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                    "Politics\n\n  We Finally Know Why Trump Has Tried So Hard to Hide the Epstein Files\n\nA new report describes Donald Trump as an \u201cactive participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women.\u201d\n\n      \n    \n\n        \n      \n  \nJeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 22, 1997. \nDavidoff Studios/Getty Images\n\n\n\n    \n  \n\n  \n      \n\n\n      \n\n    \n          Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.\n\n\n  One of the biggest mysteries of Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office is why, exactly, he is so touchy about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who is now dead but whose crimes as a child sex predator and shady financier are still unraveling. You\u2019d think the MAGA base would be eager to get to the bottom of this: This slice of the GOP has long been obsessed with pedophiles, mingling with the QAnon movement during Trump\u2019s first term in conspiracy-mongering about an outlandish (and untrue) Democratic pedophile ring run out of a D.C. pizza restaurant, with children being sex-trafficked in Wayfair cabinets. In the lead-up to Trump\u2019s second term, they latched onto a case with actual evidence to back it up: Epstein, and the scores of girls he was accused of grooming, assaulting, and trafficking to the men in his orbit. Trump supporters rallied around a demand to release the Epstein files, millions of documents held by the FBI that Epstein watchers suspected may further incriminate not only him but many other powerful people as well. Members of the Trump administration pledged full transparency and the full release of the files; meanwhile, Trump himself said he had no role here and that the files totally exonerated him from any wrongdoing. And yet the full files remain unreleased, hidden from public view by the Trump administration\u2019s own FBI and Department of Justice as rumors swirled.\n\n  \n\n  Now we understand why Trump didn\u2019t want them released. Just a week before the midterm elections, which are already shaping up to be a bloodbath for the GOP, Democrats have dropped a bombshell. \u201cA growing body of evidence demonstrates that Donald Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s,\u201d states a just-released report from the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee. Additionally, they claim that Trump has leveraged his FBI and DOJ to cover up the evidence, and have now called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any potential wrongdoing.\n\n  The report is stunning. While many of the accusations were previously publicized, the stories have been a drip-drip of allegations; putting them all together in a single report has the effect of connecting a network of abusers, giving a reader a bird\u2019s-eye view of how predatory men allegedly worked together to traffic and assault women and girls. And at the heart of the Democrats\u2019 argument is corruption. After all, this same administration has turned self-dealing into an art form, and has enriched the president to the tune of billions of dollars, all while engaging in a staggering cover-up to protect powerful men who abuse vulnerable girls. And one of those powerful men, they say, was the president himself.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n    \n\n\n  Five women, four of them named and one anonymous, claim they were victimized by Epstein and that Trump also raped or sexually assaulted them. Part of the scheme allegedly revolved around Elite Model Management, run by John Casablancas, who was a friend of both Epstein\u2019s and Trump\u2019s. Many of the models recruited by Elite as underage girls say that they were raped or otherwise assaulted by Casablancas and others, and were also given to Epstein, who sexually assaulted them as well. Casablancas partnered with Trump to create Elite\u2019s Look of the Year competition; the competitors were girls aged 14 to 19. According to the report, Casablancas met his third wife at Trump\u2019s Look of the Year competition\u2014a girl who was just 16, though he was in his 50s. The models recruited by Casablancas were trotted out at various events and parties with Trump and often Epstein, including at Mar-a-Lago. A second man, Paolo Zampolli, also worked as a modeling agent who allegedly recruited women and girls for Epstein; he was close friends with Trump and even served in the Trump administration as special envoy for global partnerships until earlier this year. He is also the agent who recruited Slovenian model Melania Knauss, helping with her housing and immigration status; he claims he\u2019s the one who introduced her to her future husband. Some others dispute this, claiming that Epstein was the one who made the introduction (the Trumps deny this).\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Just as damning as the allegations of sexual assault are those of a cover-up. In one startling interview between Attorney General Todd Blanche (who formerly served as Trump\u2019s personal attorney and defense lawyer before taking over the Justice Department) and Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell seems poised to discuss details of one woman\u2019s accusations against Trump, until Blanche interrupts her, instructing her, \u201cLet\u2019s not talk about individuals\u201d and repeating that he doesn\u2019t want to \u201cget into\u201d a \u201che said, she said\u201d or whatever it is she\u2019s about to disclose. This behavior, the Democrats who wrote the report allege, \u201cpotentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding\u2014serious felonies.\u201d The report also proffers evidence to refute Trump\u2019s claim that he didn\u2019t know Epstein well and had banished him from Mar-a-Lago because of his behavior toward girls and women.