Several years ago, everyone had that one friend or family member who would rant about a conspiracy theory that politicians and the global elite were all connected to a pedophile trafficking ring. We would all nod our heads and say “that would be wild” and politely attempt to change the subject to something far more sane. Then, in 2019 with the arrest of Jeffery Epstein, the majority of us were completely shocked to find out that the conspiracy theory was true.

Then, about a month after his arrest, Epstein was found dead in his cell, which was ruled as a suicide and not investigated more thoroughly, despite several suspicious circumstances, such as the security cameras missing only the minute of his death.

Meanwhile, the American public demanded the names and information of anyone who participated in this ring, and we were met with nothing but a few crumbs to keep us quiet every few months.

Joe Biden was elected the next year and we pushed for the files to be released, since it wasn’t done under the first Trump administration, but there was only radio silence as they claimed to still be investigating. Next, Trump ran a second time with the release of the files as one of his top campaign promises. Shortly after his swearing-in, he had influencers go to the White House and take photos holding binders labeled “The Epstein Files” and the public was hopeful for the first time in years.

Then suddenly, Trump informed us all that the Epstein files never existed, and that they were manufactured as a Democratic hoax to make him look bad. The flip-flop on such a serious topic was a wake-up call that made even some of his most fierce supporters turn on him. Despite the pushback from nearly everyone, he continued down this path and even urged all of the Republicans in Congress to vote against the release of the files. Unfortunately, most of them followed his instructions with only a few Republicans rebelling against his orders and voting “yes”.

Despite Trump’s best efforts, those few joined the Democrats and made for just enough signatures to force Congress to officially vote on releasing the files, which by this point actually had enough support to pass. And then suddenly, right before losing the battle, Trump flip-flopped again and announced that he wants all Republicans to vote to release the files because he has nothing to hide.

This is incredibly suspicious. As the sitting president, he has had access to the Epstein files since 2019. What has changed in the last few days that he is no longer afraid of their release? Did the public opinion finally get to be too much for him? Or is he confident now only because he had the files scrubbed of any mention of him and his allies? Or worse, could he have had some of his rivals’ names added, even if they were innocent?

The Epstein files have been sitting in the hands of the government for six years at this point. They have had many eyes on them and they have changed hands many times through the three terms. How can we trust the legitimacy of them anymore, if they even do get released?

I see a lot of people online claiming that Trump couldn’t be in the Epstein Files, because the Democrats would have used them as leverage in the 2020/2024 elections. However, we need to consider the possibility that there are so many Democrats AND Republicans implicated in the files that it could ruin both of their parties, which could be why neither of them made any effort to get them released until the public pressure began to be too much to handle.

But what else could the files contain? From the breadcrumbs we’ve gotten, Epstein was a high-school teacher without a college degree who had a lucky break to get hired at an investment bank that allowed him to rub shoulders with high profile names. Since he was good at networking  with so many famous people, it’s hard to determine who were acquaintances and who were involved in the degeneracy.

Bill Clinton and Donald Trump’s names both have come up in released emails because they were at least in contact with Epstein at a point in time. It’s unknown yet if either of them participated in anything awful. However, the UK’s Prince Andrew was recently stripped of his royal titles in preparation for the public to learn about his connection to Epstein, so it’s safe to assume the worst in his case.

Mike Johnson has expressed that releasing the entirety of the files unredacted could pose a national security risk, but why? Epstein was a civilian investment banker. If he had any of our national security secrets, it would highlight a massive failure of our government. However, some of his leaked emails show that Epstein had close connections to Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister and Minister of Defense, and that Epstein assisted him in intelligence deals between Israel and other countries. Those kind of connections could place a lot of powerful people in the files and could cause issues for our foreign relations if those individuals were outed.

Also, less than two months before he was assassinated, Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson sat down together on an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show and claimed that not only was Jeffery Epstein a Mossad agent (which is basically the Israeli CIA), but he was running a blackmail scheme to target US and foreign officials on behalf of Israel. Obviously, I don’t know if there’s any truth to this claim, but its timing with regard to Charlie Kirk’s death makes it suspicious and worth mentioning. If Epstein were linked to a foreign intelligence agency that had blackmailed members of our government, it would be easy to imagine that they would want them covered up rather than admit their own failures in judgment.

No matter what the situation, I believe I can speak for everyone that we want the full, unedited files released so that the victims of this island can receive justice. No matter if the offenders were Democrat or Republican, pedophilia and human trafficking isn’t something to use as election leverage and we want to see anyone involved punished, even if it means that a politician we admire will be sent to prison.

But I have one request of anyone who reads this article: If there is a noticeable lack of Republicans in the files, get suspicious. If the only names in the files are people that Trump does not like, get suspicious. If there’s anything missing in the release that we know to have been true, get suspicious. Do not trust that we have the full files until it’s proven without a doubt.

As I said earlier, there is overwhelming evidence that the Epstein Island was bipartisan and we need to make sure we receive the actual, real files. Not some watered-down, redacted list that would keep us from knowing the truth about which of our elected officials are degenerates. We, the American people deserve better. It’s time we demand that.

Taryn Ogletree is a local small business owner and author with previous experience of several years in finance.