By publicly commanding the Justice Department to investigate the “involvement and relationship” of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with former President Bill Clinton and various other Democrats, Donald Trump advertised his own consciousness of guilt. Instantly, with the zeal of a born lackey, Attorney General Pam Bondi passed Trump’s diktat down to Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, a reputedly honest lawyer who defiled the proud traditions of that office by echoing her unlawful orders without a peep of protest.

It was just another entry in the shameful docket that will should someday result in disbarments and perhaps worse for all involved (except Trump, who has been awarded blanket immunity by another gang of crooked Republican lawyers on the Supreme Court).

To be clear, there is no evidence at all implicating Clinton (or any of the Democrats named by Trump) in wrongdoing of any kind. There is no justification for Bondi’s farcical vow to investigate them “with integrity,” a concept and characteristic entirely unknown to her.

Indeed, the only “news” about Clinton emerged in two Epstein emails confirming again that the former president -- who once borrowed an Epstein jet for a humanitarian trip to Africa -- had “never ever ever” visited the predator’s private Caribbean island, as Trump and his flunkeys have repeatedly alleged. It’s just another big lie formulated to distract from the president’s own apparent culpability.

What we have seen in the “Trump” pages from the thousands of Epstein documents released so far is damning if not legally incriminating to him, however. “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop,” wrote Epstein in a tantalizing 2019 email. In another the predator depicted Trump as “that dog that didn’t bark,” and noted that his “friend” had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of the predator’s female victims, probably Virginia Giuffre, who killed herself last spring. In other messages, Epstein boasted more than once that he could “bring down” Trump.

What we have not seen yet is whatever has frightened the president into the madly panicked acts of falsification and abuse that he and his minions commit almost every day.

Beyond his manipulation of the Justice Department to frame his political enemies, Trump has misused his power to intimidate the handful of House Republicans who stepped forward to demand release of the Epstein files. And as in the Russia investigation, he is dangling a pardon to keep Ghislaine Maxwell quiet and supportive as the Bureau of Prisons lavishes her with special privileges in a minimum-security institution not meant for sex offenders like her.

Only Trump knows (assuming he remembers) exactly what he fears in those massive files documenting his long “involvement” with Epstein. But the disclosures to date should remind us of how deeply his partisan supporters – and top legal figures in the Republican Party – are implicated in Epstein’s long escape from justice.

Among the released emails are many messages between Epstein and his late friend Kenneth Starr whose saccharine tone induces a spasm of cringe. “Luv ya!” and "Hugs!" wrote the former Whitewater special counsel to his pal Jeffrey – in stark contrast to his dogged pursuit of the Clintons, which degenerated into a sex probe when he realized that they were innocent of any financial corruption.

As Epstein’s counsel, Starr played a pivotal role in the sweetheart plea deal, engineered by his longtime associate Alex Acosta, that enabled him to evade accountability for so long. Booted out of Baylor University for covering up a rape scandal, Starr went on to advise Trump during his first impeachment. (He also had a soft spot for other pedophiles if they shared his religion or political outlook.) Acosta was later elevated into Trump’s cabinet as labor secretary, until his gross behavior in the Justice Department as Epstein’s supine enabler forced him to resign. The names of many other Trump Republicans litter the files, notably including Steve Bannon, who advised Epstein on how to "rehabilitate" his ruined reputation.

Although it will never be investigated by Republicans like Rep. James Comer, who has subpoenaed (both!) Clintons to testify about Epstein, therein lies a matter due for investigation. How did the most notorious pedophile in recent history get away with his crimes for so long? Trump knew and did nothing – and so did his Republican mouthpieces and cronies.

Joe Conason is founder and editor-in-chief of The National Memo. He is also editor-at-large of Type Investigations, a nonprofit investigative reporting organization formerly known as The Investigative Fund. His latest book is The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism (St. Martin's Press, 2024).