We will not know the full truth about his crimes until the extent of his ties to US intelligence becomes clear.
On November 18, Donald Trump suffered a major political defeat when the House of Representatives past The Epstein File Transparency Act passed almost unanimously: 427-1. But while the House measure was sweeping, it included an important caveat that may still prevent a full reckoning for Jeffrey Epstein's crimes.
Trump spent months fighting the bill, which was crafted by a bipartisan coalition created by California Democrat Ro Khanna and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie. Ultimately, intense public revulsion at Epstein's crimes made opposition to the bill untenable. But the final version specified that the Justice Department should release “all unclassified” documents about Epstein.
Word unclassified potentially giving Trump and the CIA wide latitude to suppress material related to Epstein that they claim is too sensitive to disclose. In this they have the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who insisted that US intelligence agencies would be allowed to “protect their critical sources and methods. It is incredibly dangerous to require Justice Department officials or employees to declassify material obtained from other agencies and intelligence services.”
Johnson's words stand in stark contrast to Marjorie Taylor Greene's: one of four dissident House Republicans who forced Trump to abandon his opposition to the Epstein bill. “The real test will be: Will the Justice Department release the files or will it remain an investigation?” she asked at a press conference on November 18. “Will the CIA release these files?” Greene, perhaps feeling too stung by her clash with Trump, who has repeatedly attacked her over her Epstein heresy, subsequently announced she was resigning from Congress. But her words still get to the heart of why it is so difficult to know the full truth about Epstein.
Epstein almost certainly had “close ties to [US] intelligence agencies and intelligence services of Israel” as Massie put it down to journalists on November 19. The fact that the American Security states of Israel It appears that he worked with such a toxic figure is deeply disturbing and embarrassing to those in power, and is a major reason why the full extent of Epstein's activities continues to be hidden.
People have been linking Epstein to the spy world for years. In 2019, Vicki Ward wrote in The daily beast reported that Trump's then-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who as a federal prosecutor struck an infamous plea deal with Epstein before his trial in 2008, made some startling comments about Epstein when he was being vetted for a role in the first Trump administration. As Ward noted, Acosta claimed that he “entered into a non-prosecution agreement with one of Epstein's lawyers because he was 'told' to back down, that Epstein's salary was above his level. “I was told that Epstein 'belonged to intelligence,' and to leave it alone,” he told his interviewers during the transition to Trump. [team]”
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Asked about these comments at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Sept. 19, Acosta rejected having made them, and said that he “doesn't know [Epstein] was or was not a member of the intelligence community.” But the statement originally attributed to him echoes facts that have since come to light about Epstein's intelligence ties.
Even so, the phrase “intelligence-owned” does not fully capture the extent of these connections, since it suggests that Epstein was a subordinate or minor player. It's like the language used JacobinBranko Marcetic, who speaks Epstein as an Israeli intelligence “asset”.
This point of view is based on the excellent reporting made by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain Site news regarding Epstein's extensive work on behalf of Israel – often alongside former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak – as well as earlier work made by Matthew Petty Cause. As Marcetic notes, this reporting reveals that Epstein, among other things, “repeatedly hosted an Israeli military intelligence officer and Barak aide who was in the United States on official business; worked with Barak to secure action against Israeli adversaries, be it the US bombing of Iran or Russian support for regime change in Syria; [and] mediation of security agreements between Israel, Mongolia and Côte d'Ivoire.”
Marcic is right to point out that Epstein had close ties to Israel, a fact that, despite a mountain of evidence, was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media. But “active” doesn’t quite describe how Epstein operated: he was not an agent carrying out orders, but a policymaker.
Epstein was a powerful player in global politics, a kind of diplomat without portfolio with better access to the wealthy and politically powerful than most real ambassadors. It can be understood as a product of the hyper-privatized neoliberal era. Likewise, much of the policing of the American Empire now made by private military companies (specifically Constellis, formerly known as Academi and Blackwater), billionaires like Epstein have their own foreign policies. Whatever work Epstein did with the CIA or Mossad, he would be in the role of a colleague, not an employee.
In 2014 email to Barack Of their journey together into the worlds of cybersecurity, cyberwarfare and surveillance, Epstein expressed excitement about the spread of global chaos, writing: “In Ukraine, Syria, Somol [sic]Libya and the desperation of those in power, isn’t this ideal for you.” Barack replied: “You're right. [in] away. But turning that into cash flow is not easy.”
Epstein and Barack were masters of their craft. Naomi Klein and others call disaster capitalism, profiting from the “despair of those in power.” But it is unlikely that they could have done this without the complicity of American intelligence. This is why Epstein's intelligence connections are central to understanding his crimes.
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