\n\n  \n\n\n  According to White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis, \u201cNone of these allegations are true. This \u2018report\u2019 is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump\u2019s historic achievements.\u201d She added that \u201cthe President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep.\u201d\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Regardless of this denial, the demand for an appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump\u2013Epstein ties and any possible cover-up is well overdue. Survivors deserve to see accountability. The public deserves the truth. And the release of the report a week before the midterm is savvy politics. If there\u2019s one issue that unites Americans from left to right, it\u2019s that Epstein was a world-class scumbag, and his death was unfortunate only insofar as it meant he never truly saw justice. I suspect that most Americans would agree that anyone else who enabled Epstein or engaged in crimes with him should be named, shamed, and potentially prosecuted\u2014no matter what side of the political aisle they sit on. But so far, the Trump administration has stymied efforts to do just that. That should be a scandal itself, but it turns out it might also be a much darker red flag about why the administration won\u2019t investigate. Democrats are smart to point that out.\n\n  \n\n\n  If there really was nothing to see in the Epstein files, you\u2019d think that the Trump administration would release them and call it a big win, especially at a moment when they\u2019re down and out. Cost of living remains unaffordable for many Americans, while the president who promised no more foreign wars is engaged in a spectacularly stupid conflict of choice with Iran, leaving American taxpayers footing the bill. It is objectively strange\u2014and obviously suspicious\u2014that the Trump administration isn\u2019t using everything it can to distract from the unpopular reality it\u2019s created for voters.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n  The Epstein files remain one of the most captivating and conspiracy-fueling issues precisely because so much secrecy still surrounds them. And why? The man at the center of the criminal enterprise is dead. His second-in-command is in prison. Many prominent men have already been publicly embarrassed by their ties to Epstein. The continued withholding of the files and the smearing of anyone who demands their release, and the stonewalling of any investigation into why they have not been released, simply stinks. And it reinforces Americans\u2019 cynicism with government and sense that everyone in power is inherently corrupt. Unfortunately, too many people see Trump as simply more of the same, rather than an aberrant figure who makes a mockery of American democracy and who must not just be ousted but ostracized and his party, co-conspirators, and enablers condemned.\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n  Part of the problem with the stories of Epstein, Trump, and the corruption all come down to the same thing: The bit-by-bit release of information has created a long record of abhorrent behavior, which means that the bar to shock is so high it\u2019s almost impossible to clear. There is a kind of disgust fatigue at play: Yeah, we know Epstein was a disgusting sex predator, and that some of the men around him probably partook too; what\u2019s new? Those who are ideologically motivated to believe Trump at all costs are also probably motivated to believe him on Epstein too; very little seems like it would change the minds of hardcore MAGA adherents.\n\n  But persuading hardcore MAGA adherents isn\u2019t the task at hand. Persuading the persuadable is; so is restoring dignity and accountability to the office of the presidency. Neither of those tasks is fully completed by finally, fully, and transparently investigating Epstein and the Trump administration\u2019s treatment of the case. But it would be a good and necessary start. And if this administration refuses\u2014and it seems primed to refuse the appointment of a special counsel\u2014voters should let the administration know what they think about that at the polls next week.\n\n  \n\n  \n\n\n\n      \n\n            \n              Democrats\n            \n          \n            \n              Donald Trump\n            \n          \n            \n              Republicans\n            \n          \n            \n              Sexual Assault\n            \n          \n            \n              Women\n            \n          \n            \n              Jeffrey Epstein"
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                    "Politics\n\n  We Finally Know Why Trump Has Tried So Hard to Hide the Epstein Files\n\nA new report describes Donald Trump as an \u201cactive participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women.\u201d\n\n      \n    \n\n        \n      \n  \nJeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 22, 1997. \nDavidoff Studios/Getty Images\n\n\n\n    \n  \n\n  \n      \n\n\n      \n\n    \n          Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.\n\n\n  One of the biggest mysteries of Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office is why, exactly, he is so touchy about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who is now dead but whose crimes as a child sex predator and shady financier are still unraveling. You\u2019d think the MAGA base would be eager to get to the bottom of this: This slice of the GOP has long been obsessed with pedophiles, mingling with the QAnon movement during Trump\u2019s first term in conspiracy-mongering about an outlandish (and untrue) Democratic pedophile ring run out of a D.C. pizza restaurant, with children being sex-trafficked in Wayfair cabinets. In the lead-up to Trump\u2019s second term, they latched onto a case with actual evidence to back it up: Epstein, and the scores of girls he was accused of grooming, assaulting, and trafficking to the men in his orbit. Trump supporters rallied around a demand to release the Epstein files, millions of documents held by the FBI that Epstein watchers suspected may further incriminate not only him but many other powerful people as well. Members of the Trump administration pledged full transparency and the full release of the files; meanwhile, Trump himself said he had no role here and that the files totally exonerated him from any wrongdoing. And yet the full files remain unreleased, hidden from public view by the Trump administration\u2019s own FBI and Department of Justice as rumors swirled.