#epstein client list revealed

[appoarsin]

Wait, is no one here talking about this? Did anyone hear that the Epstein list is gonna be revealed in January??

[truth4ourfreedom]

DONALD JR PUTS IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE !

Donald Trump Jr:

"If you're in this room right now, you're probably on the FBI list. You're in good company. I am on every list except the Epstein list. We haven't heard anything about that one in a while… How is it that my father could be convicted of 34 crimes, but no one on Epstein's list has even been brought to light? It's almost like they're trying to protect those pedophiles.”

[blushweddinggowns]

A Deep Dive into the Munson Marriage: Just Who is Steve Harrington?

By Fredricka Keith

The world has somehow been sleeping on the end of an era. The notorious bachelor Eddie Munson is married. But how did it happen? Who did he fall for? Surprisingly enough, those questions were very hard to answer, despite Munson’s past predilection to be an open book. 

He has been uncharacteristically tight-lipped about his new beau. Tight enough for the majority of his fans to be just as shocked as the general public at the new announcement. Even so, Steve Harrington hasn’t managed to stay completely out of the public eye.

The thirty-three year old has a dismal social media presence, but lucky enough for us, his husband and sister are much more giving. Though Eddie’s Instagram and Twitter mentions of his husband were quickly found to be useless in getting to know the man, despite the number of posts associated with his name. It probably shouldn’t have been surprising, considering how they were nearly all nonsensical compliments, written straight from his stream of consciousness. 

His sister, Robin Buckley, was better, especially considering that she’s been using the same Instagram account since 2012. Through her, we received a little more insight on the man. He had a penance for camping and exercise, often ready and able to drag both his sister and husband with him. According to a Birthday celebration post in 2017 it was mentioned his favorite movie is The Thing (1986) and his favorite cake flavor was southern caramel. 

As for his own career, Robin’s BrotherBartender hashtag was of some use, at the least showing us that the man was capable of creating gorgeous drinks, with a long past career in bartending. But that was it, the only information that was up for grabs.

While the newly Steve Munson has been to a number of events with his husband, he still remains an enigma. The only thing his red carpet showings have proved was that the former Harrington was a master at directing attention away from himself, and his husband was incredibly protective of his privacy. There have been many interviews cut short due to questions he found unacceptable, which was a brand new behavior for the star. His days of being an open book are officially finished. 

But the plot thickens. 

While neither Steve nor Eddie are open for insight, a thorough background check did reveal some interesting information. Surprisingly enough, marrying a rockstar was not Mr. Buckley-Munson’s first experience with the upper echelon. 

Through anonymous inside sources we were able to find that the Harrington last name was familiar for a reason, outside of Steve. His parents, celebrity lawyer Richard Harrington, along with his estranged ex-wife, Adriana Harrington, made headlines in 2012 due to their contentious divorce.

For those not in the know, the two C-list celebrities are most well-known for their continued campaigns against the LGBTQ community, as well as Richard Harrington’s unsavory choice of clients. Harvey Weinstein, Jeffery Epstein, Mitch McConnell, along with his earlier aid work on the OJ Simpson trial. 

His mother, Adriana, while not directly working with some of the most despised men in the country, is famous in her own right. The fifty-one year old has nearly two hundred followers on Instagram, her posts consistently centering around the sanctity of marriage, pro-life advocacy, and bible quotes. 

With this in mind, it is extremely hard to see how their son ended up in not only a gay marriage, but with someone who is flagantly against every single thing they stand for. Though after reaching out to his parents for comment, the picture of how they came together becomes more clear. 

Richard Harrington initially denied all allegations of having any children with his previous wife, despite direct evidence to the contrary. That was until Adriana Harrington settled the score, posting a series of photos of what appeared to be a young Steve Harrington alongside his father. Along with a caption reading: It doesn't surprise me that a liar would lie about his own son. But unfortunately, yes, Steve Harrington was ours. 

Though when asked for clarification on her own relationship with their son, she did not hesitate to reiterate that she had no regrets regarding how their relationship ended. 

“While I wish Steven had taken the tough love he was given to improve himself, I can not say that I’m surprised that he has turned out this way. It’s unfortunate that his deviant behavior has escalated to the level of making a mockery out of the institution of marriage, but that is out of my control. All I can do is rest easy knowing I tried to give him the best life possible. Him throwing that chance away is not of my concern.”

