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Trump Child Rape Suit Dropped But Not Before Shining Light on Gatsby-Like Pedophile's Ties to Both Campaigns

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On Tuesday, it'll all be over. But for an election that never seems like it can get any sleazier until it does, even the final days are drenched in tasteless reminders of how the lives of those vying to rule the free world differ from that of its typical inhabitants.

Of all the headlines that have dogged Republican nominee Donald Trump–that he's sexually assaulted more than a dozen women, that he bribed Florida's Attorney General with an illegal donation as she was investigating whether to file fraud charges, that he used a dubious tax deduction to skirt IRS laws, that he illegally traded with Cuba despite the embargo, or his pleas to Vladimir Putin to hack U.S. servers–one seems curiously bottom billed.

Trump was accused of violently raping a 13 year-old girl at a NYC orgy in 1994, though the woman who filed the lawsuit suddenly dropped it Friday evening, with no explanation. This, by far the most incendiary accusation either candidate has faced, had gotten perhaps the least amount of media attention, and while Democratic supporters of Hillary Clinton began highlighting the idea in response to Trump supporters who note that she'll be "under FBI investigation on Election Day," the Clinton campaign itself did nothing to call attention to the case. There might be good reason and its initials are WJC.

The suit itself was littered with question marks and red flags. In summary, a woman named Katie Johnson filed a suit in California in June, alleging that in the early '90s she and another young girl were lured with promises of cash and a modeling career to parties at the New York City mansion of Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire money manager (and now registered sex offender) with ties to some of the most wealthy and powerful people on the planet. Over the course of two such parties, she claimed to have been molested and then raped by Donald Trump, while also being forced to perform sexual acts with the other girl, who was only 12.

The California case, which the woman filed without an attorney, was thrown out because it been filed as a civil rights suit, but failed to state any claim under federal civil rights statutes. It then resurfaced in a Manhattan federal court in June, under Jane Doe, though with an attorney who confirmed to the media that it was Johnson and relates to the same allegations as the California case. No one in the media has been able to speak with Johnson, and aside from a video in which the woman making the accusations is pixelated, wearing a wig and speaking in an altered voice, there was nothing else to report on except for the information included in the suit, which included an affidavit from a corroborating witness. A press conference that had been scheduled for Wednesday was abruptly canceled. Noted NYC feminist attorney Lisa Bloom said it was because her client had received a rash of death threats.

Even setting aside the validity of the claims in the suit, however, the facts involved shine a light on some strange and sordid relationships. Epstein is one of the most curious figures in American culture, something of a real life Jay Gatsby meets Humbert Humbert. Epstein went from a college dropout teaching high level math at a private school to quickly rising through the ranks at Bear Stearns, before leaving to start his own mysterious firm. Like Gatsby, he had a single benefactor conferring his initial success, with retail clothing magnate Les Wexner (Victoria's Secret, the Limited, Abercrombie & Fitch, etc.) playing the part of Dan Cody. Only instead of a Daisy Buchanan figure, there were dozens and dozens of Lolitas who served as a revolving door for the playboy's depraved affections. There's also a Gatsby-like mystery surrounding his business dealings. Epstein has many times claimed that he helps manage wealth for an exclusive client list restricted to billionaires, yet no one knows who he represents, how much his company earns or what exactly he trades. There simply isn't a footprint in the financial world or on the trading floors, which mystifies those in the industry.

Before his arrest, Epstein's parties also rivaled those thrown by the book's West Egg playboy. He owns homes all over the world, including a 9-story, 51,000 s.f. townhouse that is the largest private residence in all of Manhattan, a Palm Beach compound, and a 72-acre island called Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands (also known as Orgy Island). Epstein was said to believe that eating at restaurants was akin to eating on the subway and often threw elaborate dinner parties or swankier affairs featuring a virtual who's who of the most powerful men on the planet, including newspaper publisher Mort Zuckerman, Revlon chairman Ronald Perelman, Harvard law professor Alan M. Dershowitz (who served as his criminal attorney), Prince Andrew, Trump, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former President of the United States Bill Clinton, just to name a few.

A lifelong bachelor, Epstein had a lust for young women that was well known. In a 2005 interview with New York Magazine, Trump said of Epstein, "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Trump was on Epstein's Boeing 727, dubbed the Lolita Express, at least once according to affidavits and when messages and the infamous "black book“ of Epstein's was found, calls from Trump along with no less than 14 phone numbers for various locations and even Trump bodyguards and assistants were found.

Though rumors of illicit interactions with minors swirled, Epstein continued to enjoy privileged status–even serving on the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, two of the most elite organizations in the geopolitical universe. All of that changed at least somewhat in 2005, when reports from school officials of a 14 year-old girl who told them of her relationship with him led local police to Epstein's Palm Beach compound. Throughout the investigation, detectives and the FBI found around 40 victims just in the Palm Beach area who'd said they'd been recruited to do various sexual acts with Epstein and his friends, either at his house, on his plane, or at Orgy Island.

