Trump is used to shaking criticism. The Epstein saga is different

Donald Trump called Jeffrey Epstein’s story a “dead problem”. But in a week of successful new revelations, Epstein’s crime – and its consequences – continue to haunt many of its former partners.

The so-called anniversary book of wishes given to Epstein in 2003, which was published publicly on Monday, gave new ammunition to Trump criticisms, and it will also keep its base and the widest public complaint for more details.

It may not be a proverbial firearm – an undeniable link with the reprehensible acts that destroys careers or superfoods in criminal surveys. But these are concrete and disturbing evidence of the close relationship that the late financier and the condemned sex offender had with the rich and the powerful.

This alone makes an explosive and convincing story – a story that draws public attention in a way that a typical political history does not do.

Make no mistake, although there is no suggestion of criminal acts by Trump, the political consequences of the Epstein saga on the president are very real.

He is vulnerable on this question. His attempts at diversion or rejection have failed.

And he has sometimes fallen to his own basis for their fixation on history – an interest he encouraged as recently as last year.

While the 2003 book, compiled by the girlfriend and Epstein co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is full of dozens of personal notes, it is the allegedly Trump who transformed this of a tragic history of sexual traffic and exploitation into a partisan national intrigue.

The details of the note – A dialogue imagined between Trump and Epstein full of innuendos and double heard takes place in the sketched outline of a naked female torso – have been known to the public since the Wall Street Journal reported in July.

Trump initially responded to this cover with general refusals, protests to be the target of a “hoax” and a defamation trial in which his lawyers doubted the existence of the note.

While the conservatives rallied to Trump’s defense, the president seemed to have released concerns among his political base which had been divided on the management by the White House of Epstein files.

Political analysts began to wonder if it would be the last in the long line of scandals and potential controversies that the president increased.

Trump’s strategy, however, included an obvious risk – that the note would become public. A harmless description of the text and debauchery drawings in the pages of a financial newspaper is very different to see the real article, with its representation of small female breasts and a signature resembling Trump which is positioned to suggest pubic hair.

The advisers and supporters of the president continue to challenge the authenticity of the note, but it is no longer possible to deny its existence.

“The president did not write this letter, he did not sign this letter, and that is why the president’s external legal team is continuing a dispute against the Wall Street Journal,” said the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday.

But in a book filled with notes and messages to Epstein, Trump apparently appears alone by refusing the authenticity of his supposed contribution.

And Leavitt was very careful not to call the book itself a hoax.

Each defense repositioned, each recalibrated explanation is likely to reduce Trump’s reputation among his supporters as a man who is not caught in political games and typical escapes.

A greater concern for the White House than the specific revelation of the note, however, is the way in which the birthday book will feed and expect the case of Epstein.

Trump’s alleged note is only a fragment in a greater mosaic in Epstein’s life – a photo of a man who had friends and associates in the highest places, some of whom have found humor in his reputation for sexual exploits.

Less than a week after a group of victims of Epstein and their families gathered on the stems of the Capitol to talk about the pain and the emotional trauma they suffered, the birthday book provided a lively proof of the apparently insensitive indifference to Epstein’s escapades by many in the Epstein circle.

A note, which seems to come from a real estate investor in Florida, includes a photograph of Epstein holding a great check of the apparently novelty of Trump. The text that accompanies him joke that Epstein sold a “fully depreciated” woman to Trump for $ 22,500 – using a financial term for an article whose value has been reduced by use.

Other notes included obscene drawings, naked photographs and, in one case, images of animals with sex.

There were messages from politicians, lawyers and business leaders. Former President Bill Clinton referred to Epstein’s “childish curiosity” and his desire to “make a difference”.

Lord Peter Mandelson, the Ambassador of the current United Kingdom to the United States, included photographs of tropical sites and qualified Epstein as “my best friend”.

Clinton’s office did not respond to a request for comments from the BBC, although he previously declared that he was not aware of Epstein crimes.

An official spokesperson for Lord Mandelson told the BBC that he “was clear that he had regretted a lot to have been presented in Epstein”.

Some Republicans have underlined the way in which democrats have concentrated almost exclusively on Trump as proof that their demands for indignation are motivated by a desire for political advantage.

It could be difficult for those on the left to deny.

The Democrats of the Chamber Committee investigating the Epstein case, for example, quickly released Trump’s birthday page, which had been provided to them by the Epstein domain.

Expect all the other details related to the president receive an equally fast route to the public.

History has become greater than the president, however, and the interest in the history of Epstein – one of sex, crime and power – will stimulate attention, whatever the political motivations behind some who make them progress.

If Trump reviews detect opportunities, all Trump’s allies do not help.

Last week, the president of the Mike Johnson room suggested that Trump had cooperated with the original federal investigation on Epstein – a theory that Epstein himself launched during the interviews with journalist Michael Wolff in 2016 and 2017.

Johnson, a Republican, then gave his comments, but not before it aroused another series of questions about what Trump knew about Epstein’s illegal behavior and when he knew it.

There are still many things that the public could learn with the publication of more Epstein documents, including declarations of witnesses, financial files and evidence collected in the searches of application of the law of Epstein properties.

Two members of the Congress, Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democrat Ro Khanna from California, are currently bringing together signatures to force a vote in the House of Representatives to publicly release the remaining Epstein files – a decision that the White House is vigorously opposed.

The Saga of Epstein, which seemed to be an old news at the start of this year, approaches a self -sufficient critical mass which will be difficult for anyone, no matter how much will contain.

And although the president is not the central objective, and there is no evidence of criminal conduct on his part, his longtime friendship with Epstein (which ended after a fall in 2004), combined with his position at the top of American political power, will keep a central actor in this drama for as long as he continues to take place.

Independent BBC is the house on the website and the application for the best analysis, with new perspectives that question the hypotheses and deep relationships on the biggest problems of the day. And we present stimulating content of reflection through the sounds of the BBC and Iplayer too. You can send us your comments on the independent section by clicking on the button below.