\n\n  \n\n  Now we understand why Trump didn\u2019t want them released. Just a week before the midterm elections, which are already shaping up to be a bloodbath for the GOP, Democrats have dropped a bombshell. \u201cA growing body of evidence demonstrates that Donald Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s,\u201d states a just-released report from the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee. Additionally, they claim that Trump has leveraged his FBI and DOJ to cover up the evidence, and have now called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any potential wrongdoing.\n\n  The report is stunning. While many of the accusations were previously publicized, the stories have been a drip-drip of allegations; putting them all together in a single report has the effect of connecting a network of abusers, giving a reader a bird\u2019s-eye view of how predatory men allegedly worked together to traffic and assault women and girls. And at the heart of the Democrats\u2019 argument is corruption. After all, this same administration has turned self-dealing into an art form, and has enriched the president to the tune of billions of dollars, all while engaging in a staggering cover-up to protect powerful men who abuse vulnerable girls. And one of those powerful men, they say, was the president himself.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n    \n\n\n  Five women, four of them named and one anonymous, claim they were victimized by Epstein and that Trump also raped or sexually assaulted them. Part of the scheme allegedly revolved around Elite Model Management, run by John Casablancas, who was a friend of both Epstein\u2019s and Trump\u2019s. Many of the models recruited by Elite as underage girls say that they were raped or otherwise assaulted by Casablancas and others, and were also given to Epstein, who sexually assaulted them as well. Casablancas partnered with Trump to create Elite\u2019s Look of the Year competition; the competitors were girls aged 14 to 19. According to the report, Casablancas met his third wife at Trump\u2019s Look of the Year competition\u2014a girl who was just 16, though he was in his 50s. The models recruited by Casablancas were trotted out at various events and parties with Trump and often Epstein, including at Mar-a-Lago. A second man, Paolo Zampolli, also worked as a modeling agent who allegedly recruited women and girls for Epstein; he was close friends with Trump and even served in the Trump administration as special envoy for global partnerships until earlier this year. He is also the agent who recruited Slovenian model Melania Knauss, helping with her housing and immigration status; he claims he\u2019s the one who introduced her to her future husband. Some others dispute this, claiming that Epstein was the one who made the introduction (the Trumps deny this).\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Just as damning as the allegations of sexual assault are those of a cover-up. In one startling interview between Attorney General Todd Blanche (who formerly served as Trump\u2019s personal attorney and defense lawyer before taking over the Justice Department) and Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell seems poised to discuss details of one woman\u2019s accusations against Trump, until Blanche interrupts her, instructing her, \u201cLet\u2019s not talk about individuals\u201d and repeating that he doesn\u2019t want to \u201cget into\u201d a \u201che said, she said\u201d or whatever it is she\u2019s about to disclose. This behavior, the Democrats who wrote the report allege, \u201cpotentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding\u2014serious felonies.\u201d The report also proffers evidence to refute Trump\u2019s claim that he didn\u2019t know Epstein well and had banished him from Mar-a-Lago because of his behavior toward girls and women.\n\n  \n\n\n  According to White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis, \u201cNone of these allegations are true. This \u2018report\u2019 is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump\u2019s historic achievements.\u201d She added that \u201cthe President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep.\u201d\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Regardless of this denial, the demand for an appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump\u2013Epstein ties and any possible cover-up is well overdue. Survivors deserve to see accountability. The public deserves the truth. And the release of the report a week before the midterm is savvy politics. If there\u2019s one issue that unites Americans from left to right, it\u2019s that Epstein was a world-class scumbag, and his death was unfortunate only insofar as it meant he never truly saw justice. I suspect that most Americans would agree that anyone else who enabled Epstein or engaged in crimes with him should be named, shamed, and potentially prosecuted\u2014no matter what side of the political aisle they sit on. But so far, the Trump administration has stymied efforts to do just that. That should be a scandal itself, but it turns out it might also be a much darker red flag about why the administration won\u2019t investigate. Democrats are smart to point that out.