It was an odd choice of phrasing, considering how “throwing” his life away equated to marrying a multi-millionaire. When asked just what tough love she was referring to, she clarified: 

“Steven was given a choice to get help for his affliction or be completely on his own. He chose to be completely on his own. Whatever happened after that choice is a reflection on him. Not me.”

Though when further pressed on just when Steven was given this “choice” she only mentioned that he was “of age” but admitted he was still a teenager at the time of his disownment. 

When asked for comment after Adriana’s claims, the Harrington firm provided the following information:

“Richard Harrington has not spoken to his alleged son, Steven Harrington, legal name Steve Buckley-Munson for nearly fifteen years. While his name is present on Mr. Munson’s birth certificate, the biological relationship between the two has never been confirmed. Considering Adriana Harrington’s past history of infidelity, it is quite likely that there is no actual relation between the two men.

With that acknowledged, Mr. Harrignton would like to reiterate that he has no ties to Steve Buckley-Munson, Edward Munson, Corroded Coffin, or their label Virgin Records. He is a dedicated family man whose loyalties lie with his new wife, his two beautiful young children, and his clients. Those areas are where his focus will always be, first and foremost.”

It is a wonder that such a well-matched duo could ever end in divorce. But their answers only led to more questions. How could Steve Buckley-Munson have a sister if he was disowned as a teenager?

From the last chapter of this (finished) fic!

[lizardsfromspace]

MAGA: "I can't wait for them to reveal the Epstein list! I can't wait for every liberal donor and celebrity to be revealed as a Epstein client!"

"We released the latest Epstein list. Here's all the right-wing donors and politicians on it."

MAGA: "Can't wait for them to release the real Epstein client list. Which is this one someone posted on Twitter that has red underlines under a bunch of words. That must mean they're especially bad!"

[originalistideas]

The fact that Dick Durbin blocked talks of revealing the #Epstein client list to the public is an easy red pill to send a normie today:

The only reason #democrats and many #Republicans are hiding Epstein’s #clientlist is because they and their puppet masters are complicit in Epstein’s crimes. It’s as simple as that.

Why don’t we oust #DickDurbin for aiding #humantrafficking?

[antidrumpfs]

Rumble, an extreme right-wing video-sharing platform that served as the official “live-streaming partner” of the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates, included an episode of The Conservative Podcast that is titled “The Earth is Flat and the Epstein Client list is REVEALED!” as one of its “editor picks.” 

During the February 23 video, one of the show’s co-hosts, Elan Brooks, pushed the flat Earth conspiracy theory, which has a track record of pushing its adherents toward other — often antisemitic — conspiracy theories. Media Matters found the video in the editor picks section on February 26.

[vomitdodger]

Additional info on this settlement from the article:

“The settlement means to stop the reputational damage that the bank is suffering, since among other disturbing revelations, it has been stated in court docs that one of its executive (later revealed to be Jes Staley) is accused of brutally raping the anonymous plaintiff ‘Jane Doe’ in Epstein’s Island.”

Need any more evidence why the client list has not been released? They all in on it.

[myangelgarden]

Location of the Epstein Client List REVEALED | Here is EXACTLY Who is Co...

[maslows-pyramid-scheme]

