President Trump headed to the United Kingdom this week for a visit with the nation’s leader, King Charles, as well as to preside over various transatlantic business deal announcements, including some notable deals involving Microsoft and OpenAI. He was greeted by the British leadership but, also, by something else: various pictures of him with his former friend, dead financier and sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. The images were projected on Windsor Castle by a group of protesters.
The stunt, which apparently involved a very powerful projector, is said to have been carried out by an activist group called Led by Donkeys. Reuters reports that four people were arrested on Tuesday after the images were projected onto the royal castle.
A spokesperson for the group told The Guardian that this was the first time any of their members had been arrested for a stunt. “We’ve done, I reckon, 25 or 30 projections since we’ve been going. Often the police come along and we have a chat to them, and they even have a laugh with us and occasionally tell us to not do it,” they said. “But no one’s ever been arrested before, so it is ridiculous that four of our guys have been arrested for malicious communications.” The person added: “Forgive the cliche, but it is rather Orwellian for a piece of journalism, which raises questions about our guest’s relationship with America’s most notorious child sex trafficker to lead to arrests.”
The spokesperson further clarified what the group was trying to say with its stunt: “Trump is being welcomed to our country, being given the unique honour of a second state visit, and it’s being housed at our expense at Windsor Castle,” they said. “This is like The Emperor’s New Clothes – you’ve got to point at it and say, ‘Hang on. You know, this guy has incredibly close links to America’s most notorious child sex trafficker. We probably need to talk about that.’ And so we decided to build a film that would tell that story.”
Only a week or so ago, the Epstein scandal was an ever-growing problem for the Trump administration. On Sept. 8th, House Democrats released documents related to a supposed “birthday book” compiled for Epstein on his 50th birthday. The book, which is said to have been put together by friends and relatives, included a notorious letter that is alleged to have been written and signed by Trump. The book, whose release spurred widespread conspiracy theories online, was accompanied by a flood of press coverage, followed by renewed calls for additional congressional probes into the dead financier and his associates.
Then Charlie Kirk, the rightwing influencer, was assassinated in Utah, and the entire news cycle shifted. However, as furor over Kirk’s death has come to dominate the headlines and the national conversation, Congressional dealings related to Epstein have continued in the background. This week, former Attorney General William P. Barr, who served during Trump’s first term in office (and who was AG when Epstein died in federal prison in 2019), testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. During his deposition, Barr said he believed that Epstein had, indeed, killed himself, and not been murdered, as conspiracy theories and Epstein’s own brother have alleged. The transcript for Barr’s testimony was released online.
On the same day that Kirk died, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) also called for Congress to investigate the financial ties between Epstein and a host of financial organizations and people, including tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said that critical information about Epstein’s web of financial influence could be found in documents being held by the Treasury Department.
Meanwhile, a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week featured FBI director Kash Patel, who made some claims about the scandal that raised eyebrows. The New Republic notes that, during his testimony, Patel seemed to throw cold water on the idea that there was some sort of wider conspiracy involving Epstein:
Republican Senator John Kennedy asked: “Who, if anyone, did Epstein traffic these young women to, besides himself?”
“Himself,” Patel quickly answered. “There is no credible information, none. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals. And the information that we have—again—is limited.”
“So, the answer is no one?” asked Kennedy, somewhat incredulously.
“For the information that we have,” Patel replied, clarifying that he meant the Epstein files. The FBI director also admitted that he hadn’t actually done the reading. “I have not reviewed the entirety of [the Epstein files] myself, but a good amount,” he said.
As The New Republic notes, Patel’s claim that Epstein did not traffic women to other people would appear to directly contradict what some of his accusers have claimed.
The Epstein scandal has troubled the U.K. too. Last week, the British government fired its ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson, after his ties to Epstein were highlighted via the “birthday book.” Inside the creepy tome, Mandelson had apparently left a note for the dead financier, referring to him as “my best pal.” Mandelson’s ties to Epstein were already known. Two years ago, released emails indicated that, in 2009, Mandelson had stayed at Epstein’s New York townhouse while the billionaire was in prison for soliciting a minor. The emails also showed that Epstein referred to Mandelson as “Petie” and that the two had “a particularly close relationship.”
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