Trump told a court his Epstein 'letter' didn't exist. He lied.

There is so much bad news in the nation that it's stomach-churning. Everything is collapsing. Oh, and by the way the current president was pretty clearly a co-conspirator in a longtime child sex trafficking ring.

Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate have given Congress a copy of the birthday book put together for the financier’s 50th birthday, which includes a letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist. [...]

Lawyers for the co-executors of Epstein’s estate turned over a copy of the birthday book on Monday in response to a subpoena from Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chair of the House Oversight Committee. In a July 25 letter to the Epstein estate’s lawyers, Rep. Garcia and Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) had pressed the estate to release the book “to assist in bringing transparency and accountability.”

The drawing and strange pseudo-poem is exactly as it had previously been described in previous Journal reporting. It appears to depict a nude woman or child, over which Trump's text includes lines like "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey" and "Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?"

The second line of the text, "There must be more to life than having everything," appears reference a children's book by Maurice Sendak.

Trump had loudly insisted to everyone who would listen that there was no such drawing or letter, because he is an irredeemable liar. His top lieutenants eagerly spread that lie themselves. There will likely be no consequences for this among Trump's allies or base, since they are all depraved liars who already have agreed to back violent coup, sex trafficking, torture prisons, dozens of felonies, and at least one now-proven rape.

It should be especially noted, however, that Donald Trump lied outright to a U.S. court when denying that the letter existed. Trump filed suit against the Journal two months ago, insisting that they had fabricated the letter. In that case, Trump and his lawyers attested to the court:

[T]he "letter" is a "typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person." Indeed, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo provide a series of quotes from the nonexistent letter, claiming that the letter was written in the third person, beginning with a voice over interluding a conversation, followed by a purported dialogue between President Trump and Epstein—as if they were characters in a play.

We now can see that the Journal's characterization was entirely accurate; that the letter Trump claimed was "nonexistent" was handed over to Congress by Epstein's own estate. Trump make a false claim to a court.

You might, if you are over a certain age, recall that a Republican Congress attempted to impeach President Bill Clinton in the 1990's over evasive testimony Clinton provide a court. It was, Republicans asserted, a high crime and/or misdemeanor that required removing a president from office.

That was before a seemingly unending stream of Republican congressmen got exposed as serial adulterers, sex traffickers, and pedophiles, of course.

The immediate reaction by pro-Trump freaks and Nazis has been to claim that the document is "fake," which is to be expected from freaks and Nazis. It will be mildly more amusing to watch how Jesus-punchers like House Speaker Mike Johnson, who loudly defended Trump when the existence of the letter was first reported, backtrack now—or if they bother to. Johnson, in particular, appears to believe covering up Republican sex crimes is the major duty of his office.

There's really very little that can be said about any of this. The "President" is a gross old pervert and compulsive liar, and nobody anywhere has any reason at this point to not know that. At this point it would be almost comforting if the long-rumored "pee tape" depicting Trump and Russian prostitutes had been real, because even it would have been less repulsive than what we now know.

Donald Trump was "best friends" with the nation's most notorious and prolific child molester and sex trafficker. He wrote a letter that by all appearances seems to reference and endorse that abuse, drawn over a seemingly underage torso, while now claiming that he knew nothing of his "best friend's" crimes and never writing such a letter.

He lied, of course. But at this point it's becoming increasingly implausible to argue that Trump was not an active participant in the abuse—as some accusers have come forward to allege.

We need to start taking those accusations far more seriously. And we need to treat the Republican Party as what they are: Co-conspirators in everything Trump has done, from renditions to violent coup to these cover ups. It is a crime ring masquerading as a party.