A "Hoax" 20 Years in the Making

 

A “Hoax” 20 Years in the Making

"I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life." 

 Donald Trump in a 2022 interview published in New York Magazine

"I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue… I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue." Donald Trump to NBC News, September 9th, regarding his purported greeting in Epstein’s 50th birthday book

So as the world grapples with an unprovoked Israeli attack on a residential neighborhood (that failed to kill the targeted Hamas leader) in Doha, Qatar, the continued Israeli decimation of Gaza, as Russian drones are increasingly entering deep into NATO’s Poland (Russia’s claiming inadvertent border crossing from its attacks on Ukraine), a shadow docket Supreme Court ruling that allows racial and ethnic profiling in random searches for undocumented workers, as our jobs reports are going from bad to abysmal, soaring retail costs, RFK, Jr’s growing attack on the medical community, seeing the gerrymandering war escalate, given plunging high school reading and math scores and as the struggle to keep the Federal Reserve independent continues, look at what is dominating traditional and social media: Is Donald Trump’s signature on the crude birthday greeting above genuine and why is so much effort being directed at covering up what appears to be a significant involvement of prominent men in Jeffrey Epstein’s billion dollar sex trafficking enterprise of underaged girls?

Nobody is saying Donald Trump partook of sex with any of Epstein’s girls or that he was instrumental in recruiting high profile men in his world to engage in those illicit sexual acts. Everyone already knew that Trump and Epstein were close friends for many years, and that through Trump, Epstein met a number of high-profile men. At least as to the daily “business” of Epstein’s sex trafficking empire, I have not seen a serious accusation of Trump’s direct involvement in any of Epstein’s nastiness.

Epstein operated below the radar for most of his early career. Once an account executive for the now defunct financial firm of Bear Stearns, thereafter, Epstein seemed to move into helping create tax shelter investments for wealthy clients. Shortly after his departure from Bear Stearns, on “April 1st, 1981 at the towering federal office building in lower Manhattan, Jeffrey Epstein sat for a deposition with attorneys representing the Securities and Exchange Commission [investigating a possible insider trading allegation against his former employer that never resulted in any charges against that firm]… Perhaps one of the most peculiar things to come from this deposition was Epstein’s revelation that he had previously been convicted of a crime.

“Up until his conviction in Florida state court on watered-down charges of ‘procuring a child for prostitution’ and sex trafficking in 2008, which stemmed from the initial investigation into Epstein’s sexual abuse of minors, it was believed that Epstein had a clean record… And at least here in the U.S., he did… During his deposition with the S.E.C., Epstein was asked whether he’d ever been convicted or indicted for a crime, to which Epstein revealed he’d been convicted of a crime in Great Britain… His description of the crime is short, stating that he had bought an antique sword and that he got in trouble for carrying the item. Epstein said he was told he had to ship the item out of the country.” Mark Remillard, MJR.News, Jul 29, 2022. But eventually, Epstein’s growing connections with wealthy men generated a very lucrative career with criminal consequences.

His new business evolved into a cash-flow intensive sex trafficking enterprise that, according to the New York Times, pushed about a billion dollars through JP Morgan’s banking operations, including a $175 thousand cash withdrawal that should have aroused enough suspicion of senior management to suspend account… which did not happen. Epstein was, obviously, filthy stinking rich, with several mega-mansions, including his Caribbean Island spa/hideaway where much of the illicit sexual activity took place. He and Trump even competed in high-end real estate transactions, but it was very clear that they were close friends.

Epstein clearly had some benefits from his circle of friends. Well before Trump was President, Epstein side-stepped what could have been a very long sentence for sex trafficking minors (the “procuring a child for prostitution” charge noted above), but federal prosecutor Alex Acosta (who later became Trump’s first term Secretary of Labor) let Epstein serve a mere year in prison for that conviction. None of those criminal acts, so far, have suggested that Trump aided and abetted those efforts. But the source of the current controversy – focused on the GOP cover-up and refusal to produce a full release of all Epstein files – all began with that Birthday Book:

“In 2003, the friends and acquaintances of American financier Jeffrey Epstein—who would later, in 2008, be convicted of sexual offenses against minors—gave him a bound album with personalized greetings for his 50th birthday, entitled The First Fifty Years. The album was assembled by Epstein's close friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, with help from assistants. She asked for ‘drawings, photos or stories’ from associates of Epstein. [See pictures above, excerpted from that book]

“The existence of the book was first reported in a July 2025 article by The Wall Street Journal. [with Trump filing a $10 billion lawsuit for defamation against Rupert Murdoch’s WSJ] The article also detailed a letter from the book that was allegedly written and signed by US President Donald Trump; it featured an outline of a naked girl and ended with the salutation ‘may every day be another wonderful secret’.” Wikipedia. A “hoax” that was begun in 2003?! Seriously?

I doubt that the discharge petition (forcing floor vote on mandating the release of all those files) will ever pass both houses of Congress. That birthday book, including Trump’s contribution to it, was permanently bound (not loose pages). As trial lawyers always require, the “chain of custody” of that book, indicates that this memorabilia compilation remained unchanged since it was created. And no one really challenged Trump’s signature until Trump denied that this most obvious signature was a forgery… after which the entire GOP followed that obvious Trump denial. Yet I have not heard anyone calling for finding out who that “forger” might be.

But most of all, I do not understand why there isn’t more understanding and support for Epstein’s victims, who have been vilified and ignored, despite pleas to be taken seriously. Even Trump voters in that group do not understand why our elected representatives have refused to reveal what is possibly the largest network of sex trafficking of minors in our nation’s history. Their request is basic: please take steps to prevent this abuse of monied political connections from repeating this horrible injustice on other future innocents. Instead, as Trump’s perceived Epstein vulnerability rises even among his base, red states are accelerating gerrymandering because they now believe the Epstein scandal will destroy their majority in Congress as the midterms approach.

I’m Peter Dekom, and there should be a collective shame rippling through every part of this country at the efforts of the rich and powerful to cover-up their “friends’” involvement in this mega-crime.