in some different ways. Part of it is that with Trump’s rise to power back in 2016, Epstein realized that here was someone who had great power to either make Epstein’s life better or worse. And so I think he was really trying to suss out, initially, how he could pull those different levers. It obviously didn’t work very well, since during Trump’s first term, Epstein ended up in prison and then died. And the files were kind of a useful tool for Trump and Trump’s allies, in particular, to beat Democrats and fan the flames of conspiracy theories on the far right. There’s no doubt that one of the things that got Trump elected in 2024 was this band of far-right MAGA people who were convinced that Trump was going to expose this global ring of pedophiles on the left and through the Epstein files. Advertisement The big allegation about Trump in these latest files involves calls to the FBI’s tip line. And these are a little dicey to talk about, because these are unverified tips. The FBI gets all kinds of unverified tips all the time. But could you just lay out what’s in there? Advertisement I’m going to be like a really anal New York Times reporter. We’ve made a decision institutionally that we’re not going to give airtime to things that we really just have no idea if they are true or not, especially when they’re of this lurid nature. But I mean, in general, it’s just very lurid sexual allegations involving Trump in the context of his relationship with Epstein. And they’re very bad allegations. Advertisement Let’s talk about some of the other big names that have been in the spotlight since the latest release. My understanding is that in these files, you see Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick trying to make plans to go to Epstein’s island. He was in friendly contact with Jeffrey Epstein long after he said he’d shut the relationship down. Advertisement Yeah, and the crazy thing here is that Lutnik just last year had said not only that he had shut the relationship down, but he had given this whole explanation for why he’d shut it down, which was that he’d visited Epstein’s mansion and he’d seen stuff in there that made him and his wife really uncomfortable. And they had vowed then and there to never associate with this terrible man again. But what we see in these files shows that’s just not true at all. They by all accounts had a pretty chummy relationship. They visited Epstein on his island long after this alleged encounter in the townhouse that left them so unsettled. Advertisement