Edward Jay Epstein's curious defense of Jeffrey Epstein

[Richard Booth]

This piece is from The Daily Beast, so it requires a subscription to read. However you can read the full piece via Archive[dot]org here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191014211511/https://www.thedailybeast.com/edward-jay-epstein-yet-another-journalist-who-accepted-favors-from-jeffrey-epstein

Considering Edward Jay Epstein's previous choices of friends (James Angleton) it shouldn't be too surprising that he's a longtime friend of Jeffrey Epstein

Also consider that Edward Jay Epstein was an assistant to Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote Lolita, a book about a pedophile. 

Makes you wonder about Edward Jay Epstein...

Some excerpts:

“Look, take this about Jeffrey. He is the poster boy for rehabilitation. He went to prison [after pleading guilty to reduced charges in 2008]. He served his term [13 months, nine of them on work-release that allowed him daytime visits to his Palm Beach, Florida, office]. He got out. The U.S. attorney’s office said he stuck completely to the terms of his parole. He registered as a sex offender—which is no fun, but which was something he was supposed to do. And he made $500 million."

"I’m not sure he destroyed their lives,” Edward said. “He paid them money, and they went on for six or seven years giving him massages. I don’t know if that destroyed their lives. Getting a massage or getting a girl to masturbate you doesn’t necessarily destroy your life."

"I think it’s a terrible thing, and a stupid thing, and a perverse thing, to have any sex with underage girls…I don’t believe many of the stories about Glenn Dubin, Prince Andrew—I don’t believe that they’re stupid enough, if they knew the girl was underage, why would anyone? You could be compromised, you could be blackmailed, especially by Jeffrey. Bill Clinton? They’d have to be out of their minds."

"Edward recounted how he used a computer program Jeffrey had provided him to browse through Jeffrey’s financial transactions"

(Edward Jay Epstein had access to Jeffrey Epstein's financial records? What?)

“I never disliked Jeffrey, by the way,” Edward said. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Richard Booth

[Guest]

It’s certainly an interesting article, Richard, but, very unlikely an honest reflection of truth. 

Honeypot snare... 

[Richard Booth]

3 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said:

It’s certainly an interesting article, Richard, but, very unlikely an honest reflection of truth. 

Honeypot snare... 

There are a couple of telling things in the piece. He knew Jeffrey Epstein for over 20 years and apparently was close enough with him to have direct access to Jeffrey Epstein's financial records:

"Edward recounted how he used a computer program Jeffrey had provided him to browse through Jeffrey’s financial transactions"

Birds of a feather flock together... These are two people most certainly connected to intelligence

[James DiEugenio]

Edward Epstein is a really painful case to try and figure.

[Richard Booth]

11 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

Edward Epstein is a really painful case to try and figure.

I suspect that he was the IC's first controlled opposition asset. I don't think he ever was on the side of truth.

I strongly suspect that one purpose of Epstein's meetings with George DeMohrenschildt were for the purposes of ascertaining how much George D might say to a potential writer (with Epstein doing this on behalf of the CIA) and that George's death was, in part, a direct result of some things he said. 

It's interesting that Epstein was willing to pay George $4,000 for an interview, and then turns around and claims he has no notes or recordings of that interview.

It's also interesting that Epstein seemed to send George a warning, in showing DeMohrenschildt a document that suggested he might be taken back to Parkland Hospital and given more electro-convulsive treatments. 

Edited March 28, 2021 by Richard Booth

[Guest]

Wasn't Roy Cohn involved in compromising people before the Epstein era in a similar way? 

[Richard Booth]

2 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said:

Wasn't Roy Cohn involved in compromising people before the Epstein era in a similar way? 

Well, blackmail is something as old as time itself.

But yeah, Cohn was a sociopath who included blackmail in his repertoire that included extortion, threats, witness tampering, you name it.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Richard Booth said:

Well, blackmail is something as old as time itself.

But yeah, Cohn was a sociopath who included blackmail in his repertoire that included extortion, threats, witness tampering, you name it.

In a sexual way. I am sure I read that somewhere, that Cohn was a facilitator of that. There was obviously that whole era with hotels in Palm Springs with cameras behind mirrors etc. It seemed to me that Jeffrey Epstein was a modern facilitator of that, get important people to private parties and put them in compromising situations. Then call favours in, like J Edgar Hoover did. Clinton must have been an easy target. 

[Richard Booth]

1 minute ago, Chris Barnard said:

In a sexual way. I am sure I read that somewhere, that Cohn was a facilitator of that. There was obviously that whole era with hotels in Palm Springs with cameras behind mirrors etc. It seemed to me that Jeffrey Epstein was a modern facilitator of that, get important people to private parties and put them in compromising situations. Then call favours in, like J Edgar Hoover did. Clinton must have been an easy target. 

J. Edgar Hoover did it, the KGB did it, pretty much par for the course, right? 

I suspect Jeffrey Epstein had a great deal of compromising material and my suspicion is he was working not for himself but for a professional organization, and he was merely a facilitator of an ongoing program that was integrated with his lifestyle. At some point, Epstein's own lifestyle became a liability for the people who ran the program.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Richard Booth said:

J. Edgar Hoover did it, the KGB did it, pretty much par for the course, right? 

I suspect Jeffrey Epstein had a great deal of compromising material and my suspicion is he was working not for himself but for a professional organization, and he was merely a facilitator of an ongoing program that was integrated with his lifestyle. At some point, Epstein's own lifestyle became a liability for the people who ran the program.

I agree. It's the only way I can begin to explain the mysteries about his circumstances and wealth, he was getting 'a pass' for a long time. He became a liability. 

[Joseph McBride]

I read that Richard Condon was supposedly influenced

in part by Roy Cohn in creating the monstrous mother

figure who controls the Joe McCarthy character in

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, my favorite novel.

[Pamela Brown]

2 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

I read that Richard Condon was supposedly influenced

in part by Roy Cohn in creating the monstrous mother

figure who controls the Joe McCarthy character in

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, my favorite novel.

I saw that movie in Edinburgh in early 1963.  It was so shockingly real I had nightmares.  I am still deeply moved when I re-watch it.  Incredible plot and performances...

[Pamela Brown]

I have never trusted Edward Epstein. I didn't like his books either.  I could sense that something was off, though I didn't know just what it was. 

The final straw for me was his connection to the death of George de Mohrenschildt...

https://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diary/dem.htm

[James DiEugenio]

If you read John Kelin's fine book on the early critics, Praise from a Future Generation,  you will see that Epstein was invited to a debate in I think Boston in late 1966.

He was to argue against the WR.  He declined the invite.  So the promoters called Salandria.  Salandria accepted knowing Epstein had declined.

But, to his surprise, when the debate started, Vince noticed Epstein was there in the crowd.  During a break, Epstein approached him and Vince asked him why he was there if he was not going to debate. Epstein said words to the effect that he had changed. VInce asked him if he had made a deal to which Vince said Epstein agreed.  Epstein then went over to the other table and spent most of the break with the likes of Jacob Cohen.

So we have good evidence that Epstein had gone over by 1966.  But I agree with Richard, there is the distinct possibility he was a plant from the beginning.

BTW, I agree with Pamela The Manchurian Candidate was way ahead of its time. Even though it was a good cast, I thought Angela Lansbury stole the picture. I think its Frankenheimer's best film.  (I say that because The Iceman Cometh is really a filmed version of a great play.)

Edited March 29, 2021 by James DiEugenio

[Joseph McBride]

Oddly credible, not "incredible" is how I would describe THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

We know about MK-ULTRA.