information, but I would be shocked if there were actionable information in the Epstein files. Just for starters, the chain of custody would be an insurmountable problem. Anyone who is accused can merely say that it is impossible to know whether their name was added surreptitiously to the list or not. Even flight manifests can be easily faked or a person can mis-identify himself. And voilà, we have reasonable doubt. The jury’s conclusion: Not guilty.
Oh, I’m sure there is some truth in there. But it is the same problem that we have with the New York Times. Yes, there might be something true in there, but there is simply no reliable way to know what is true and what is false. Even a total beginner defense attorney would rip this to shreds in a second. Heck, I would, and I’m not even an attorney!
So we are faced with a dilemma. We can identify actors, but we don’t know for sure whether they were actually criminals. And by making the list public, we do significant damage to innocent victims, and face potential liability. So the bottom line is that the files are not releasable.
And I haven’t even brought up the issue of “deep fakes” yet. Sorry, the legally smart thing is to let it all go. There is no way to move forward on it. You know something happened, but there is no way to reliably get to the truth of the matter. Frustrating.
And I understand the upset about this. It is not at all satisfying from a moral standpoint–these were heinous crimes, and we would all like to see some justice, people go to prison. But I think there is little actual choice but to move on.
In short, Trump is entirely correct in trying to drop this whole matter. You may not like it, but that is the way the legal system works. And in fact, it is good for the legal system to work that way. Aggravating? Yes, in some cases it certainly is. But it is still the way to go.
I think the big problem is that Pam Bondi got way out over her skis on this. She created an expectation of a conclusion that is valid in colloquial reasoning, but not really legally valid at all. And that is unfortunate. It really is an unforced error on her part.