After weeks of speculation and anticipation, many of the names of former associates, employees, friends and victims of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released. ... Many of those whose names appear in the documents released Wednesday aren't accused of wrongdoing or have been mentioned previously in legal proceedings or news accounts. The documents released Wednesday are not an Epstein "client list." ... Nearly 90 names were included in the documents, with four redacted: 1. Ghislaine Maxwell 2. Virginia Lee Roberts Giuffre 3. Kathy Alexander 4. Miles Alexander 5. James Michael Austrich 6. Philip Barden 7. REDACTED 8. Cate Blanchett 9. David Boies 10. Laura Boothe 11. Evelyn Boulet 12. Rebecca Boylan 13. Joshua Bunner 14. Naomi Campbell 15. Carolyn Casey 16. Paul Cassell 17. Sharon Churcher 18. Bill Clinton 19. David Copperfield 20. Alexandra Cousteau 21. Cameron Diaz 22. Leonardo DiCaprio 23. Alan Dershowitz 24. Dr. Mona Devanesan 25. REDACTED 26. Bradley Edwards 27. Amanda Ellison 28. Cimberly Espinosa 29. Jeffrey Epstein 30. Annie Farmer 31. Marie Farmer 32. Alexandra Fekkai 33. Crystal Figueroa 34. Anthony Figueroa 35. Louis Freeh 36. Eric Gany 37. Meg Garvin 38. Sheridan Gibson-Butte 39. Robert Giuffre 40. Al Gore 41. Ross Gow 42. Fred Graff 43. Philip Guderyon 44. REDACTED 45. Shannon Harrison 46. Stephen Hawking 47. Victoria Hazel 48. Brittany Henderson 49. Brett Jaffe 50. Michael Jackson 51. Carol Roberts Kess 52. Dr. Karen Kutikoff 53. Peter Listerman 54. George Lucas 55. Tony Lyons 56. Bob Meister 57. Jamie A. Melanson 58. Lynn Miller 59. Marvin Minsky 60. REDACTED 61. David Mullen 62. Joe Pagano 63. Mary Paluga 64. J. Stanley Pottinger 65. Joseph Recarey 66. Michael Reiter 67. Jason Richards 68. Bill Richardson 69. Sky Roberts 70. Scott Rothstein 71. Forest Sawyer 72. Doug Schoetlle 73. Kevin Spacey 74. Cecilia Stein 75. Mark Tafoya 76. Brent Tindall 77. Kevin Thompson 78. Donald Trump 79. Ed Tuttle 80. Emma Vaghan 81. Kimberly Vaughan-Edwards 82. Cresenda Valdes 83. Anthony Valladares 84. Maritza Vazquez 85. Vicky Ward 86. Jarred Weisfeld 87. Courtney Wild 88. Bruce Willis 89. Daniel Wilson 90. Andrew Albert Christian Edwards, Duke of York

[badulescuradu14]

Shadow of Ezra: Elon Musk Says the Long Epstein Client List will be Exposed if Trump Wins

Elon Musk revealed to Tucker Carlson that if Trump wins, the long-anticipated Epstein client list will finally be exposed, striking fear into the hearts of many billionaires, including Bill Gates.Shadow of Ezra: Elon Musk Says the Long Epstein Client List will be Exposed if Trump Wins

[influencermagazineuk]

Elon Musk Urges FBI Probe Into Epstein Connections of Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has called for an FBI investigation into the connections between Jeffrey Epstein and prominent figures like Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman. Musk has been outspoken about what he perceives as a cover-up regarding the undisclosed list of celebrities linked to Epstein. “When is there not one – just one – even attempted prosecution of that Epstein (Bill Gates & Reid Hoffman come to mind) client list. Either FBI does their duty or the case for an entire departmental reset or abolishment is strong,” Musk wrote on X. Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Gates' Denial of Close Ties With Epstein In 2019, Bill Gates addressed his "association" with Epstein, telling The Wall Street Journal, "I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him." Despite this, Musk has continued to question the extent of Gates' interactions with Epstein. Epstein's Wide-Ranging Connections Recently released transcripts have shed more light on Epstein's activities and connections. Florida prosecutors knew about Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assaults on teenage girls two years before they agreed to a plea deal. The investigations revealed Epstein's close associations with several high-profile individuals, including former President Bill Clinton, Britain's Prince Andrew, and former President Donald Trump. All of these individuals have denied any criminal or improper actions and have not been charged. Details From the Transcripts The transcripts indicated that a grand jury heard testimony about Epstein raping teenage girls at his Palm Beach mansion. The teenagers testified that they were often given cash or rented cars if they brought more girls to Epstein. The call for an FBI probe by Musk aims to bring transparency and accountability to the unresolved issues surrounding Epstein's connections and client list. Read the full article

[tommychook]

Location of the Epstein Client List REVEALED | Here is EXACTLY Who is Co...

