Three ways Epstein scandal could go for Trump

If the Washington Republican leaders hoped that a one -month recreation of the one -month congress would help Jeffrey Epstein’s controversy to start, this week’s activity frenzy has destroyed these hopes – at least for the moment.

Last Friday, the Ministry of Justice published more than 33,000 pages of documents related to its EPSTEIN survey on children’s sexual traffic. On Monday, a consensus had formed that most of the information was already accessible to the public or of little interest.

At the beginning of the week, Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky and the Democrat Ro Khanna in California resumed their efforts to collect support for a “discharge petition” in the House of Representatives who would force a vote on the public publication of all information on the events of government Epstein.

Wednesday, a group of victims of Epstein and their families held a press conference on the stages of the Capitol to support the exit petition and call for a complete disclosure in the Epstein case.

Overall, it is the kind of beat of attention that helped history enter the consciousness of the wider public. But will he stay there? Here are possible scenarios for what is happening next.

The victims’ press conference could mark a spectacular turn in the Epstein saga.

Missing in Washington’s dialogue, which had focused on customer lists and on the possible participation of the rich and powerful, were the faces of those whose life was damaged or destroyed as a child by Epstein crimes.

The rally at the Capitol on Wednesday put these victims at the front and the center – with an added promise that they would not be silenced.

Donald Trump tried for months to brush criticism from management by his administration of the Epstein case as a “hoax” perpetrated by his political enemies.

This strategy, although effective in the past, becomes more difficult in this case.

And if Massie and Khanna succeed in forcing a vote in the House to publicly free all the remaining Epstein files – and there is new politically damaging information by involving them Trump or other high -level political figures – the dam could break.

The White House denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that Trump was informed in May by his Attorney General that his name appeared in files related to investigations against Epstein, who took his life in prison while waiting for the trial.

He was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but being appointed is not proof of criminal activity. Trump has never been accused by investigators in reprehensible acts in the context of Epstein matter.

Even if there is no “customer list” of the rich and powerful Epstein, the victims can exist. They promised to bring together the names of those who, according to them, had close links with Epstein and were linked to his misdeeds.

“I am not afraid to name names,” said Taylor Green in Georgia, one of the Republican members of the Congress and generally a Loyalist of Trump. “And so if they want to give me a list, I will enter this captain on the house of the house and I will say each fucking name that abused these women.”

These are the kinds of ingredients that could stir up the flames of Epstein’s history while summer turns into autumn.

Maybe there is nothing new in new documents related to Epstein which are part of the public domain. Or perhaps the efforts of the congress to force public disclosure are only of breach. Even with the victims and their increasingly visible families, new revelations or information are what motivates information cycles and considerably moves public opinion.

In this scenario, the story of Epstein does not disappear completely, but it never becomes the kind of crisis that causes sustainable political damage to the Trump administration. It is a distraction, not a disturbance.

While the Republican Party is preparing for the mid -term congress elections next year which are preparing to be closely disputed, even a modest trail on their public approval – a diversion which prevents them from focusing on a more beneficial campaign message – could have significant consequences of the voting box.

As Trump pointed out on Tuesday, it is difficult to crush a conspiracy theory. He made parallels with the 1963 assassination of John F Kennedy and his recent orders to release more government documents.

“You know it reminds me a little of Kennedy’s situation,” he said. “We have given them everything again and again, more and more and no one is satisfied.”

Trump will be more familiar with the recent conspiracy around the birthplace of former President Barack Obama. The White House has released short and long form certificates showing that Obama was born on American soil, but skeptics, especially Trump himself, have never been satisfied.

Turnabout, as they say, is a fair game.

If there is an undeniable power that Trump showed during his 10 years under national political projectors, it is the ability to survive each scandal and controversy that presents himself to him. Although the story of Epstein has a toxic mixture of power, abuse, sex and influence, nothing indicates that it will be different.

“He has already done so, and he will do it again” is the mantra that a White House in search of a better case might want to repeat. Without new revelations, the public will eventually rise from this story – or it will be buried by a new scandal, a conflict or a media frenzy.

If this is the case, the Epstein saga will return in the corners of the Internet and political fringes, joining the Kennedy, Us Moon Landing assassination and, yes, the birth certificate of Obama as the center of some obsessed.

It may not be justice – it can be too late for that – but it would not be an unknown end in modern American politics.