maxwell gives names of dems & billionaires, DOJ lets her appeal go thru, trump pardons her for her "truth", johns scramble, maga goes for the bait. hope clinton not on the list! donny 2 dolls slides again.
I can't be that fatalistic about it. It's partly on us to keep the Oversight Committee on task to get the files and videos, to support Wyden's investigation into the money trail, to lift the voices of the victims (as Tim Miller did yesterday on The Bulwark of a woman groped by Trump himself; video below), and to call out the cover-up. If Clinton or other prominent Dems were in the files in incriminating ways, I have to think they'd have released those already. Trump is too desperate not to have done that.
I agree. Some of the manosphere seems to be onto the coverup and corruption now. And plenty of Dems have decided not to let this go. And, for once, the legacy media seems to have gotten their teeth into it.
bondi had the fbi write down every name in "the files". she then told donny 2 dolls. so he knows who is running scared. and of course maxwell will say donny was just a friend of jeff, didnt participate. the DOJ will then start a big "investigation" after the ones they want to go after. by the way, where is all the investigative material that the fbi & DOJ did on epstein? why isnt that released, he's dead. maga will think justice is being done. maxwell gets pardoned the last day of his admin. without transparency, we will not know the truth. hopomg bill is not involved, just for hillary's sake.
They will try, but I don't know that they'll get away with it all. And, at least for me, if I assume you're right, that it's over and he slides, why would I keep advocating for every step?
They can't erase banking records. They tried to erase some of the video of Epstein's death, but a Wired reporter figured that out. Most of the victims are still alive and a few are giving interviews, as are their lawyers. They've sued and won in the past, and all those records exist. Anything offered now that doesn't line up are lies. The reporter who broke much of the story in the 1990's wrote a book that's getting a whole new print run because of demand. A thousand FBI agents read documents organized on a non-secure spreadsheet in March. I just don't think they can cover it all up, and every bit that comes out is disgusting enough to keep him flailing and points to other bits that they're hiding.
Yeah maybe he comes out of this OK, but even then he’s burning time and political capital now that could be used on other things so keeping the focus on Epstein has benefits even if it doesn’t bring him down.
If it was that simple, they would have opened with that the day after Musk accused Trump.
Someone who manipulated people in the most evil, unforgivable way, is not exactly credible. Trump could certainly pardon her, but it won’t stop the clamor for the actual evidence, and then he couldn’t pressure her anymore. Trump won’t spend the pardon until he is in the clear, which might well be impossible.
if trump pardons her we can run on the fact that he pardoned one of the most prolific sex traffickers in modern history. let him be so stupid.....she not only procured under aged girls for prostitution, let's call it what it is, she engaged in the abuse as well. her and epstein will go down in the annals of criminal history as a criminal couple like the monsters of the moors or the homulkas in canada; that they didn't murder their victims is about the only thing they did not do.
Maxwell will lie. We don't want her list. We want the files. There are likely some powerful Democrats and other politicians on the list. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump (or Netanyahu or Putin) have been using it to blackmail. It's the only explanation for some of the Quisling behavior we are seeing.
You need the services of a volunteer editor. Very distracting to see so many errors uncorrected throughout. Someone should read each post through BEFORE posting. Otherwise, very useful.
Gordon this post is unacceptable. It's whining. Make your suggested changes. Yes, I write fast and fresh everyday and will not please the most strict grammarians, nor is it necessary or worth the extra time an editing and review would require.
I did find 5 mistakes this am - 2 mispellings, 3 wrong words/omissions. All have been corrected. This is not typical. I ran out of time his and perhaps did not do that final edit it needed. Thank you for your contribution this morning.
I actually found Gordon's post to be caring, not whining. I too was troubled by the distraction of the errors. My thoughts were of concern about how much you and our wonderful Substack writers do for us under the constant beat of a deadline. If a volunteer copy editor/reader could be incorporated into the timing to meet the deadline, the excellent work of our hard-pressed and highly anticipated writers like you, Simon, could be flawless, and deservedly so. I do not believe the errors are heinous, just a distraction. I suspect Gordon was of similar mind.
While I appreciate the sentiment here is a copy editor is not practical, and we will all have to live with the occasional mistakes and errors. In my haste this morning I missed a few and it will happen from time to time. This site produces an extraordinary amount of fresh and hand-crafted content each week and there are just going to be text errors. I rushed a little bit more than usual today and somehow missed spelling errors, which are the worst. I apologize, and hope we can all stay focused on the mission, and pray that the site grows so I can afford a bit more help.
I am off now to mow the lawn and tend to my garden - enjoy the weekend all!
Good grief. I’m a multi-published novelist who definitely cares about grammar and spelling, and even I don’t give a darn about these sorts of errors. Simon and the other leaders of our grassroots movement somehow manage to talk to us every day, and sometimes several times a day, providing important information and inspiration. The content matters. Typos don’t.
f scott fitzgerald could not spell; if you notice my caps function is shot, and i don't care. i have published hundreds of articles and my copy was always clean, but then i was being paid, and didn't want to give an editor a reason to reject my stuff. and it was before the internet era, mostly.
