Tonight in Your Rights: The State of the Epstein Fallout
Epstein survivors are at the center of the counter-programming of Trump's big speech, and the U.K. fallout of the files expands.
Donald Trump is delivering his potentially three-hour long State of the Union address in the shadow of the Epstein files in more ways than one.
More than a dozen of Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors and their relatives plan to watch the speech from the audience at the invitation of Democratic lawmakers, serving as living reminders of the scandal Trump has been unable to outrun. Members of the House Women’s Caucus reportedly plan to wear pins with the message “Stand with Survivors” and “Release the [REDACTED] Files.”
Some of the guests include the most prominent women who stepped forward against Epstein: Annie Farmer, who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell, will be in attendance, as will her sister Maria Farmer, who filed the first police report against Epstein decades ago.
Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of the late Virginia Giuffre, are also expected to be in attendance at the invitation of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who was the lead impeachment prosecutor against Trump in 2019.
Other Epstein survivors invited as guests include Haley Robson, Jess Michaels, Marina Lacerda, Dani Bensky, Lisa Philips, Marijke Chartouni, and Jena-Lisa Jones.
Hours before Trump’s speech, Democratic lawmakers made clear that Epstein would figure heavily into the counterprogramming of the address. Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday accused the Justice Department of withholding and removing files related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor.
“Yesterday, I reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the Department of Justice,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) wrote in a statement. “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DOJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes. Oversight Democrats will open a parallel investigation into this.”
Garcia’s probe falls on the heels of NPR’s publication of the article: “Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump,” building upon reporting by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger.
Whether Trump addresses the Epstein files remains to be seen.
Will Trump continue to falsely declare the whole story a hoax, depict himself as a whistleblower who brought Epstein’s crimes to light, and claim that he has been exonerated?
If he does, how will Epstein’s survivors and their relatives react?
A large number of Democratic Congress members may not learn until well after the speech. The Wall Street Journal estimates that 50 Democratic lawmakers plan to skip Trump’s speech entirely, and some of them handed their invitations to Epstein’s survivors instead.
As the United Kingdom demonstrates, foreign allies aren’t taking cues from the United States on how to deal with the release of information.
Second major Epstein-related arrest in the U.K.
Earlier this week, former British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson became the second major figure arrested in the United Kingdom in connection with the release of the Epstein files.
Like former Prince Andrew, Mandelson was suspected of misconduct in public office, and his arrest has further destabilized the political life of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The prime minister’s decision to appoint Mandelson for the ambassadorship provoked calls for his resignation.
British historian Andrew Lowney, the author of “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York,” told All Rise News that the reason Starmer is still in power is that “no one can quite decide who puts themselves forward to take on this job.”
“I suspect he won't go until the local elections in May because no one really wants to take on this poison chalice,” Lowney says.
Neither Andrew nor Mandelson’s arrests appear to relate to Epstein’s sex trafficking, and both allegedly sent Epstein confidential information.
Asked why both men would take such risks with Epstein, Lowney replied “They felt they were masters of the universe. They could do what they wanted. They had no idea that all this empty material would emerge.”
Released emails showed that Epstein sent £10,000 to Mandelson's partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva in 2009, the BBC reported.
“Mandelson is a multimillionaire, and to prostitute himself for ten thousand dollars just seems extraordinary,” Lowney said. “But if they felt they could get a free deal, they were going to take advantage.”
Look out for the full interview with Lowney about the widening scope of the U.K. fallout soon on the All Rise News playlist on Legal AF.
News in brief
A federal judge on Tuesday barred the government from searching devices seized from the Washington Post’s so-called “federal government whisperer,” finding that the court itself will conduct the review.
Trump’s Justice Department said that the Post’s Hannah Natanson was not the target of the investigation, but authorities raided her home seeking information for an unrelated national security case.
Significantly, U.S. District Judge William Porter found that the government “disturbed” the presumption of regularity typically afforded to federal prosecutors.
“The Court’s genuine hope is that this search was conducted—as the government contends—to gather evidence of a crime in a single case, not to collect information about confidential sources from a reporter who has published articles critical of the administration,” he wrote in a 22-page ruling.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth filed a notice of appeal of a decision blocking him from retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over his “illegal orders” video.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that Hegseth violated Kelly’s First Amendment rights by seeking to reduce his rank and pay for accurately stating that members of the military and intelligence community have the right to refuse illegal orders.
Leon was so exasperated with the government’s actions that his ruling had 14 exclamation points.
Talking Feds
Last week, I joined former federal U.S. Attorney Harry Litman, former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah, and POLITICO’s senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney on the Talking Feds podcast.
Here’s how Harry described the episode:
“The group digs into the court's rare rebuff of the president and the infighting among the conservative justices [in the tariffs decision]. Next, the panel turns to the lower courts' angry rulings against Trump's deportation drive, even including—finally—a contempt finding. To finish, they examine the arrest of ex-Prince Andrew and weigh the chances for similar accountability in the U.S.”
Listen to our conversation below.
It is so different to have something to look forward to than dread. I am looking forward to listening to the podcast, Adam, and tomorrow’s All Rise News report on the SOTU address. Meanwhile, a British mystery awaits this evening.