Michael Goodwin: This latest batch of – Latest News
Another day, one other drum roll to signal one other release of Jeffrey Epstein pictures. This time it was the Democrats orchestrating the circus, full with the promise they’d the products to steer the entire world that President Trump actually, actually, actually is guilty of one thing actually terrible that had been saved secret.
But the release of 92 pictures, out of 95,000 mentioned to be on Epstein’s e-mail account, turned out to be such a dud that even The New York Times needed to stifle a yawn. Now, no one hates Trump more than the Gray Lady, so the paper’s ho-hum response quantities to a spanking of the Dems for overpromising and underdelivering.
“House Democrats released new images from the estate of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that highlight his ties to celebrities, financiers and other powerful men, including President Trump and former President Bill Clinton,” the paper mentioned in its report.
It then threw a bucket of cold water on even that perfunctory tease by saying, “the photos offer little new detail to illuminate Epstein’s well-documented relationship with prominent men in politics, business, media and academia.”
The phrases “little new detail” and “well-documented” are well mannered methods of saying we already knew this, so transfer alongside.
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Bipartisan bust
Reporter Michael Gold felt the need to additional decrease expectations by including that “It was not clear whether Mr. Epstein, who is not in all of the images, took some of the photos or how they ended up in his possession.”
He additionally wrote that “Democrats provided no context for the images they released, including any email messages that might have accompanied them.”
Similarly, the BBC, a dedicated “Hate Trumper,” famous that the president seems in simply three of the pictures launched Friday, and rapidly added: “There is no suggestion that these pictures imply anyone who appears has done anything wrong, and Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to knowing Epstein.”
A second downside for the Dems’ attempt to sell the Trump footage as a bombshell is that the voluminous knowledge dump additionally contained photographs of Epstein with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Bill Gates and Woody Allen.
This undated picture from the personal assortment of Jeffrey Epstein supplied by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, reveals British Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson (R) with Epstein (C) and one other man. House Oversight Democrats/AFP by way of Getty Images
So if the Trump pictures are newsworthy, so are these of the others. But these aren’t new or important both, so the entire thing amounted to a bipartisan bust.
The media’s cold shoulder to the release marks a second to behold. Normally, the legacy lefties get out the trumpets to herald any assault Dems make on Trump of their function because the celebration’s handmaidens.
Because the distorted protection of him is ingrained and goes back to Trump’s first days in politics, it’s in all probability silly to hope this could possibly be the beginning of more balanced and truthful protection of the president.
In fact, the Epstein fixation is essentially an extension of the day-in, day-out race to get a story that drives Trump from workplace.
The “gotcha!” fever is a hangover from the media’s glory days of Richard Nixon and Watergate, and it reveals no signal of cooling off for any Republican president, particularly this one. The low-key response to the Epstein pictures more doubtless displays one thing else:
Trump’s readiness to sue publishers and networks over tales he believes are unfair or unfaithful. His “fake news” epithet has the potential for actual sting when it’s delivered within the context of a libel and defamation lawsuit.
No publishing outlet needs to be on protection in a trial with the president, particularly in a pink state, and a backroom deal with Trump shouldn’t be a slam-dunk, both. He has extracted apologies and multimillion-dollar funds from ABC, CBS and others for the pleasure of settling his claims.
To be truthful, the obsession with Epstein shouldn’t be restricted to the left. The fever can be s gripping too many Republicans and inflicting them to lose their means.
The GOP controls the House oversight panel that the Dem members used to subpoena the Epstein property for the Friday picture release. More troubling, the GOP members went down that very same rabbit gap with a subpoena of their own to the property final August.
Soon after, the Republican chairman of the panel, James Comer of Kentucky, accused his Dem colleagues of cherry-picking among the many paperwork and politicizing data in a bid to smear Trump.
Fishing expedition
On the opposite hand, he insisted, Republicans have been centered on operating “a thorough investigation to bring transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein’s heinous crimes.”
Yet earlier than long, led by the GOP members, the panel voted to subject deposition subpoenas to a raft of Dems, led by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland and others. Lacking any proof about how the targets might help Epstein’s survivors, the subpoenas scent like what they’re: a fishing expedition.
This undated picture from the personal assortment of Jeffrey Epstein supplied by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, reveals US lawyer Alan Dershowitz (R) and Epstein talking. House Oversight Democrats/AFP by way of Getty Images
Comer is clearly pissed off that there was no progress in getting the depositions. And in all probability infuriated that Dems gained the subpoena struggle for at the very least a day, he issued a blistering assertion late Friday afternoon.
It mentioned the Clintons have “delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony.”
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He threatened that if the Clintons fail to seem for depositions subsequent week or schedule a date for early January, the panel “will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable.”
Ho hum.
In fact, I’m confounded by this bipartisan obsession with the assumption that Epstein will, from his grave, one way or the other ship a political kill shot.
It’s as if all of Washington believes victory within the midterms will depend on connecting their opponents to the disgusting pedophile and intercourse trafficker.
Both events are being seduced by the identical echo chamber, and I consider they’re each incorrect.
Whatever occurred to successful voters’ hearts and minds with good concepts and sound insurance policies?
Scandal of course has its place. But this one is past tawdry and tiresome, and I don’t consider something coming from it has modified the steadiness of energy an iota since Epstein killed himself in a New York jail more than six years in the past, in August of 2019.
Get back to governing
All the mud thrown at Trump over his acknowledged relationship with Epstein a long time in the past didn’t help Dems defeat him final yr. Similarly, White House and Justice Department efforts to show they have been hiding nothing and would release a devastating Epstein “client list” flopped with the admission that no such record exists.
The similar destiny doubtless awaits Comer’s efforts to make use of Epstein to harm the Dems subsequent yr.
Instead, earlier than the midterms, Republicans must put their time, power and money towards the issues most voters care about.
According to RealClearPolitics polling averages, Trump’s approval on the financial system is simply 44%, with 53% disapproval.
Similarly, Dems maintain a practically 4 level benefit within the November generic vote.
Epstein didn’t trigger these GOP deficits, neither is he the answer.