I am as well, and I agree. And using volunteers raises a whole host of issues, both practical and ethical. Simon gives us a lot of generosity; feels like we can do the same.
agree. Simon gives us important information, outstanding interviews and LEADERSHIP. most of us are intelligent enough to read through a couple typos, but I guess a few aren't. Good grief.
My sentiments exactly. Every writer I know working on a self-published/self-managed platform sooner or later trips up as they work against a deadline to communicate with their flock. As long as I can understand it, I forgive it. There but for the grace....
The wonderful Ron Filipkowski of Meidas Touch is one of the hardest-working men online, and he once put out a communique in which he spelled masturbation wrong - in about 2 or 3 places.
In this shitshow of the Trump Administration, it was the most laughs I had all year, and I think the rest of the MT readers would say the same.
And, come to think of it, even after a few readers mentioned it to him, I don't think he could be bothered to go back and edit it because he was on to the next 10 things he had to send out.
And for anyone interested, a little while ago, I profiled Trump's agenda that hurts Rural America in very specific fashion. Happy to pass that along to anyone in the Democratic Party who may be looking for additional information.
Things are looking good from a polling standpoint at least. But here's more good news: Roy Cooper is jumping into the NC Senate race on Monday.
This was on my FB feed this morning and no one seems to be digging here: Forget Epstein. Look at Trump Model Management: The Real Pipeline of Power, Flesh, and Silence
Forget what you’ve heard about Ghislaine Maxwell being the mastermind—she wasn’t the start of this story. If you want to understand how elite trafficking really worked—how girls were recruited, processed, and handed off to billionaires—you don’t start with Epstein. You start with the modeling agencies.
John Casablancas, Jean-Luc Brunel, Donald Trump, and Paolo Zampolli didn’t just work in fashion. They operated a system. A system that targeted vulnerable girls—especially from Eastern Europe, South America, and small-town America—and fed them into a machine dressed in glamour but running on coercion.
Casablancas created the cultural template with Elite Model Management, turning underage girls into marketable assets and normalizing relationships between adult men and teenage models. Brunel expanded it internationally with MC2, an agency Epstein himself bankrolled with at least $1 million, giving him open access to a pipeline of girls. Zampolli specialized in the immigration angle, gaming the U.S. visa system to bring in foreign models on O-1 "extraordinary talent" visas, or more often, B-1/B-2 tourist visas, and placing them in overcrowded, overpriced apartments while booking them for under-the-table modeling jobs.
Trump joined this system fully in 1999 with the creation of Trump Model Management, shortly after his relationship with Melania—herself a Zampolli recruit from Slovenia—became public. The agency followed the same model: bringing in young women illegally, charging them for housing and services, and working them while they accumulated debt. Former models testified they were told to lie to customs officers, to say they were tourists, and then immediately sent out to work. This wasn’t alleged. This was documented. The visas were real. The labor was real. The fraud was real.
Compared to the agencies, Maxwell and Epstein were the curated side of the operation. They didn’t run dorm-style housing. They didn’t feed girls into low-budget catalog shoots. They offered the illusion of escape. Girls who had already been broken in by the agency system—groomed to obey, to smile, to say yes—were selected by Maxwell for "something better": jets, shopping, rich men, and beachfront estates. The sex was transactional, yes. But it felt luxurious. Many of the girls said yes willingly. Not because they were naive, but because they had already learned how the game worked.
Maxwell didn’t coerce; she inspired. She flattered. She offered protection and status. Epstein didn’t chase; he curated. He kept logs, wired his homes, tracked movements. He didn’t need to rape. The system had already trained the girls to comply. His value wasn’t as a user—it was as a middleman. He connected the supply (from the agencies) to the demand (from the elite).
Epstein's network wasn’t about individual lust. It was about leverage. He offered powerful men something better than market returns: exotic islands, off-book girls, and plausible deniability. He recorded everything. Not always to blackmail—but to own them. To keep the powerful quiet. And it worked.
These weren't dark secrets. They were sunlit transactions, wrapped in language like:
“Your back hurting, Joe? I got a girl, comes every day. Real sweet. Max set it up. No pressure. You want to come by for dinner next week?”
This is how trafficking happened. Not with chains, but with calendars. Not in shadows, but at dinner parties.
And what’s worse—compared to the brutality of the modeling agencies, Epstein and Maxwell could almost be seen as saviors. At least their girls got paid. Got flown somewhere. Got treated like something more than inventory. That’s how sick the foundation really was. That’s what kept the pipeline full.
This wasn’t just Epstein. It wasn’t even just a ring. It was a whole tier of elite society operating on shared appetites, protected by shared silence.