[teodorobeckseqv]

Jeffrey Epstein list: New documents reveal paedophile’s responses to sex trafficking claims

Epstein #EpsteinList #Epsteinadasi #Epstein Client List

Jeffrey Epstein list: New documents reveal paedophile’s responses to sex trafficking claims She answered yes and, when asked how many times, she said, "I can only remember once." When asked if there were any girls on the island at that time, Maxwell claimed, "There were no girls on the island at all. No girls, no women, other than the staff who work at the house." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/jeffrey-epstein-list-documents-latest-b2477302.html

[bghrhrtjytky]

“He’s Definitely On It” - Bill Clinton & Others Named As Jeffrey Epstein’s Client List is Revealed

[momentse]

Pizzagate, QAnon and the ‘Epstein List’: Why the Far Right Is Obsessed with Sex Trafficking

Aday before the so-called Epstein list was supposed to drop, far-right conspiracy theorists buzzed with excitement over the expectation that it would crucify prominent figures on the left for their involvement in sex trafficking. It’s a wildly popular notion in that world, where Pizzagate and QAnon fantasies run rampant.

The truth, of course, was far different: The material made public in federal court last week, with more now being released, wasn’t some kind of Jeffrey Epstein client list, as had been speculated online. It was actually documents from a court case filed by one of Epstein’s victims that did include people’s names, but provided little new information on whether they knew of or participated in Epstein’s heinous crimes.

To get a sense of why conspiracy theories centered on sex trafficking and pedophilia — and now the “Epstein list” — are so buzzy in MAGA circles, POLITICO Magazine called up Mike Rothschild, author of The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything and Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories.

Rothschild pointed to a toxic stew of age-old antisemitism; the worst incentives of today’s social media; and the right’s unending obsession with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump pops up in the documents, including some released on Monday, but that’s typically not a problem for his hard-core supporters. As with most conspiracy theories, adherents create their own reality.

“There’s nothing Trump can do that will lose these people’s loyalty,” Rothschild said. “Anything that is inconvenient, that alters their worldview, they’ll just ignore it, or they’ll make up some bizarre justification for it.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the conspiracy theories surrounding the so-called Epstein list?

The conspiracy theories are that this new release of documents is going to finally be the thing that brings down the elite trafficking cabal that’s been running the world for 6,000 years. There’s this perception that there’s been information that’s been held back by the courts or by politicians or the media, this is finally going to put everything out in the open.

And because I’ve studied these movements for so long, I know that these movements really revolve around this idea that there will be a document or a memo or a list or a recording. And that will finally be the thing that finally ends the evil grip of the New World Order, and it never does. They always move on to the next one.

A common misconception is that the list documented Epstein’s clients who partook in sexual acts with minors, but that’s not the case, right?

It’s not the case at all. It’s a dump of documents related to the case. It’s not the smoking gun that’s going to finally bring down all of these powerful ones. A lot of the information and many of the names that are being revealed in these documents have already been known. Some of them were redacted.

But so far, I don’t really think there’s much of anything that we’ve learned that really changes our perception of what Epstein did and kind of who in his orbit knew what, because we know a lot of that already. We know it because of tenacious reporting, and the courage of the accusers who have faced him.

Then why was there so much excitement for the list within MAGA circles online — especially when the list itself wasn’t even documentation of Epstein’s clients?

I think it really ties back to this industry of conspiracy theories about the Clintons. I think they really feel like this will be the thing that brings down Bill and Hillary Clinton. They’re still obsessed with the Clintons. And so anything that can serve as the final nail in their coffin, they’re going to rally around, even if, of course, Trump and a lot of the people around Trump are also implicated in all of these documents. They don’t care about that at all. It’s about the Clintons and the rest of the liberal establishment.

What is it about the Clintons that captivates far-right conspiracy theorists like this?

Part of it is that it’s already been three decades of this: The Clinton conspiracy industry started in the early 90s. It started with stuff like Whitewater, Travelgate, stuff that is ancient history now. But there was a really well-funded, very organized and popular effort to bring the Clintons down. And then of course, it resulted in the impeachment, it resulted in the dump truck full of conspiracies about Hillary Clinton when she ran for president. And even though they’re not really in the public eye much anymore, it’s so prolific that conspiracy theorists have stuck with them because they know what works. They’re just like a classic rock band playing the hits.

You wrote a book on QAnon. Based on your research, why are conservatives so obsessed with the theory that prominent left-wing figures like the Clintons are running pedophile rings? Where does that conspiracy theory originate from?

There’s always been a certain amount of salaciousness in these conspiracy theories, and there are theories going back about the awful sexual depravity of the Catholics or later on of the Jews. So you’re always going to find a certain amount of attention paid to any kind of conspiracy theory involving sexual proclivity of trafficking. And if it involves children, people immediately just lose their mind — even if these children don’t exist. There are no children who have been trafficked because of Pizzagate because Pizzgate isn’t real.

