Expert on Epstein files: Who exactly benefits from the chaos?
The vast trove that makes up the so-called Epstein files leaves some of the many public figures referenced in them vulnerable, communications expert Annika Arras said.
The approximately 3.5 million documents made public, including redacted emails, were released wholesale by the U.S. Justice Department following mounting pressure on the Donald Trump administration. This raises the question: Who benefits? Arras told "Välisilm".
In the case of Jeffrey Epstein's activities, the issue is not only about Epstein himself or the network — some of it criminal — that he built up, but also about whether people were involved who considered their actions justified. Such individuals' belief, even if only at the time, that everything they did was, for them, permissible and that they would ultimately get away with it lies at the core of the matter, Arras said.
Arras noted that while it was as recently as 20 years ago that Epstein's human trafficking activities first appeared on authorities' radars — a period that may be seen as a different time — that does not mean such behavior was ever justified.
"I see politicians making apologies who were not themselves involved, but are under attack. From some, I have heard apologies to the victims. But there are several people whose names have appeared in those files who, while they have apologized for having associated with Epstein, have failed to apologize for being part of that system and, to a certain extent, helping to build up the protection and justification that allowed that system to exist at all," Arras said.
According to Arras, the sheer volume of information released by the U.S. Department of Justice means caution is required when drawing conclusions. "In the midst of it, a great deal of myth-making and misinformation has started to spread, as we are already seeing on social media — even to the point of deepfakes, where in some versions Epstein is supposedly still alive and living in Israel," she said.
Amid this confusion, Arras said it is worth asking cui bono — who benefits — suggesting that the flood of information may play into the hands of Donald Trump, who has appeared in multiple photographs with Epstein and others referenced in the files.
"First of all, he is already known as a sower of chaos. He walks into a room, throws out three sentences, and then there is enormous turmoil. Now there are millions of files behind it, and everyone is dealing with everyone else, but not with him," Arras said. "Yes, the question is what will happen next, but U.S. citizens are angry and disappointed. The victims are demanding justice, and I do not think that will simply be set aside in Trump's case either."
"If we look at where these files were made public — in the United States — how much has been discussed in the past week about Donald Trump and his connection to this?" she continued. "The focus has shifted to all those whose names were not previously public. Another question is to what extent the released information makes a number of public figures or politicians who are currently in power vulnerable."
As sections of files that were hidden from publicly released versions are now being made available to Congress for hearings, new information is likely to continue emerging for a long time to come, Arras concluded.
Around 200 references to Estonia have been identified in and among the files so far. Opposition Social Democratic MPs have called for an investigation to be opened into potential human trafficking by Epstein involving Estonian citizens — a move already taken by Latvia and Lithuania in respect of their own citizens — as well as into the risk of blackmail of those named in the files. This, it has been argued, presents a security threat, with Epstein himself also seen as a security risk due to his alleged links to Russia.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Marko Tooming
Source: 'Välisilm'