You don’t see this story in major media because they’re in on it. The PR firms, the publishers, the party hosts—they’re the white-gloved cleanup crew. The modeling industry protected the designers. The lawyers protected the agencies. The press protected the donors. The politicians protected each other. And the girls? They vanished into the system.
Trump saying "release it all" is performance. He was in it. Clinton was in it. Maybe more. The point isn't whose side you're on. The point is that the rot is bipartisan and built into the architecture of power itself.
This wasn't a scandal.
This was policy.
And the reason it’s never been fully exposed is simple:
Because when the rot climbs all the way to the top, there's no one left to report it.
wow! thx for this. a great summary. this thing is so very huge. international. spying. banks. theft. young girls. politicans. billionaires. and yet, only one person in jail? and the mastermind committed suicide with no autopsy report and video cameras not working? no johns ever arrested? how is it that maxwell has boxes of evidence in her jail cell? and why isnt that evidence being turned over to DOJ? immunity for a known, convicted sex trafficer who perjured herself? we knew the gig was up when bondi fired maureen comey, who is the expert on maxwell and prosecuted her and got the conviction. and we knew the gig was up when donny 2 dolls personal atty, now deputy AG, did the interviews. has the press even asked if these 16+ hrs of interviews are recorded and transcribed? will we ever see them? this whole thing is one big massive decades long cover up. no transparency. no answers. no johns???
Also I heard Roy Cooper is going to run for the Senate in North Carolina, which should give us a shot at picking up that Senate seat. Thank you, Trump, for running Tillis out of the race! Good job.
I watched an encouraging talk by Newsome and some Texas Dems yesterday. One thing I like about Newsome is that he can throw a punch.
Getting ready to contact my electeds...again. I request responses and they are spotty at best. It makes me wonder what the Idaho delegation is doing with their time. It certainly is not about their constituents. I will be emphasizing the recession on the next round and take some lessons from Mr. Roger's in 1969, "What Do I Do With The Mad?".
We have to know how to fight --- since we're facing a broken system of this nature for the first time in our history. (The Civil War left one group of states intact and true to the union under the Constitution.) Today, we've got nearly 220 representatives who are unfaithful to their Oath -- many from blue states. Modern confederates far behind enemy lines.
Thank you, Simon, once again, for giving us a very clear to-do list. Today, I made donations to all three of the science websites you recommended and I'm looking for more opportunities in my area to participate in voter registration. I also emailed all of my representatives today.
I liked very much that you open today's newsletter with all the positive things.
Thank you for your strength, guidance and steady hand you offer us as we all live through this turmoil.
Heads up to everyone that there’s a Simon impersonator(s) on Substack currently. I just reported one- it was incredibly obvious. No posts, weird grammar errors and a profile photo of Stephen Colbert. 😄
Agreed. Lots of bots and scammers. Lots of imposters. Not just on here. They pretend to be various celebs to scam people out of money. Someone pretending to be Josh Groban claimed they needed money. Somehow, I don't think Josh Groban needs a few million. If he does, it's because he spent it in stupid ways.
I was on vacation this week and just listened to the Wed night discussion. You connected two very important dots that I don’t think is getting enough attention. We know the mad king’s recent decline was kicked off by Elon’s tirade. And that tirade was caused by Elon being dumped because he became politically toxic. The key is he became politically toxic and vulnerable in large part because of the Tesla Takedowns which was a decentralized grassroots effort to undermine the root of his power (the value of Tesla stock). So in a very real way the opportunity we now have is due to grassroots activists not just waiting for permission to do something. I don’t think everyone in our family fully appreciates that lesson in using our power, both to stop them and eventually to advance our own positive agenda.
Dear Simon, there has been some recent reporting circulating that Maxwell is expected to name several Hedge Fund Managers and Bill Clinton. Though it’s partially expected, how do you feel the Democrats should keep on offense concerning this matter?
I can’t imagine a President from decades ago, whose family wont be running the WH in the future will ‘curb our chances’ of regaining steam etc. That said, it’s imperative I would think, that the party do everything it can possible to NOT let the mainstream media and Trump to overtake the narrative and excel in pushing Epstein away from himself and all towards Clinton. It would be the absolute most inopportune time to ‘freak out.’
The base is fracturing and the hope is, it will continue to do so. I anticipate in spite of this, that Murdoch will drip more damning information against Trump connected to Epstein through WSJ. Hopefully, the momentum can continue. Murdoch is no gem but it’s clear the goal is for him and others to band together in attempting to push Trump out not for the sake of moral, but due to economics. As Carville always says, “It’s the economy stupid!”
Murdoch and other major corporations can’t stand the idea of paying out more than necessary due to the instability of the markets and the tariffs and for what mind you?!? Always follow the money it seems right? Of course, an underlying goal in conjunction with pushing Trump out, is pulling Vance in. He’ll never attract the loyalty of the base nor will the likes of Johnson, Don Jr, Tucker, etc.