\n\n  \n\n\n  If there really was nothing to see in the Epstein files, you\u2019d think that the Trump administration would release them and call it a big win, especially at a moment when they\u2019re down and out. Cost of living remains unaffordable for many Americans, while the president who promised no more foreign wars is engaged in a spectacularly stupid conflict of choice with Iran, leaving American taxpayers footing the bill. It is objectively strange\u2014and obviously suspicious\u2014that the Trump administration isn\u2019t using everything it can to distract from the unpopular reality it\u2019s created for voters.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n  The Epstein files remain one of the most captivating and conspiracy-fueling issues precisely because so much secrecy still surrounds them. And why? The man at the center of the criminal enterprise is dead. His second-in-command is in prison. Many prominent men have already been publicly embarrassed by their ties to Epstein. The continued withholding of the files and the smearing of anyone who demands their release, and the stonewalling of any investigation into why they have not been released, simply stinks. And it reinforces Americans\u2019 cynicism with government and sense that everyone in power is inherently corrupt. 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                    "Politics\n\n  We Finally Know Why Trump Has Tried So Hard to Hide the Epstein Files\n\nA new report describes Donald Trump as an \u201cactive participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women.\u201d\n\n      \n    \n\n        \n      \n  \nJeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 22, 1997. \nDavidoff Studios/Getty Images\n\n\n\n    \n  \n\n  \n      \n\n\n      \n\n    \n          Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.\n\n\n  One of the biggest mysteries of Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office is why, exactly, he is so touchy about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who is now dead but whose crimes as a child sex predator and shady financier are still unraveling. You\u2019d think the MAGA base would be eager to get to the bottom of this: This slice of the GOP has long been obsessed with pedophiles, mingling with the QAnon movement during Trump\u2019s first term in conspiracy-mongering about an outlandish (and untrue) Democratic pedophile ring run out of a D.C. pizza restaurant, with children being sex-trafficked in Wayfair cabinets. In the lead-up to Trump\u2019s second term, they latched onto a case with actual evidence to back it up: Epstein, and the scores of girls he was accused of grooming, assaulting, and trafficking to the men in his orbit. Trump supporters rallied around a demand to release the Epstein files, millions of documents held by the FBI that Epstein watchers suspected may further incriminate not only him but many other powerful people as well. Members of the Trump administration pledged full transparency and the full release of the files; meanwhile, Trump himself said he had no role here and that the files totally exonerated him from any wrongdoing. And yet the full files remain unreleased, hidden from public view by the Trump administration\u2019s own FBI and Department of Justice as rumors swirled.\n\n  \n\n  Now we understand why Trump didn\u2019t want them released. Just a week before the midterm elections, which are already shaping up to be a bloodbath for the GOP, Democrats have dropped a bombshell. \u201cA growing body of evidence demonstrates that Donald Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s,\u201d states a just-released report from the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committee. Additionally, they claim that Trump has leveraged his FBI and DOJ to cover up the evidence, and have now called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate any potential wrongdoing.\n\n  The report is stunning. While many of the accusations were previously publicized, the stories have been a drip-drip of allegations; putting them all together in a single report has the effect of connecting a network of abusers, giving a reader a bird\u2019s-eye view of how predatory men allegedly worked together to traffic and assault women and girls. And at the heart of the Democrats\u2019 argument is corruption. After all, this same administration has turned self-dealing into an art form, and has enriched the president to the tune of billions of dollars, all while engaging in a staggering cover-up to protect powerful men who abuse vulnerable girls. And one of those powerful men, they say, was the president himself.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n    \n\n\n  Five women, four of them named and one anonymous, claim they were victimized by Epstein and that Trump also raped or sexually assaulted them. Part of the scheme allegedly revolved around Elite Model Management, run by John Casablancas, who was a friend of both Epstein\u2019s and Trump\u2019s. Many of the models recruited by Elite as underage girls say that they were raped or otherwise assaulted by Casablancas and others, and were also given to Epstein, who sexually assaulted them as well. Casablancas partnered with Trump to create Elite\u2019s Look of the Year competition; the competitors were girls aged 14 to 19. According to the report, Casablancas met his third wife at Trump\u2019s Look of the Year competition\u2014a girl who was just 16, though he was in his 50s. The models recruited by Casablancas were trotted out at various events and parties with Trump and often Epstein, including at Mar-a-Lago. A second man, Paolo Zampolli, also worked as a modeling agent who allegedly recruited women and girls for Epstein; he was close friends with Trump and even served in the Trump administration as special envoy for global partnerships until earlier this year. He is also the agent who recruited Slovenian model Melania Knauss, helping with her housing and immigration status; he claims he\u2019s the one who introduced her to her future husband. Some others dispute this, claiming that Epstein was the one who made the introduction (the Trumps deny this).