Epstein’s survivors are fighting yet another cover-up

It is now two decades since the paedophile crimes of Jeffrey Epstein were first investigated by authorities and he received his one and only jail sentence.

As a result of a plea deal, some charges were dropped – and from what is known now, he hardly spent any time in custody, continuing to correspond with his associates and go about his sordid business almost as normal. His suicide in 2019 meant he evaded proper justice a second time.

Since then, despite millions of pages of the Epstein files being released and an even larger volume of media reporting and official investigations, the only person to be jailed for their part in the abuse of countless young women and girls is Ghislaine Maxwell – and the only people to have suffered any other substantial detriment are a British prince, a British ambassador, and, indirectly, a British prime minister.

Buckingham Palace, in an unprecedented intervention, has publicly stated: “If we are approached by Thames Valley Police, we stand ready to support them as you would expect.” Neither monarchy nor government will, in other words, stand in the way of any possible trial or jailing of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor or Peter Mandelson, should it ever come to that. Both men should be ready to give evidence as witnesses to Congress – even if, as they maintain, they were unaware of Epstein’s activities – and it must be stressed that both strenuously deny any wrongdoing.

The British state has been excruciatingly slow to react to the revelations about the former Duke and Duchess of York, while Lord Mandelson was apparently appointed to the role of ambassador to Washington despite it being known that he had continued his friendship with Epstein after the latter’s conviction.

Neither Mr Mountbatten-Windsor nor Lord Mandelson seems willing to be more open about what they saw, learnt, and heard during their stays in Epstein’s properties. Yet the way in which the British establishment has dealt with the scandal, in contrast to how it has been handled in the US, has been noted in the States, and spurred calls for more action to be taken against those who committed abuse.

The fact that so many prominent and powerful Americans have been reluctant to give their full testimony as witnesses, either to the media or to Congress, let alone faced charges, is indeed a galling indictment of the state of the US justice system. The Clintons have, after some initial resistance, agreed to appear before a congressional committee, and encouraged others to do so. So far, there have been no volunteers.

The way that the files have been handled also amounts to another cruel act perpetrated against the victims of Epstein, Maxwell, and various other accomplices and associates. Despite the tumult of calls – led by Donald Trump – for the totality of the Epstein files to be released, many of the millions of documents, photographs and videos remain withheld in their entirety, contrary to the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by the United States Congress last year.

Other files have been clumsily, selectively, or suspiciously redacted, or else carelessly edited such that victims’ details were wrongly revealed. Still other files are, bizarrely, only available to members of Congress for personal inspection, and they are forbidden from making copies of them. This is hardly in the spirt of openness demanded by the president’s many campaign promises.

The Trump administration has released around 3.5 million files related to Epstein, and there are about 3 million more awaiting release. Ominously, Mr Trump keeps suggesting it is time to move on from the Epstein files. It is no wonder that Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, has, having viewed a few dozen of the unredacted files, accused the US Department of Justice of being “in cover-up mode” and breaking the law.

This is obviously unacceptable. Recent disclosures have contained some of the most vile revelations, and prompt the thought that even worse may still be lying in the justice department’s archives. There is mention in emails, for example, of girls between nine and 15 years of age. Even the newly published documents contain sickening, knowing references to the Nabokov novel Lolita, and the girls and women are traded and discussed as if they are mere commodities – dehumanised in every sense.

Were it not for the efforts of the victims, notably the late Virginia Giuffre, along with their lawyers, the media and some US lawmakers, what we know now would still be secret. That any justice has been secured is testament to those tireless efforts, and thankfully, there is no sign of survivors or Congress letting up. The efforts of Mr Raskin and his colleagues to get to the truth are augmented by public opinion, including within some dissident sections of the Maga movement.

Mr Raskin and his colleagues may even take it upon themselves to un-redact the names of those responsible for crimes. In due course, Maxwell may talk about her life with Epstein, though she seems to want to leverage her knowledge in return for clemency, which it would be wrong to grant. The truth will come out, in other words, and the files must be released to the public, not just glimpsed at by a handful of members of Congress, and the data must be seen by all in its fullest possible form. The struggle for justice is far from over.