Trump is his own twisted enigma in that sense and if he breaks his own base, then even more so does my theory hold. That said, the hope is Vance would be a lame duck of sorts especially, if we can pull off great success in the midterms 🙏. It’s not so much his pull with MAGA or lack thereof that gives me pause, it’s more so how much leverage would he have given what becomes of the landscape around him, in trying to effectuate the full scope of Project 2025 God forbid. Would love to hear your thoughts on how we can counteract these incoming effects. Thanks again for all you do.
I don't think there is any good outcome for Trump here. We have to keep fighting and get through it but I don't think they can sell that they went after the bad guys buy pardoning the ring leader of one of the largest sex trafficking rings in modern history and letting her go free. Biden put Maxwell in jail. Trump is trying to spring her. Just as they are struggling to sell other parts of their agenda to 60-65 percent of the country they won't pull this off. It may quiet their loyalists but this is another negative driving down his approval, and as I said yesterday, we simply must develop a more muscular indictment of his illiberalism to make the pain of his ongoing betrayal more gravely felt by him and his allies.
Thank you, and I completely agree. I’d say about 99 percent of the country sees Maxwell as a villain so any version of a pardon would likely infuriate. Hence why I agree, this is a lose-lose for him and won’t be going away anytime soon. May the dominos fall 🙏.
Also driving inflation will be what experts are calling a 15% rise in energy costs because the Trump administration is making renewable energy, now our cheapest sources, far more expensive. And as the EV market suffers, we will need more gasoline and that cost is also slated to rise. You can listen to Ezra Klein’s most recent podcast about decarbonization for more specifics
The Epstein problem is not going to go away. I stopped at a fast food place this week. A couple guys on their lunch break were sitting next to me. Topic of conversation Trump and Epstein. They're probably tons of these conversations going on around the country.
The word we need to use often is "affordability" in the days and months ahead of us. Framing it such as:
Eggs are not affordable anymore because they are too expensive.
Hamburgers are not affordable anymore because beef is too expensive.
Cars are not affordable now because they are too expensive and I need to pay for expensive groceries.
Fruits and vegetables are not affordable anymore because they are too expensive.
Orange juice is not affordable anymore because it is too expensive.
the corn crop is suffering this year too....lack of ears on tall plants, due to bad weather. probably won't affect prices too much but farmers are taking a hit. climate change and all...which is also driving the beef prices up.
Self report from WI. I don’t usually call my elected officials on weekends (does anyone know if they listen to weekend recoded calls?) but I did call my 2 Republican members today to insist they honor the oath they took and start defending our democracy and listed my 4 main concerns- ICE, Tariffs, health/science research and Gaza/Ukraine.
I have started going to a protest at a flyover bridge which occurs every Tuesday in Austin TX. We overlook a well-used freeway holding US flags and signs like Honk for Democracy. The cars below and those coming over the bridge have shown a lot of support. This week the biggest sign was in support of those affected by the floods in the Hill Country and against the unusual mid-decade redistricting that Trump has asked the Legislature to do to try to add more Republican districts through gerrymandering. It shows how scared he is. Doing this every week with like-minded people is very uplifting. We were covered by a local tv news station and a group member gave a good explanation of why we oppose this administration that wants to take us backwards and how we want to be a progressive community that cares for each other. It was on the evening news.
Thursday, I went to a rally at the Capitol to protest the attempted redistricting. There were at least 300 people there. The newspaper reported 100.
I have been seeing some of this stuff, and it's really good.
Might have missed it, but are they integrating the Epstein stuff with Trump on the campaign trail, telling women he's going to protect them - whether they like it or not?
maxwell gives names of dems & billionaires, DOJ lets her appeal go thru, trump pardons her for her "truth", johns scramble, maga goes for the bait. hope clinton not on the list! donny 2 dolls slides again.
I can't be that fatalistic about it. It's partly on us to keep the Oversight Committee on task to get the files and videos, to support Wyden's investigation into the money trail, to lift the voices of the victims (as Tim Miller did yesterday on The Bulwark of a woman groped by Trump himself; video below), and to call out the cover-up. If Clinton or other prominent Dems were in the files in incriminating ways, I have to think they'd have released those already. Trump is too desperate not to have done that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiPPbfFAISY
I agree. Some of the manosphere seems to be onto the coverup and corruption now. And plenty of Dems have decided not to let this go. And, for once, the legacy media seems to have gotten their teeth into it.
bondi had the fbi write down every name in "the files". she then told donny 2 dolls. so he knows who is running scared. and of course maxwell will say donny was just a friend of jeff, didnt participate. the DOJ will then start a big "investigation" after the ones they want to go after. by the way, where is all the investigative material that the fbi & DOJ did on epstein? why isnt that released, he's dead. maga will think justice is being done. maxwell gets pardoned the last day of his admin. without transparency, we will not know the truth. hopomg bill is not involved, just for hillary's sake.
They will try, but I don't know that they'll get away with it all. And, at least for me, if I assume you're right, that it's over and he slides, why would I keep advocating for every step?
