Epstein's Death & the Investigation of Powerful Networks
August 13, 2019
Craig Murray delves into allegations against Jeffrey Epstein and another
suspicious death that the case recalls.
By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
There are a number of royal palaces and grand residences of former
presidents and prime ministers where the inhabitants have a little bit more
spring in their step following the death of Jeffrey Epstein. The media is
rushing to attach the label "conspiracy theory" to any thought that his
death might not have been suicide. In my view, given that so many very
powerful people will be relieved he is no longer in a position to sing, and
given that he was in a maximum-security jail following another alleged
"suicide attempt" a week ago, it would be a very credulous person who did
not view the question of who killed him an open one.
There has been a huge amount of obfuscation and misdirection on the
activities of Epstein and his set. To my mind, the article which remains the
best starting point for those new to the scandal is this one from Gawker.
A few days ago a federal court unsealed 2,000 pages of documents related to
the allegations against Epstein. Of these the most important appears to be a
witness statement from Virginia Giuffre alleging that while a minor she had
sex at Epstein's direction with then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell
and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, plus a variety of senior foreign
politicians.
Epstein's sexual activities and partying with young girls were carried out
in full view of key friends, his domestic and office staff, his pilots and
of course the participants. There is no shortage of potential witnesses.
Several of these really ought to be taking great care - though if I were
them I would certainly eschew any protection involving U.S. security
services or law enforcement. Ghislaine Maxwell might take heed of her
father's fate and avoid swimming for a few years.
Jeffrey Epstein. (YouTube)
(I am probably not the only one old enough to compare the many similarities
between Robert Maxwell's asset stripping career and that of Philip Green.
The progress of society after 30 years of Thatcher, New Labour and returned
Tories meaning that Green by contrast got no criminal charges and much
bigger yachts.)
Evidence Concerning Prince Andrew
In the U.K., Giuffre's alleged relationship with Prince Andrew has been
mentioned in the media. In fact the evidence that she had a relationship
with Prince Andrew of some sort is overwhelming. Here is some of the actual
evidence from the court documents.
The age of heterosexual consent in England is 16 and there is no indication
that Prince Andrew is doing anything illegal in this photograph in which
Giuffre is 17. Nor is the photo in itself evidence of sex, though it
certainly is intimate. The notion however that Giuffre was "lent out" to
Andrew may have legal implications as she was flown into the country,
allegedly for the purpose.
No satisfactory alternative explanation has been offered as to what might
have been happening here, as Giuffre's lawyers noted.
No further details appear in the documents to amplify Giuffre's claim that
she was forced to have sex with a "well known prime minister," other than to
repeat the claim. But what is plain is that her tale is not entirely
invention. Just how much more did Epstein know, and who might he have taken
down with him?
Bill Clinton's Epstein Connection
The truth is that sexual abuse by the rich and famous transcends all
political boundaries. Bill Clinton was very frequently on Epstein's plane
and Epstein joins the very long list of those connected to the Clintons who
died in dubious circumstances.
Two coincidences - the first being the bruise marks on the neck sustained in
Epstein's first "suicide attempt" in jail - remind me of the case of John
Ashe, the senior official very close to the Clintons who died with bruise
marks on his neck, when he accidentally dropped his barbell on his throat
while bench-pressing alone at home.
Ashe was charged and awaiting trial for receiving corrupt funds from
businessman Ng Lap Seng while Ashe was serving in the USA's turn as
president of the UN General Assembly. Ng Lap Seng, a six-time visitor to the
Clinton White House, had previously been accused of making very large
illegal donations to Clinton campaign funds, and was subsequently arrested
while entering the USA with over $4 million in cash. Unlike the Clintons,
Ashe was charged with taking Seng's money and rather like Epstein may have
had an interesting song to sing while going down, had he not conveniently
dropped the barbell on his throat.
I said that the first thing that jogged me to link the Epstein/Clinton and
the Ashe/Clinton cases was the bruise marks on the throat. The second is
that both stories have been debunked by self-proclaimed "conspiracy-busting"
website Snopes - in a manner which shows that Snopes has no regard for the
truth whatsoever.
In the case of John Ashe, Snopes wrote an utterly tendentious piece of
"myth-busting" which stated that it was a myth that Ashe's death occurred
shortly before his trial and that he was not due to testify against the
Clintons. Snopes failed to mention that Ashe, a very senior Clinton
appointee, was charged with taking corrupt money from precisely the same man
who had been very widely accused of giving corrupt money to the Clintons.
And while it was true his trial was not imminent, his pre-trial deposition
was.
In the Epstein/Clinton case Snopes wrote a piece debunking the notion that
this is a photograph of Bill Clinton on Epstein's private jet.
Snopes sets out to prove that this is not Epstein's private jet but that of
another billionaire, and that the girl is not Rachel Chandler. For the sake
of argument I am prepared to accept what they say on both counts. But is the
sensible reaction to that photo to say "Oh that's OK it's another
billionaire's jet" or to say "Why is Bill Clinton on a billionaire's private
jet in an intimate pose with a worryingly young female?" As with the Prince
Andrew photo, although it has been circulating for years, no alternative
innocent explanation is on offer.
Passion for Sexual Exploitation
And the fact that this is another billionaire's plane should open again the
much wider question of networks of the rich and the powerful indulging each
other's passion for sexual exploitation of the young. It is a great shame
that in the U.K., the Establishment has been able to characterize the
falsifications of Carl Beech as discrediting the entire notion of historical
child sexual abuse. It is as though one person making up stories about a
bishop would mean there was never child exploitation in the Catholic Church.
The deeper question is why such a significant proportion of the rich and
powerful have a propensity to want to assuage their sexual desires on the
most vulnerable and powerless in society, as opposed to forming
relationships among their peers. I suspect it is connected to the kind of
sociopathy that leads somebody to seek or hoard power or wealth in the first
place.
It is not necessary to develop that idea further, to understand that the
Epstein case had given us a glimpse of criminal sexual behavior which,
beyond doubt, involves many powerful people. It is essential that the
threads that can be grasped are now worked on assiduously to uncover the
entire network.
I am afraid to say I suspect the chances of that actually happening are very
slim indeed.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was
British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector
of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
This article is from CraigMurray.org.uk.