Is Epstein an intelligence asset? If so, for which country?

[MelissaB]

Note: I did NOT say a US intelligence asset.

Link to tweet

Epstein’s name, I was told, had been raised by the Trump transition team when Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney in Miami who’d infamously cut Epstein a non-prosecution plea deal back in 2007, was being interviewed for the job of labor secretary. The plea deal put a hard stop to a separate federal investigation of alleged sex crimes with minors and trafficking.

“Is the Epstein case going to cause a problem [for confirmation hearings]?” Acosta had been asked. Acosta had explained, breezily, apparently, that back in the day he’d had just one meeting on the Epstein case. He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone,” he told his interviewers in the Trump transition, who evidently thought that was a sufficient answer and went ahead and hired Acosta. (The Labor Department had no comment when asked about this.)

... snip

For almost two decades, for some nebulous reason, whether to do with ties to foreign intelligence, his billions of dollars, or his social connections, Epstein, whose alleged sexual sickness and horrific assaults on women without means or ability to protect themselves is well-known in his circle, remained untouchable.

I'd sure like to know who told Acosta Epstein is an intelligence asset.

An AP reporter asked Acosta if knew whether Epstein was “an intelligence asset.”
He follows with an grand non-denial-denial.

Link to tweet

With all those video cameras all over his homes and the way he collected VIPs all over the world, who was he sharing his kompromat with?

[hlthe2b]

1. "Sounds" like a bizarre conspiracy theory, yet when ASKED, he did not TREAT it like an outrageous

and bizarre story.

Alexander Acosta: “... I can’t address it directly because of our guidelines but I can tell you that a lot of reporting is just going down rabbit holes”

Curious, at a minimum.

[4139]

2. LOL! "...lot of reporting is just going down rabbit holes" aka "they're full of sh1t"

[louis-t]

3. Democrats should end every sentence with..

"Acosta let him go and he continued to molest children." It is imperative.

[JHB]

4. Not just "who told him" but ...

..."who in the Bush administration told him?"

They're already trying to pretend it happened under a Democratic admin.

And, of course, if it wasn't anyone in the Bush administration: Who did they work for and why did he pay any attention to them?

[samir.g]

5. Mossad?

[MelissaB]

18. May be a good bet.

[tanyev]

6. I think what they meant was that Epstein had a lot of blackmail on people

far above Acosta’s pay grade.

[MelissaB]

8. He also did a GLOMAR in the press conference today when asked about Epstein & intelligence.

[tanyev]

11. Maybe Acosta was told that and he believed it.

Doesn’t mean it was completely true. On the other hand, Epstein had a lot of contacts with Russia and a lot of unexplained wealth, so who knows?

[klook]

9. Yep, that's my take.

To jump to him being an actual agent of a foreign power, we would need more than speculation.

[DURHAM D]

7. Very smart of Epstein to plant that bogus story.

I am going to remember that tactic.

[MelissaB]

10. It could be, but who told Acosta that is the case?

You don't think he shared his info/videos of the rich and famous?

[MelissaB]

12. Another article just dropped:

Link to tweet

It Sure Looks Like Jeffrey Epstein Was a Spy—But Whose?

... snip

But what was that life, really? That’s a key question which nobody has been able to publicly answer. How Epstein maintained his fantastically extravagant lifestyle has long been a topic of speculation and mystery. He claimed to have made his vast fortune as a financial guru to the super-rich, but nearly all of his clients were unnamed. Moreover, in a business where overwork is standard, Epstein seemed to have unlimited free time to pursue his avocation of obtaining “massages” from young women.

A major hint was dropped this week by Vicky Ward, the intrepid investigative journalist who has tried to expose the ugly reality behind the Epstein facade longer than anyone. In a report for the Daily Beast, Ward shed light on the Justice Department’s 2007 non-prosecution agreement with Epstein, that sweetest of sweet deals, since it got Epstein a laughably lenient sentence—for crimes which any normal person would have gone away for decades after admitting to.

Alexander Acosta, the current U.S. Labor Secretary, is in the hot seat, since a dozen years ago he was the U.S. Attorney for South Florida who cut that deal with Epstein. Ward explained the background of that deal, which is now a noose for Acosta. Specifically, she elaborated that the Epstein issue came up when Acosta was appointed to the cabinet by President Donald Trump. Ward writes:

He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone,” he told his interviewers in the Trump transition, who evidently thought that was a sufficient answer and went ahead and hired Acosta. (The Labor Department had no comment when asked about this.)

Wait, what?

So, Acosta, according to himself, backed off on prosecuting Epstein back in 2007, despite the possession of ample evidence proving his guilt, because he “belonged to intelligence.” Whose intelligence, exactly? is the first of many questions that arise here.

More: https://observer.com/2019/07/jeffrey-epstein-spy-intelligence-work/

This claim was met with an appropriate degree of skepticism, and Acosta had a chance to explain what he meant in a press conference this afternoon. On camera, Acosta maintained that he did the best he could with that case, while admitting that it hardly looks like a fair punishment now.

[MelissaB]

13. A bit more:

The intelligence issue came up, and Acosta’s response was bizarre. He punted on setting the record straight, instead proffering this strange word salad when asked about Ward’s reporting:

So there has been reporting to that effect and let me say, there’s been reporting to a lot of effects in this case, not just now but over the years and, again, I would hesitant to take this reporting as fact. This was a case that was brought by our office, it was brought based on the facts and I look at the reporting and others, I can’t address it directly because of our guidelines, but I can tell you that a lot of reporting is going down rabbit holes.

To anyone acquainted with our nation’s capital, that’s a non-denial denial of an epic kind. Given the chance to refute Ward’s report, specifically that the Epstein case involved intelligence matters, Acosta did nothing of the sort. Indeed, he functionally admitted that it’s true.

What then can we conclude at this point? It appears that Jeffrey Epstein was involved in intelligence work, of some kind, for someone—and it probably wasn’t American intelligence either. The U.S. Intelligence Community is lenient about the private habits of high-value agents or informants, but they won’t countenance running sex trafficking rings for minors on American soil, for years. While it’s plausible that Epstein was sharing some information with the FBI—many criminals do so to buy themselves some insurance—it’s implausible that he was mainly working for the Americans.

[guillaumeb]

14. Does Putin know Epstein?

And what about all of the tapes? Were copies made?

[machI]

15. Of course he was an intelligence asset

It was clearly stated on a hand written note at the bottom of that suitcase full of money.

[MelissaB]

16. Epstein's lead bank is Deutsche Bank, of course.

Link to tweet

[Kid Berwyn]

17. 3 Way Street

That guy could be playing everybody off everybody else.

Surprised he is still above ground, so he must have at least one good friend, as Bartcop used to say.

[lostnfound]

19. Barr started career at CIA during same time that Barr's dad got Epstein the job at elite school

Elite girls high school at the time.

When Epstein was just twenty and had dropped out of two colleges.

[UTUSN]

20. K&R