They can't erase banking records. They tried to erase some of the video of Epstein's death, but a Wired reporter figured that out. Most of the victims are still alive and a few are giving interviews, as are their lawyers. They've sued and won in the past, and all those records exist. Anything offered now that doesn't line up are lies. The reporter who broke much of the story in the 1990's wrote a book that's getting a whole new print run because of demand. A thousand FBI agents read documents organized on a non-secure spreadsheet in March. I just don't think they can cover it all up, and every bit that comes out is disgusting enough to keep him flailing and points to other bits that they're hiding.
Yeah maybe he comes out of this OK, but even then he’s burning time and political capital now that could be used on other things so keeping the focus on Epstein has benefits even if it doesn’t bring him down.
If it was that simple, they would have opened with that the day after Musk accused Trump.
Someone who manipulated people in the most evil, unforgivable way, is not exactly credible. Trump could certainly pardon her, but it won’t stop the clamor for the actual evidence, and then he couldn’t pressure her anymore. Trump won’t spend the pardon until he is in the clear, which might well be impossible.
if trump pardons her we can run on the fact that he pardoned one of the most prolific sex traffickers in modern history. let him be so stupid.....she not only procured under aged girls for prostitution, let's call it what it is, she engaged in the abuse as well. her and epstein will go down in the annals of criminal history as a criminal couple like the monsters of the moors or the homulkas in canada; that they didn't murder their victims is about the only thing they did not do.
Maxwell will lie. We don't want her list. We want the files. There are likely some powerful Democrats and other politicians on the list. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump (or Netanyahu or Putin) have been using it to blackmail. It's the only explanation for some of the Quisling behavior we are seeing.
...not the only explanation for Quisling-like behavior, but I quibble.
I did say "some' ;)
If those Dems & Billionaires are outed, they are then free to name the ones who weren’t outed, because power travels together. If punched, punch back.
is there any constructive purpose to your ignorant musings?
You need the services of a volunteer editor. Very distracting to see so many errors uncorrected throughout. Someone should read each post through BEFORE posting. Otherwise, very useful.
Gordon this post is unacceptable. It's whining. Make your suggested changes. Yes, I write fast and fresh everyday and will not please the most strict grammarians, nor is it necessary or worth the extra time an editing and review would require.
I did find 5 mistakes this am - 2 mispellings, 3 wrong words/omissions. All have been corrected. This is not typical. I ran out of time his and perhaps did not do that final edit it needed. Thank you for your contribution this morning.
I actually found Gordon's post to be caring, not whining. I too was troubled by the distraction of the errors. My thoughts were of concern about how much you and our wonderful Substack writers do for us under the constant beat of a deadline. If a volunteer copy editor/reader could be incorporated into the timing to meet the deadline, the excellent work of our hard-pressed and highly anticipated writers like you, Simon, could be flawless, and deservedly so. I do not believe the errors are heinous, just a distraction. I suspect Gordon was of similar mind.
While I appreciate the sentiment here is a copy editor is not practical, and we will all have to live with the occasional mistakes and errors. In my haste this morning I missed a few and it will happen from time to time. This site produces an extraordinary amount of fresh and hand-crafted content each week and there are just going to be text errors. I rushed a little bit more than usual today and somehow missed spelling errors, which are the worst. I apologize, and hope we can all stay focused on the mission, and pray that the site grows so I can afford a bit more help.
I am off now to mow the lawn and tend to my garden - enjoy the weekend all!
Maybe a better spell-checker?
Enjoy your garden. Hopium will grow, because of your style and expertise, regardless of grammar or typos.
Good grief. I’m a multi-published novelist who definitely cares about grammar and spelling, and even I don’t give a darn about these sorts of errors. Simon and the other leaders of our grassroots movement somehow manage to talk to us every day, and sometimes several times a day, providing important information and inspiration. The content matters. Typos don’t.
f scott fitzgerald could not spell; if you notice my caps function is shot, and i don't care. i have published hundreds of articles and my copy was always clean, but then i was being paid, and didn't want to give an editor a reason to reject my stuff. and it was before the internet era, mostly.
I am as well, and I agree. And using volunteers raises a whole host of issues, both practical and ethical. Simon gives us a lot of generosity; feels like we can do the same.
agree. Simon gives us important information, outstanding interviews and LEADERSHIP. most of us are intelligent enough to read through a couple typos, but I guess a few aren't. Good grief.
My sentiments exactly. Every writer I know working on a self-published/self-managed platform sooner or later trips up as they work against a deadline to communicate with their flock. As long as I can understand it, I forgive it. There but for the grace....
The wonderful Ron Filipkowski of Meidas Touch is one of the hardest-working men online, and he once put out a communique in which he spelled masturbation wrong - in about 2 or 3 places.
In this shitshow of the Trump Administration, it was the most laughs I had all year, and I think the rest of the MT readers would say the same.
