Jeffrey Epstein, former financier, sex pervert, and friend of President Trump, “committed suicide” in 2019. But as one report says, he’s “returned from the dead to haunt Donald Trump …” Trump should remember the main lesson of the Watergate caper—the coverup can be worse than the crime—and reveal everything he knows, and every document on Epstein his administration has, NOW.
President Trump is on a roll. He’s returned to the White House in the greatest comeback in American political history. He’s secured the passage of his “Big Beautiful Bill” and signed it into law. He’s extracted promises from our NATO allies to begin paying more for their defense and for our defense of them. He’s effectively stopped Iran’s progress toward developing nuclear weapons, at least for the time being. And, at long last, he’s beginning to see Vladimir Putin’s evil and moving to giving more support to Ukraine.
But Trump’s progress in creating a successful administration could be slowed and possibly stopped by the growing controversy over his relationship with the late and unlamented Jeffrey Epstein. He needs to fully disclose everything he knows, and every document his administration has, which can shed light on what he knew and what he did with, to, for, and about Epstein.
Why Epstein still matters should be obvious. His known sexual escapades prove he was truly evil. We the People have both the right and the need to know whether Trump was complicit in Epstein’s evildoing, with the all-important caveat that both justice and basic fairness require that Trump be presumed innocent of any wrongdoing unless proven otherwise.
A policy of full disclosure is Trump’s best and most effective way to banish Epstein’s ghost once and for all. Otherwise he and the productive members of his administration will find their time and energy consumed by efforts to fend off media and congressional efforts to investigate his relationship with Epstein. As I’ve written before, Trump will be impeached by the House of Representatives should the Democrats win a majority of seats in 2026. On what grounds they’ll impeach Trump remain to be seen. But unresolved issues relating to Epstein will add fuel to the bonfire the Democrats will light.
And the public—not to mention professional conspiracy mongers of the sort that produced birther and truther nonsense—will be left to let their imaginations run wild with speculation of the most sordid type: What did Trump know of Epstein’s perfidy? When did he know it? What did he do about it, if anything? And what, if anything, did Epstein have on Trump? Those who inhabit the fever swamps of the lunatic left and the radical right will not hesitate to offer the most lurid possible answers to these questions.
The dangers Trump may face are perhaps best illustrated by the Watergate affair and the downfall of Richard Nixon. To this day, no credible or conclusive evidence that Richard Nixon ever authorized or even new in advance of the “third rate burglary” of the Democratic National Headquarters in 1972 has ever been produced. Indeed, what the Watergate burglars hoped to find remains unclear. But despite the absence of any known link to the crime, Nixon nonetheless ordered the coverup, and it was for the coverup, and not for the crime itself, that he would have been impeached and removed had he not resigned first. Trump should take heed of Nixon’s example.
And Trump should also heed the advice of then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover gave President Warren Harding in 1923. Harding had solicited Hoover’s advice on what to do about scandals Harding had discovered in his administration, including instances of embezzlement, bribery, and extortion. Hoover told Harding to take the initiative and expose the scandals himself, and thereby take credit for honesty in fighting corruption. The fact that Harding died before he could take Hoover’s advice in no way diminishes the quality of the device itself.
So Trump should learn from Richard Nixon’s example and follow Herbert Hoover’s advice. He should tell everything he knows about his relationship with Epstein, and he should direct his top Justice Department officials—Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino—to release whatever documents they have, or at least explain why they said they had those documents, and why they now deny their existence. Full disclosure is the best way to avoid further controversy, investigations, and possibly impeachment. This assumes, of course, that Trump has nothing to hide.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018 and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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