What's in the Epstein files that has Trump so afraid?

On Tuesday, House Democrats released a series of letters and emails concerning Donald Trump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee released 20,000 documents. It seems increasingly likely that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is going to be overwhelmed by defectors as the vote to release the full files approaches.

The emails that have been released indicate that Trump was still associating with Epstein while in the White House—long after he had previously claimed. Comments from Epstein also indicate that Trump was well aware of what was happening and covered up Epstein's activities.

“I want you to realise that the dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him… he has never once been mentioned.” — email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell.

And then there's the letter Epstein sent to a reporter offering "photos of Donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?"

It's worth noting that this email went to a New York Times reporter in 2015, shortly after Trump descended the golden escalator and announced his candidacy. And the NYT responded by ... never mentioning it. Trump biographer Michael Wolff also claims to have seen some of these photos, but did not include this information in his books on the first Trump administration.

Even if those photos are real and haven't already met the same fate as the man who offered them, would they really be enough to make a difference? What can possibly be in the files that might be enough to, if not "take him down", as Epstein claimed, at least wake some portion of the public from their Trump worship?

From the moment Donald Trump entered politics, it seemed there was something, something just hanging on the horizon, that would surely spell an end to his disgusting presence on the American stage.

There was the Access Hollywood video in which Trump explained how he "did try to f*ck" a woman he knew was married and how "when you're a star they let you do anything," including "grab them by the pussy." Then Trump went on to win the 2016 election.

There was the report prepared by a Republican-led Senate finding that Trump's campaign had more than 100 contacts with Russian agents, creating a "grave threat" to national security. That investigation was chaired by the man who is now Trump's Secretary of State.

Then there was Trump's first impeachment over a phone call in which he tried to hold Ukraine hostage unless Volodymyr Zelensky would provide false testimony against Joe Biden. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to even hold a trial.

There was the long investigation led by Robert Mueller that ended with Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein deciding that there was "not enough evidence to prove Trump had obstructed justice" despite hundreds of pages documenting that he had.

Then there was January 6, and a second impeachment, which seemed like a sure bet ... except that Republicans claimed that impeaching the man behind a failed coup would be "divisive."

There was Trump's theft of classified documents that was described as a "slam dunk case" ... until investigator Jack Smith chose to prosecute the case in South Florida, ensuring that it would go before Trump sycophant Judge Aileen Cannon and be delayed into nonexistence.

There were Trump's 34 felony convictions in New York. There were the state charges in Georgia (where a new prosecutor took over this morning). There was the other half of the case brought by Smith, then dropped after months of delay.

Trump may not yet have demonstrated that he can "shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue" without losing a vote, but it has to be tempting. Especially since he's demonstrated he can murder innocent fishermen over and over for his amusement.

So what the hell could be in the Jeffrey Epstein files that makes Trump so frightened?

So frightened that, as Hunter reported yesterday, Pam Bondi's Department of Justice trolls dragged Rep. Lauren Boebert into the highly secured White House Situation Room in an effort to get America's biggest theater fan to take her name off the discharge petition?

No matter how many times White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-lago because he was "a pedophile," we know it's not true. We know that Trump wasn't concerned about the sex trafficker's dealings with underage girls. We know this because Trump has bragged about his own ability to sneak into the dressing room and peek at naked teenagers.

And we know because Trump himself explained that he booted Epstein because of a dispute over spa workers.

"People were taken out of the spa—hired by him—in other words, gone. And other people would come and complain, 'This guy is taking people from the spa. I didn't know that. And then when I heard about it, I told him, I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa, I don't want them taking people.' And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, 'Out of here.'"

One of those spa workers may have been Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year after becoming an advocate for sex trafficking survivors. Asked if Giuffre was among those workers at the center of his rift with Epstein, Trump's response was not exactly exculpatory.

"I don't know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever."

In addressing the emails leaked by Democrats on Monday, Levitt merged her previous statements with those of Trump—and added Giuffre's name.

"The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre."

Giuffre would have been 16 when working at the Mar-a-lago spa. An infamous photo shows her with Epstein and [formerly] Prince Andrew when she was 17.

Epstein seemed to believe that the wedge between himself and Trump was connected to a real estate deal in which a "broke" Trump somehow came up with $41 million to outbid Epstein for a Palm Beach mansion, which Trump later sold to a Russian oligarch. While less overtly shocking, this suggests that there might be something else hiding in the files other than just Trump's knowledge of, or participation in, sexual assaults on underage girls. The files may also have additional information about Trump's finances and connections to Russia.

No one seems to know where Epstein's money came from, but maybe Epstein had some knowledge about who was topping off Trump's empty coffers.

Whatever is in there, Trump clearly doesn't want it exposed. Earlier this month, DOJ officials reportedly had some whispered meetings with House Republicans.

Worse than photos of Trump cavorting with topless underage girls? But of course, Trump already bragged about doing exactly that with the Miss Teen USA contestants, and no one seemed to blink.

It's astounding that, after everything we've seen over the last decade, there could still be something in these files that scares Trump. But what will really be shocking is if it's still there when the files are finally released.