And, come to think of it, even after a few readers mentioned it to him, I don't think he could be bothered to go back and edit it because he was on to the next 10 things he had to send out.
Getting stuff right isn't that hard and improves credibility. It's a "strength"
i like the cussing!! seems appropriate!!
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to send my latest article along on how Trump lost trust and how Democrats can seize the opportunity to regain trust: https://davidsalzillo.substack.com/p/who-do-you-trust.
In fact, this latest post got the glowing recommendation and restack of the great Will Robinson! Thanks Will!
Please feel free to let me know what you think. Happy to take in any constructive feedback.
And for anyone interested, a little while ago, I profiled Trump's agenda that hurts Rural America in very specific fashion. Happy to pass that along to anyone in the Democratic Party who may be looking for additional information.
Things are looking good from a polling standpoint at least. But here's more good news: Roy Cooper is jumping into the NC Senate race on Monday.
This was on my FB feed this morning and no one seems to be digging here: Forget Epstein. Look at Trump Model Management: The Real Pipeline of Power, Flesh, and Silence
Forget what you’ve heard about Ghislaine Maxwell being the mastermind—she wasn’t the start of this story. If you want to understand how elite trafficking really worked—how girls were recruited, processed, and handed off to billionaires—you don’t start with Epstein. You start with the modeling agencies.
John Casablancas, Jean-Luc Brunel, Donald Trump, and Paolo Zampolli didn’t just work in fashion. They operated a system. A system that targeted vulnerable girls—especially from Eastern Europe, South America, and small-town America—and fed them into a machine dressed in glamour but running on coercion.
Casablancas created the cultural template with Elite Model Management, turning underage girls into marketable assets and normalizing relationships between adult men and teenage models. Brunel expanded it internationally with MC2, an agency Epstein himself bankrolled with at least $1 million, giving him open access to a pipeline of girls. Zampolli specialized in the immigration angle, gaming the U.S. visa system to bring in foreign models on O-1 "extraordinary talent" visas, or more often, B-1/B-2 tourist visas, and placing them in overcrowded, overpriced apartments while booking them for under-the-table modeling jobs.
Trump joined this system fully in 1999 with the creation of Trump Model Management, shortly after his relationship with Melania—herself a Zampolli recruit from Slovenia—became public. The agency followed the same model: bringing in young women illegally, charging them for housing and services, and working them while they accumulated debt. Former models testified they were told to lie to customs officers, to say they were tourists, and then immediately sent out to work. This wasn’t alleged. This was documented. The visas were real. The labor was real. The fraud was real.
Compared to the agencies, Maxwell and Epstein were the curated side of the operation. They didn’t run dorm-style housing. They didn’t feed girls into low-budget catalog shoots. They offered the illusion of escape. Girls who had already been broken in by the agency system—groomed to obey, to smile, to say yes—were selected by Maxwell for "something better": jets, shopping, rich men, and beachfront estates. The sex was transactional, yes. But it felt luxurious. Many of the girls said yes willingly. Not because they were naive, but because they had already learned how the game worked.
Maxwell didn’t coerce; she inspired. She flattered. She offered protection and status. Epstein didn’t chase; he curated. He kept logs, wired his homes, tracked movements. He didn’t need to rape. The system had already trained the girls to comply. His value wasn’t as a user—it was as a middleman. He connected the supply (from the agencies) to the demand (from the elite).
Epstein's network wasn’t about individual lust. It was about leverage. He offered powerful men something better than market returns: exotic islands, off-book girls, and plausible deniability. He recorded everything. Not always to blackmail—but to own them. To keep the powerful quiet. And it worked.
These weren't dark secrets. They were sunlit transactions, wrapped in language like:
“Your back hurting, Joe? I got a girl, comes every day. Real sweet. Max set it up. No pressure. You want to come by for dinner next week?”
This is how trafficking happened. Not with chains, but with calendars. Not in shadows, but at dinner parties.
And what’s worse—compared to the brutality of the modeling agencies, Epstein and Maxwell could almost be seen as saviors. At least their girls got paid. Got flown somewhere. Got treated like something more than inventory. That’s how sick the foundation really was. That’s what kept the pipeline full.
This wasn’t just Epstein. It wasn’t even just a ring. It was a whole tier of elite society operating on shared appetites, protected by shared silence.
You don’t see this story in major media because they’re in on it. The PR firms, the publishers, the party hosts—they’re the white-gloved cleanup crew. The modeling industry protected the designers. The lawyers protected the agencies. The press protected the donors. The politicians protected each other. And the girls? They vanished into the system.
Trump saying "release it all" is performance. He was in it. Clinton was in it. Maybe more. The point isn't whose side you're on. The point is that the rot is bipartisan and built into the architecture of power itself.
This wasn't a scandal.
This was policy.
And the reason it’s never been fully exposed is simple:
Because when the rot climbs all the way to the top, there's no one left to report it.
I have heard about this, actually. Wrote a little about it here: https://davidsalzillo.substack.com/p/the-not-so-fantastic-four-part-2.
