Who Released the Epstein Files?

At first glance, this question looks redundant. The FBI has the files. So, it's the FBI that released them. But the FBI has had possession of the files for a long time without releasing them. So, the question remains. Who exactly is behind the release?

Trump's promise

Trump promised to release the files during his election campaign. But once he was in office, he soon shifted his rhetoric, and by now he's straight up resisting their release.

However, he's no longer in control of the process. Because it's Congress that demands the release, and there's nothing Trump can do about that.

The will of the people

It appears then that the files are release because of popular demand. But does it ever happen that popular demand controls the narrative? I'd say no. Things only happen because people in power want it to happen. A narrative is then created to make it look like popular demand.

We need look no further than the Covid scare to have this suspicion confirmed.

Winners and losers

So, the way we have to go about this question is to look at who benefits and who loses.

The ones pushing for the release are either not in the files, or only tangentially implicated.

On the other hand, those deeply implicated are definitely not pushing for this. But they have to be secretive about this. They cannot be too outspoken, or it will direct suspicions towards themselves.

Asymmetric leverage

The fact that the ones in the files must be careful about what they say or do gives those pushing for the release of the files leverage. Statements can be formed around which everybody must agree, even if implicated in the files.

No-one can openly be against investigations related to child abuse without coming across as morally suspicious. So, a narrative can be created that no-one dares to resist, and that is what seems to have happened.

The anti-Trump trap

The ones pushing for the release of the files have used to their advantage the fact that the press is vehemently anti-Trump.

Instead of using Trump as a pro-release ally, they have given him the role as an opponent, knowing full well that the press will call for whatever Trump is against.

When Trump announces that he's against the release of the files, the press assumes that he must be hiding something. So, they demand for the release of the files.

This is in many cases the opposite of what the owners of the press want the press to do. But how can they communicate this to their journalists without drawing attention to themselves? The answer is that they can't. The owners are trapped.

Congress votes for release of the files

A popular call for the release of the files has thus been created.

The Democrats in congress all agree with this, of course. After all, most of them are not in the files, and those who are cannot very well express their opposition.

In parallel to this, the ones pushing for the release engage morally passionate Republicans to call for a release as well.

The same mechanism kicks in. No-one is opposed to the release, neither Democrat nor Republican.

When the vote is counted, there's hardly a single congressman against the release of the files.

The Senate ratifies it, and Trump sees himself forced to sign the bill.

No-one to blame

The people in the files are extremely powerful and dangerous. So, if it was possible to point to a single perpetrator, that person would be dead today. However, the perpetrators acting from behind the scenes are nowhere to be found.

But there are clues.

The one man who has been passionate about the files, and who was an early whistle blower, is no other than Trump himself.

My guess is therefore that it is Trump who devised the trap.

Once he realized that he'd get a bullet in his head if he were to go through with the promised release, he changed his tone. Then he used the predictable anti-Trump rhetoric of the press to get the files released anyway.

Jeffrey Epstein

By U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Justice - Found on U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Justice, Sexual Offender Registry for Epstein , Jeffrey Edward (Incarcerated) (Image source), Public Domain, Link