But if you just put out the suggestion there, it grabs ahold in a way that is difficult to dislodge. I think a lot of it has to do with antisemitism. I think a lot of it has to do with fear of the occult and Satanic panic. So you get all of these things that are mixed together: the anti-Jewish sentiment, the fear of Satanism. And, of course, now it extends to social media. So you have these powerful figures, in media, in politics, in culture, academia. It’s very easy to kind of put these people together as part of this vast conspiracy. And if there’s a conspiracy of them, well, they’re probably doing horrible things to children, too, because that’s what evil people do.

You’ve mentioned that all these conspiracy theories are connected. How does the Epstein saga fit into the broader ecosystem of far-right conspiracy theories, including QAnon and Pizzagate? Particularly when Epstein was never even a figure on the left?

The QAnon and Pizzagate people — they really have embraced Epstein as the most obvious example of these sort of high-level traffickings. Of course, with Epstein, a lot of it was true. He was doing these things, he was connected to this absolutely abhorrent behavior.

But part of what happens is we lose the ability to discern noise from signal. So you’re tarring as a pedophile anybody who had any kind of association with Epstein. And of course, most of the people who were associated with Epstein had nothing to do with what he was doing. Some of them may have known about it, some of them may have looked the other way. And they certainly have a lot of hard questions to answer about their associations with Epstein and what they knew. But just because a person had a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t make them part of sex trafficking rings. But it’s very easy to point at all of these people and say, “They’re all working together. They’re all hiding the same things. They’re all doing the same horrible things. And we’re the only people who will talk about it.”

Do you think if the Clintons weren’t involved, the “Epstein list” wouldn’t have blown up like this?

I really don’t think it would’ve. I don’t think it would have gotten quite the attention. I think there would have been some attention; you do have people in that world who are really obsessed with the idea of trafficking and Pizzagate and all that other stuff, but I think the Clinton connection is really what vaulted it into the stratosphere.

How did these people use the “Epstein list” as ammunition for their conspiracy theories, and how does the role of the internet factor into all this?

Internet is a huge part of it, and social media in particular. It spreads incredibly quickly, because it sounds believable and if you share it with some documents, it doesn’t matter if they’re real or not. The people who are passing this stuff around don’t care.

It’s very easy to spread these things around and very easy to ignore the parts of it that you don’t find to be palatable to your worldview, such as Donald Trump’s connections to it, and you play up the connections of people like Bill Clinton.

Do you see that misinformation about Epstein has been spreading more than other conspiracy theories?

I think it’s definitely spreading more. I think part of it is the fact that Twitter (now called X) has been so completely eviscerated as a source of truth. As soon as the documents came out, I started seeing fakes. And they were getting passed around by verified accounts with a million followers, who are making tons of ad money, because Elon Musk has completely eviscerated verification on Twitter. They have every incentive to pass fake documents along and if somebody says, “Oh, that’s not real,” who cares?

Disinformation and conspiracy theories spread so quickly and so readily on social media, while the rest of us are doing our research and writing our articles and doing our interviews, trying to figure out what this actually means. The people who believe this stuff have already decided what it means. And they don’t want to be told differently.

Twitter and people like Alex Jones and people like Steve Bannon, they have an alternative media ecosystem. These are not fringe people anymore. This is not the guy standing outside the football stadium waving a sign about the end is coming. This is a massive industry. You’ve got billions of dollars being pumped into misinformation, into these products, into these podcasts, into these books. It’s a job for a lot of these people, and they’re very good at it. They spread this stuff very quickly. They know it doesn’t matter whether it’s real or not, their audience doesn’t care.

Trump’s appearance in the documents unsettled some conservatives, like Alex Jones. Others like Jack Posobiec rushed to Trump’s defense by posting screenshots from the released court documents, claiming that Trump was exonerated. How does Trump’s presence here complicate the worldview of MAGA conspiracy theorists, especially those who thought Trump would save the nation from pedophiles?

It doesn’t complicate it at all. They just sweep it away. There’s nothing Trump can do that will lose these people’s loyalty. Whatever his involvement is, they just pretend it’s not there. Or they say, “Well, he was only there because he was getting information on Epstein to give to the FBI.” I saw tons of that early on in QAnon. The idea that there’s some sort of undercover sting operation. I’m like, really? I don’t think Donald Trump could stay quiet about that for five seconds. But you believe it, you talk yourself into it.