But I may expand on that to include your take on it. Happy to make you a co-writer on the post if you want. When the time comes. Let me know.
This is not my research. It was on my feed this morning. Written by Bruce Fanger. Not sure why that didn’t get copied with the post.
tony michaels did a show on this as well.
But is some of this your commentary?
Like, for example, "These weren't dark secrets. They were sunlit transactions, wrapped in language like:
'Your back hurting, Joe? I got a girl, comes every day. Real sweet. Max set it up. No pressure. You want to come by for dinner next week?'
This is how trafficking happened. Not with chains, but with calendars. Not in shadows, but at dinner parties."
Because I just want to give full credit to you wherever that is due.
It’s all Bruce Fanger. Check his FB page for more.
Thanks for clarifying.
The author of the post on my feed was Bruce Fanger https://www.facebook.com/bruce.fanger?mibextid=wwXIfr
Thanks.
Hey Robyn, I'd like to post this. Do you know the source? Where was it from that someone posted it on your FB?
Bruce Fanger https://www.facebook.com/bruce.fanger?mibextid=wwXIfr
wow! thx for this. a great summary. this thing is so very huge. international. spying. banks. theft. young girls. politicans. billionaires. and yet, only one person in jail? and the mastermind committed suicide with no autopsy report and video cameras not working? no johns ever arrested? how is it that maxwell has boxes of evidence in her jail cell? and why isnt that evidence being turned over to DOJ? immunity for a known, convicted sex trafficer who perjured herself? we knew the gig was up when bondi fired maureen comey, who is the expert on maxwell and prosecuted her and got the conviction. and we knew the gig was up when donny 2 dolls personal atty, now deputy AG, did the interviews. has the press even asked if these 16+ hrs of interviews are recorded and transcribed? will we ever see them? this whole thing is one big massive decades long cover up. no transparency. no answers. no johns???
Simon, the news about Trump's polls is good news!
Also I heard Roy Cooper is going to run for the Senate in North Carolina, which should give us a shot at picking up that Senate seat. Thank you, Trump, for running Tillis out of the race! Good job.
I watched an encouraging talk by Newsome and some Texas Dems yesterday. One thing I like about Newsome is that he can throw a punch.
I'm writing postcards to Virginia voters today.
Getting ready to contact my electeds...again. I request responses and they are spotty at best. It makes me wonder what the Idaho delegation is doing with their time. It certainly is not about their constituents. I will be emphasizing the recession on the next round and take some lessons from Mr. Roger's in 1969, "What Do I Do With The Mad?".
THANK YOU 🙏🏽, Simon—we MUST keep FIGHTING or we will allow Project 2025 to destroy what’s left of our Democracy ‼️
We have to know how to fight --- since we're facing a broken system of this nature for the first time in our history. (The Civil War left one group of states intact and true to the union under the Constitution.) Today, we've got nearly 220 representatives who are unfaithful to their Oath -- many from blue states. Modern confederates far behind enemy lines.
Thank you, Simon, once again, for giving us a very clear to-do list. Today, I made donations to all three of the science websites you recommended and I'm looking for more opportunities in my area to participate in voter registration. I also emailed all of my representatives today.
I liked very much that you open today's newsletter with all the positive things.
Thank you for your strength, guidance and steady hand you offer us as we all live through this turmoil.
Heads up to everyone that there’s a Simon impersonator(s) on Substack currently. I just reported one- it was incredibly obvious. No posts, weird grammar errors and a profile photo of Stephen Colbert. 😄
The amount of inauthentic activity on all platforms has been increasing of late....
Agreed. Lots of bots and scammers. Lots of imposters. Not just on here. They pretend to be various celebs to scam people out of money. Someone pretending to be Josh Groban claimed they needed money. Somehow, I don't think Josh Groban needs a few million. If he does, it's because he spent it in stupid ways.
imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.....impersonation might be even more so....
Jim Acosta’s “mom” messaged me recently. 🤪
please tell her that I'm sorry for confusing him with Alex Acosta
I was on vacation this week and just listened to the Wed night discussion. You connected two very important dots that I don’t think is getting enough attention. We know the mad king’s recent decline was kicked off by Elon’s tirade. And that tirade was caused by Elon being dumped because he became politically toxic. The key is he became politically toxic and vulnerable in large part because of the Tesla Takedowns which was a decentralized grassroots effort to undermine the root of his power (the value of Tesla stock). So in a very real way the opportunity we now have is due to grassroots activists not just waiting for permission to do something. I don’t think everyone in our family fully appreciates that lesson in using our power, both to stop them and eventually to advance our own positive agenda.
1000%
Dear Simon, there has been some recent reporting circulating that Maxwell is expected to name several Hedge Fund Managers and Bill Clinton. Though it’s partially expected, how do you feel the Democrats should keep on offense concerning this matter?