\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Just as damning as the allegations of sexual assault are those of a cover-up. In one startling interview between Attorney General Todd Blanche (who formerly served as Trump\u2019s personal attorney and defense lawyer before taking over the Justice Department) and Ghislaine Maxwell, Maxwell seems poised to discuss details of one woman\u2019s accusations against Trump, until Blanche interrupts her, instructing her, \u201cLet\u2019s not talk about individuals\u201d and repeating that he doesn\u2019t want to \u201cget into\u201d a \u201che said, she said\u201d or whatever it is she\u2019s about to disclose. This behavior, the Democrats who wrote the report allege, \u201cpotentially constituted witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding\u2014serious felonies.\u201d The report also proffers evidence to refute Trump\u2019s claim that he didn\u2019t know Epstein well and had banished him from Mar-a-Lago because of his behavior toward girls and women.\n\n  \n\n\n  According to White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis, \u201cNone of these allegations are true. This \u2018report\u2019 is nothing more than a desperate attempt by crazed Democrats to distract Americans from the surging Republican momentum driven by President Trump\u2019s historic achievements.\u201d She added that \u201cthe President kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep.\u201d\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n\n  Regardless of this denial, the demand for an appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump\u2013Epstein ties and any possible cover-up is well overdue. Survivors deserve to see accountability. The public deserves the truth. And the release of the report a week before the midterm is savvy politics. If there\u2019s one issue that unites Americans from left to right, it\u2019s that Epstein was a world-class scumbag, and his death was unfortunate only insofar as it meant he never truly saw justice. I suspect that most Americans would agree that anyone else who enabled Epstein or engaged in crimes with him should be named, shamed, and potentially prosecuted\u2014no matter what side of the political aisle they sit on. But so far, the Trump administration has stymied efforts to do just that. That should be a scandal itself, but it turns out it might also be a much darker red flag about why the administration won\u2019t investigate. Democrats are smart to point that out.\n\n  \n\n\n  If there really was nothing to see in the Epstein files, you\u2019d think that the Trump administration would release them and call it a big win, especially at a moment when they\u2019re down and out. Cost of living remains unaffordable for many Americans, while the president who promised no more foreign wars is engaged in a spectacularly stupid conflict of choice with Iran, leaving American taxpayers footing the bill. It is objectively strange\u2014and obviously suspicious\u2014that the Trump administration isn\u2019t using everything it can to distract from the unpopular reality it\u2019s created for voters.\n\n  \n\n\n  \n\n  The Epstein files remain one of the most captivating and conspiracy-fueling issues precisely because so much secrecy still surrounds them. And why? The man at the center of the criminal enterprise is dead. His second-in-command is in prison. Many prominent men have already been publicly embarrassed by their ties to Epstein. The continued withholding of the files and the smearing of anyone who demands their release, and the stonewalling of any investigation into why they have not been released, simply stinks. And it reinforces Americans\u2019 cynicism with government and sense that everyone in power is inherently corrupt. Unfortunately, too many people see Trump as simply more of the same, rather than an aberrant figure who makes a mockery of American democracy and who must not just be ousted but ostracized and his party, co-conspirators, and enablers condemned.\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n  Part of the problem with the stories of Epstein, Trump, and the corruption all come down to the same thing: The bit-by-bit release of information has created a long record of abhorrent behavior, which means that the bar to shock is so high it\u2019s almost impossible to clear. There is a kind of disgust fatigue at play: Yeah, we know Epstein was a disgusting sex predator, and that some of the men around him probably partook too; what\u2019s new? Those who are ideologically motivated to believe Trump at all costs are also probably motivated to believe him on Epstein too; very little seems like it would change the minds of hardcore MAGA adherents.\n\n  But persuading hardcore MAGA adherents isn\u2019t the task at hand. Persuading the persuadable is; so is restoring dignity and accountability to the office of the presidency. Neither of those tasks is fully completed by finally, fully, and transparently investigating Epstein and the Trump administration\u2019s treatment of the case. But it would be a good and necessary start. And if this administration refuses\u2014and it seems primed to refuse the appointment of a special counsel\u2014voters should let the administration know what they think about that at the polls next week.\n\n  \n\n  \n\n\n\n      \n\n            \n              Democrats\n            \n          \n            \n              Donald Trump\n            \n          \n            \n              Republicans\n            \n          \n            \n              Sexual Assault\n            \n          \n            \n              Women\n            \n          \n            \n              Jeffrey Epstein"
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