So it’s a lot like a lot of Trump’s other associations, and I write about this in my book on the Rothschilds. The Trump Taj Mahal was actually saved from bankruptcy by Rothschild Inc. Their bankruptcy guy was Wilbur Ross, who helped structure the deal that got the Taj Mahal out of bankruptcy. And, of course, Wilbur Ross later became Trump’s commerce secretary. You’ve never heard a peep about it from Trump believers, they just sweep it away. Anything that is inconvenient, that alters their worldview, they’ll just ignore it, or they’ll make up some bizarre justification for it.

With Epstein, we know how bad he was. And there may be some people who have a difficult time because they wind up in one of these documents. But ultimately, it’s not going to change that Epstein was a horrible person, and that it was people who were connected to Trump who helped him get out of prison the first time, that it was the incompetence of the jail that allowed him to take his own life. That is not going to change. There’s not going to be a document that completely alters our understanding of what happened.

What does it take to change the minds of conspiracy theorists, especially when it seems they’ll jump through all sorts of hoops in order to distort their reality for the sake of their own beliefs?

Most people will not change their mind. Most people will double down, they will show absolutely no interest in being wrong. For a lot of these people, that’s the worst thing that can happen. They have to go back to their friends and family and say, “You were right, I was wrong, and I’m an idiot.”

Sometimes it does happen. You will find people who have gotten out of movements like QAnon or have broken away from the hardcore Trump worship because they’ll read something or they’ll hear something that they just can’t reconcile with how they see the world. And once you find one thing that doesn’t work for you and these movements, you start to find more of them. I liken it to a tapestry where if you pull on one thread, the whole thing immediately unravels. But you have to want to pull on that thread, you have to prepare yourself for the possibility of it all, and you being left with a view that is completely collapsed. For a lot of people, that’s just too difficult. They just can’t handle it. So they just burrow into it more, and the more things go wrong, and the more predictions fail, and the more things don’t come true, the more they believe because they just have nowhere else to go.

#Epstein #EpsteinList #Epsteinadasi #EpsteinClientList 

[weotrarig]

Pizzagate, QAnon and the ‘Epstein List’: Why the Far Right Is Obsessed with Sex Trafficking

 

 

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/09/why-maga-is-obsessed-with-jeffrey-epstein-00134394

Aday before the so-called Epstein list was supposed to drop, far-right conspiracy theorists buzzed with excitement over the expectation that it would crucify prominent figures on the left for their involvement in sex trafficking. It’s a wildly popular notion in that world, where Pizzagate and QAnon fantasies run rampant.

The truth, of course, was far different: The material made public in federal court last week, with more now being released, wasn’t some kind of Jeffrey Epstein client list, as had been speculated online. It was actually documents from a court case filed by one of Epstein’s victims that did include people’s names, but provided little new information on whether they knew of or participated in Epstein’s heinous crimes.

To get a sense of why conspiracy theories centered on sex trafficking and pedophilia — and now the “Epstein list” — are so buzzy in MAGA circles, POLITICO Magazine called up Mike Rothschild, author of The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything and Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories.

Rothschild pointed to a toxic stew of age-old antisemitism; the worst incentives of today’s social media; and the right’s unending obsession with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump pops up in the documents, including some released on Monday, but that’s typically not a problem for his hard-core supporters. As with most conspiracy theories, adherents create their own reality.

“There’s nothing Trump can do that will lose these people’s loyalty,” Rothschild said. “Anything that is inconvenient, that alters their worldview, they’ll just ignore it, or they’ll make up some bizarre justification for it.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are the conspiracy theories surrounding the so-called Epstein list?

The conspiracy theories are that this new release of documents is going to finally be the thing that brings down the elite trafficking cabal that’s been running the world for 6,000 years. There’s this perception that there’s been information that’s been held back by the courts or by politicians or the media, this is finally going to put everything out in the open.

And because I’ve studied these movements for so long, I know that these movements really revolve around this idea that there will be a document or a memo or a list or a recording. And that will finally be the thing that finally ends the evil grip of the New World Order, and it never does. They always move on to the next one.

