It's certainly entertaining to watch someone whose political career was based on promoting the birther conspiracy theory about Obama's citizenship, and who has persistently adopted other conspiracy theories ever since, struggling when one of them suddenly engulfs him.
The problem for Pam Bondi and Trump, I think, is how unlikely it is that, as Bondi suggests is the case, all the evidence recovered by the FBI comprises graphic images of CSAM, which obviously can't be published. Possibly there's a great deal of such material, and possibly it identifies abusers other than Epstein, but we just don't know, and I'm unwilling to speculate about that kind of thing.
However it stretches credulity that Epstein, who is known to have meticulously documented his activities, had only CSAM in his possession, with no other photos, videos, or records of any kind. It stretches belief to think there wasn’t also material that, while not criminal in itself, could cause serious embarrassment to its subjects if released. Prince Andrew’s troubles stemmed from a single, seemingly innocuous photo with Virginia Giuffre — and that image alone has had lasting consequences.
That's the problem, to my mind -- either there's nothing to publish, which the MAGA conspiracists won't accept because it would be too great a disappointment, or there's plenty to publish that doesn't in itself reveal criminal misconduct but would greatly embarrass its subjects if it were published. I'd say that such material shouldn't be published unless it becomes evidence in a criminal case, but MAGA conspiracists probably wouldn't agree with me.
Trump's problem is that he's trained MAGA to distrust everything and everyone, and everything and everyone now turns out to include him.
www.bbc.co.uk
gizmodo.com
www.thedailybeast.com