I can’t imagine a President from decades ago, whose family wont be running the WH in the future will ‘curb our chances’ of regaining steam etc. That said, it’s imperative I would think, that the party do everything it can possible to NOT let the mainstream media and Trump to overtake the narrative and excel in pushing Epstein away from himself and all towards Clinton. It would be the absolute most inopportune time to ‘freak out.’
The base is fracturing and the hope is, it will continue to do so. I anticipate in spite of this, that Murdoch will drip more damning information against Trump connected to Epstein through WSJ. Hopefully, the momentum can continue. Murdoch is no gem but it’s clear the goal is for him and others to band together in attempting to push Trump out not for the sake of moral, but due to economics. As Carville always says, “It’s the economy stupid!”
Murdoch and other major corporations can’t stand the idea of paying out more than necessary due to the instability of the markets and the tariffs and for what mind you?!? Always follow the money it seems right? Of course, an underlying goal in conjunction with pushing Trump out, is pulling Vance in. He’ll never attract the loyalty of the base nor will the likes of Johnson, Don Jr, Tucker, etc.
Trump is his own twisted enigma in that sense and if he breaks his own base, then even more so does my theory hold. That said, the hope is Vance would be a lame duck of sorts especially, if we can pull off great success in the midterms 🙏. It’s not so much his pull with MAGA or lack thereof that gives me pause, it’s more so how much leverage would he have given what becomes of the landscape around him, in trying to effectuate the full scope of Project 2025 God forbid. Would love to hear your thoughts on how we can counteract these incoming effects. Thanks again for all you do.
I don't think there is any good outcome for Trump here. We have to keep fighting and get through it but I don't think they can sell that they went after the bad guys buy pardoning the ring leader of one of the largest sex trafficking rings in modern history and letting her go free. Biden put Maxwell in jail. Trump is trying to spring her. Just as they are struggling to sell other parts of their agenda to 60-65 percent of the country they won't pull this off. It may quiet their loyalists but this is another negative driving down his approval, and as I said yesterday, we simply must develop a more muscular indictment of his illiberalism to make the pain of his ongoing betrayal more gravely felt by him and his allies.
Thank you, and I completely agree. I’d say about 99 percent of the country sees Maxwell as a villain so any version of a pardon would likely infuriate. Hence why I agree, this is a lose-lose for him and won’t be going away anytime soon. May the dominos fall 🙏.
Also driving inflation will be what experts are calling a 15% rise in energy costs because the Trump administration is making renewable energy, now our cheapest sources, far more expensive. And as the EV market suffers, we will need more gasoline and that cost is also slated to rise. You can listen to Ezra Klein’s most recent podcast about decarbonization for more specifics
The Epstein problem is not going to go away. I stopped at a fast food place this week. A couple guys on their lunch break were sitting next to me. Topic of conversation Trump and Epstein. They're probably tons of these conversations going on around the country.
The word we need to use often is "affordability" in the days and months ahead of us. Framing it such as:
Eggs are not affordable anymore because they are too expensive.
Hamburgers are not affordable anymore because beef is too expensive.
Cars are not affordable now because they are too expensive and I need to pay for expensive groceries.
Fruits and vegetables are not affordable anymore because they are too expensive.
Orange juice is not affordable anymore because it is too expensive.
And so on...
the corn crop is suffering this year too....lack of ears on tall plants, due to bad weather. probably won't affect prices too much but farmers are taking a hit. climate change and all...which is also driving the beef prices up.
If only it would lead to ethanol being removed from American gasoline!
Self report from WI. I don’t usually call my elected officials on weekends (does anyone know if they listen to weekend recoded calls?) but I did call my 2 Republican members today to insist they honor the oath they took and start defending our democracy and listed my 4 main concerns- ICE, Tariffs, health/science research and Gaza/Ukraine.
I have started going to a protest at a flyover bridge which occurs every Tuesday in Austin TX. We overlook a well-used freeway holding US flags and signs like Honk for Democracy. The cars below and those coming over the bridge have shown a lot of support. This week the biggest sign was in support of those affected by the floods in the Hill Country and against the unusual mid-decade redistricting that Trump has asked the Legislature to do to try to add more Republican districts through gerrymandering. It shows how scared he is. Doing this every week with like-minded people is very uplifting. We were covered by a local tv news station and a group member gave a good explanation of why we oppose this administration that wants to take us backwards and how we want to be a progressive community that cares for each other. It was on the evening news.
Thursday, I went to a rally at the Capitol to protest the attempted redistricting. There were at least 300 people there. The newspaper reported 100.
ATX represent!
Listo, Verde!
"DNC targets vulnerable House Republicans with Epstein ads" -- includes ad videos.
https://www.axios.com/2025/07/25/dnc-epstein-files-house-republicans
and from FB, no login required https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17DGQkEhjx/
I have been seeing some of this stuff, and it's really good.
Might have missed it, but are they integrating the Epstein stuff with Trump on the campaign trail, telling women he's going to protect them - whether they like it or not?