A common misconception is that the list documented Epstein’s clients who partook in sexual acts with minors, but that’s not the case, right?

It’s not the case at all. It’s a dump of documents related to the case. It’s not the smoking gun that’s going to finally bring down all of these powerful ones. A lot of the information and many of the names that are being revealed in these documents have already been known. Some of them were redacted.

But so far, I don’t really think there’s much of anything that we’ve learned that really changes our perception of what Epstein did and kind of who in his orbit knew what, because we know a lot of that already. We know it because of tenacious reporting, and the courage of the accusers who have faced him.

Then why was there so much excitement for the list within MAGA circles online — especially when the list itself wasn’t even documentation of Epstein’s clients?

I think it really ties back to this industry of conspiracy theories about the Clintons. I think they really feel like this will be the thing that brings down Bill and Hillary Clinton. They’re still obsessed with the Clintons. And so anything that can serve as the final nail in their coffin, they’re going to rally around, even if, of course, Trump and a lot of the people around Trump are also implicated in all of these documents. They don’t care about that at all. It’s about the Clintons and the rest of the liberal establishment.

What is it about the Clintons that captivates far-right conspiracy theorists like this?

Part of it is that it’s already been three decades of this: The Clinton conspiracy industry started in the early 90s. It started with stuff like Whitewater, Travelgate, stuff that is ancient history now. But there was a really well-funded, very organized and popular effort to bring the Clintons down. And then of course, it resulted in the impeachment, it resulted in the dump truck full of conspiracies about Hillary Clinton when she ran for president. And even though they’re not really in the public eye much anymore, it’s so prolific that conspiracy theorists have stuck with them because they know what works. They’re just like a classic rock band playing the hits.

You wrote a book on QAnon. Based on your research, why are conservatives so obsessed with the theory that prominent left-wing figures like the Clintons are running pedophile rings? Where does that conspiracy theory originate from?

There’s always been a certain amount of salaciousness in these conspiracy theories, and there are theories going back about the awful sexual depravity of the Catholics or later on of the Jews. So you’re always going to find a certain amount of attention paid to any kind of conspiracy theory involving sexual proclivity of trafficking. And if it involves children, people immediately just lose their mind — even if these children don’t exist. There are no children who have been trafficked because of Pizzagate because Pizzgate isn’t real.

But if you just put out the suggestion there, it grabs ahold in a way that is difficult to dislodge. I think a lot of it has to do with antisemitism. I think a lot of it has to do with fear of the occult and Satanic panic. So you get all of these things that are mixed together: the anti-Jewish sentiment, the fear of Satanism. And, of course, now it extends to social media. So you have these powerful figures, in media, in politics, in culture, academia. It’s very easy to kind of put these people together as part of this vast conspiracy. And if there’s a conspiracy of them, well, they’re probably doing horrible things to children, too, because that’s what evil people do.

You’ve mentioned that all these conspiracy theories are connected. How does the Epstein saga fit into the broader ecosystem of far-right conspiracy theories, including QAnon and Pizzagate? Particularly when Epstein was never even a figure on the left?

The QAnon and Pizzagate people — they really have embraced Epstein as the most obvious example of these sort of high-level traffickings. Of course, with Epstein, a lot of it was true. He was doing these things, he was connected to this absolutely abhorrent behavior.

But part of what happens is we lose the ability to discern noise from signal. So you’re tarring as a pedophile anybody who had any kind of association with Epstein. And of course, most of the people who were associated with Epstein had nothing to do with what he was doing. Some of them may have known about it, some of them may have looked the other way. And they certainly have a lot of hard questions to answer about their associations with Epstein and what they knew. But just because a person had a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t make them part of sex trafficking rings. But it’s very easy to point at all of these people and say, “They’re all working together. They’re all hiding the same things. They’re all doing the same horrible things. And we’re the only people who will talk about it.”

Do you think if the Clintons weren’t involved, the “Epstein list” wouldn’t have blown up like this?

I really don’t think it would’ve. I don’t think it would have gotten quite the attention. I think there would have been some attention; you do have people in that world who are really obsessed with the idea of trafficking and Pizzagate and all that other stuff, but I think the Clinton connection is really what vaulted it into the stratosphere.

How did these people use the “Epstein list” as ammunition for their conspiracy theories, and how does the role of the internet factor into all this?