Epstein's investigation and plea deal caused another scandal, with Palm Beach police complaining that the state attorney's office went soft on the billionaire pedophile. When the police went to apply for arrest warrants (click here to read the probable cause affidavit), they were told that the state's attorney's office would instead take the highly-unusual course of convening a grand jury to examine the evidence and decide from a broad array of charges, which, if any, they would bring. One count of lewd and lascivious molestation and four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, were what was recommended by the police based on the deep well of testimony and physical evidence they'd discovered. However, Epstein was able to plea to just one count of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, serving just 13 months on a liberally-enforced house arrest.

Police also hoped that the feds might pursue sexual trafficking charges against Epstein, which carry a minimum sentence of 20 years. Many of the victims that were interviewed had described underage girls being flown in from other countries, including three 12 year-old French girls allegedly given to him for a few days as a birthday present, and Nada Marcinkova, a Yugoslavian girl whom Epstein was said to brag he had purchased from her parents, while she was an adolescent. Victims said she then served as a recruiter and handler for new girls.
No dice. The secretive plea deal was filed without consulting the victims, with emails showing a high level of cooperation with Epstein's lawyers. There was even an agreement not to pursue co-conspiracy charges against the alleged handlers, including Marcinkova. This led many to believe one victim's claim that Epstein had told her he had given girls like her to powerful people not only to ingratiate himself to them, but to have something on them in case he needed it later. In other words, he was protected from on high.

The most prominent girl to come forward was Virginia Roberts, who was one of the girls Epstein brought in to his elite circle, where Roberts claimed he kept her as a sex slave for several years until she escaped to Thailand at age 19. Roberts renewed the Epstein story last year, causing a scandal in Buckingham Palace when she filed her civil suit, which alleged that in addition to her sex acts with Epstein, she was forced to have sexual relations with "many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders.

Pictures of a then 15 year-old Roberts posing suggestively with Prince Andrew next to Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of the media mogul Robert Maxwell and allegedly Epstein's most trusted handler, turned up in the British tabloids. Roberts claimed Epstein had loaned her to the Prince with whom she was forced to have sex on many occasions. Andrew, who had well documented ties with Epstein, lost his position as official U.K. trade envoy over the relationship, but still managed to get photographed meeting with Epstein in New York after he became a registered sex offender.

Unearthed flight logs from the Lolita Express show a cadre of A-list passengers like Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell, Chris Tucker, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. According to the logs, a very frequent guest was former President Bill Clinton, who flew aboard the infamous jet at least 26 times, five of which list no Secret Service detail, and some of which list first names only for passengers like "Tatiana"–Epstein was known to have a thing for young Russian models/prostitutes. One photograph emerged last year, purportedly showing Clinton on the jet, his arm around a 19 year-old NYU co-ed.

Again, the former President has not been accused of having sex with any of Epstein's girls, but the fact that he would pal around with someone who had such a well-known reputation is highly questionable, though not out of character, considering Clinton also drew attention for his frequent flights on billionaire playboy Ron Burkle's private jet, which soon became known to friends as Air F@#k One, and his well-documented method of using his status to make sure free private jet travel is at his constant disposal.

Epstein's fall from grace wound up being more of a stumble. He paid out million-dollar settlements to seven girls, did some easy house-arrest time at his Palm Beach compound and then was back to the high life, though he's said to stick to girls who are at least 17 these days (New York's age of consent). Clinton and Trump may steer clear of the convicted sex offender, but his post-scandal dinner parties still draw A-listers. A single soiree just months after his release found Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, Chelsea Handler and Woody Allen all gathered around his dinner table. Allen, who has also been accused of child molestation in an eerie if inconclusive case, has been seen with Epstein on other occasions as well.

Over the years, I've heard a lot of conspiracy theories about a deep web of underage sex rings that existed to provide a cabal of global elites with the otherwise off-the-menu opportunity to cavort with adolescent girls and boys. I've mostly shrugged them off as something for the tinfoil hat crowd. The idea of the richest and most powerful people in the world sharing a taste for such depraved thrills and the existence of a secret network of handlers and recruits seemed impossible in today's 24-hour media world. However, Epstein's story, his ties to the upper-upper crust of global plutocrats and the fact that he got little more than a slap on the hand for something so overt and well documented, makes me think twice.

Donald Trump may not have violently raped a 13 year-old girl at one of this sicko's sex parties (though the fact that a dozen women have accused him of sexual assault and he's made many untoward comments regarding girls who were minors does not make it any harder to imagine). Conversely, Bill Clinton may or may not have engaged in illicit activity while flying around the world on the Lolita Express as the guest of the one percent's most famous pedophile. But the fact that both of them have been in this pervert's inner circle says a lot more about our political elite and the people who run this country than most of us would care to know.

Dennis Maley is a featured columnist for The Bradenton Times. His column appears each Thursday and Sunday. Dennis' debut novel, A Long Road Home, was released in July, 2015. Click here to order your copy.

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