Internet is a huge part of it, and social media in particular. It spreads incredibly quickly, because it sounds believable and if you share it with some documents, it doesn’t matter if they’re real or not. The people who are passing this stuff around don’t care.

It’s very easy to spread these things around and very easy to ignore the parts of it that you don’t find to be palatable to your worldview, such as Donald Trump’s connections to it, and you play up the connections of people like Bill Clinton.

Do you see that misinformation about Epstein has been spreading more than other conspiracy theories?

I think it’s definitely spreading more. I think part of it is the fact that Twitter (now called X) has been so completely eviscerated as a source of truth. As soon as the documents came out, I started seeing fakes. And they were getting passed around by verified accounts with a million followers, who are making tons of ad money, because Elon Musk has completely eviscerated verification on Twitter. They have every incentive to pass fake documents along and if somebody says, “Oh, that’s not real,” who cares?

Disinformation and conspiracy theories spread so quickly and so readily on social media, while the rest of us are doing our research and writing our articles and doing our interviews, trying to figure out what this actually means. The people who believe this stuff have already decided what it means. And they don’t want to be told differently.

Twitter and people like Alex Jones and people like Steve Bannon, they have an alternative media ecosystem. These are not fringe people anymore. This is not the guy standing outside the football stadium waving a sign about the end is coming. This is a massive industry. You’ve got billions of dollars being pumped into misinformation, into these products, into these podcasts, into these books. It’s a job for a lot of these people, and they’re very good at it. They spread this stuff very quickly. They know it doesn’t matter whether it’s real or not, their audience doesn’t care.

Trump’s appearance in the documents unsettled some conservatives, like Alex Jones. Others like Jack Posobiec rushed to Trump’s defense by posting screenshots from the released court documents, claiming that Trump was exonerated. How does Trump’s presence here complicate the worldview of MAGA conspiracy theorists, especially those who thought Trump would save the nation from pedophiles?

It doesn’t complicate it at all. They just sweep it away. There’s nothing Trump can do that will lose these people’s loyalty. Whatever his involvement is, they just pretend it’s not there. Or they say, “Well, he was only there because he was getting information on Epstein to give to the FBI.” I saw tons of that early on in QAnon. The idea that there’s some sort of undercover sting operation. I’m like, really? I don’t think Donald Trump could stay quiet about that for five seconds. But you believe it, you talk yourself into it.

So it’s a lot like a lot of Trump’s other associations, and I write about this in my book on the Rothschilds. The Trump Taj Mahal was actually saved from bankruptcy by Rothschild Inc. Their bankruptcy guy was Wilbur Ross, who helped structure the deal that got the Taj Mahal out of bankruptcy. And, of course, Wilbur Ross later became Trump’s commerce secretary. You’ve never heard a peep about it from Trump believers, they just sweep it away. Anything that is inconvenient, that alters their worldview, they’ll just ignore it, or they’ll make up some bizarre justification for it.

With Epstein, we know how bad he was. And there may be some people who have a difficult time because they wind up in one of these documents. But ultimately, it’s not going to change that Epstein was a horrible person, and that it was people who were connected to Trump who helped him get out of prison the first time, that it was the incompetence of the jail that allowed him to take his own life. That is not going to change. There’s not going to be a document that completely alters our understanding of what happened.

What does it take to change the minds of conspiracy theorists, especially when it seems they’ll jump through all sorts of hoops in order to distort their reality for the sake of their own beliefs?

Most people will not change their mind. Most people will double down, they will show absolutely no interest in being wrong. For a lot of these people, that’s the worst thing that can happen. They have to go back to their friends and family and say, “You were right, I was wrong, and I’m an idiot.”

Sometimes it does happen. You will find people who have gotten out of movements like QAnon or have broken away from the hardcore Trump worship because they’ll read something or they’ll hear something that they just can’t reconcile with how they see the world. And once you find one thing that doesn’t work for you and these movements, you start to find more of them. I liken it to a tapestry where if you pull on one thread, the whole thing immediately unravels. But you have to want to pull on that thread, you have to prepare yourself for the possibility of it all, and you being left with a view that is completely collapsed. For a lot of people, that’s just too difficult. They just can’t handle it. So they just burrow into it more, and the more things go wrong, and the more predictions fail, and the more things don’t come true, the more they believe because they just have nowhere else to go.