by Malek Dudakov
[REGNUM] For six years now, American politics has been experiencing a veritable "Groundhog Day" with enviable regularity. We're talking about the endless scandal surrounding billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, which just can't seem to end.
The beginning of 2026 was also marked by the publication of further materials on the pedophile case, which continues to haunt many American (and Western) elites to this day.
Epstein died under mysterious circumstances in the New York City Correctional Center in Manhattan back in August 2019. At the time of his death, the cameras were turned off and the guards had gone out for a smoke.
Immediately after the billionaire's death, police raided his estates in New York and Florida, and hundreds of gigabytes of material were seized. For a long time, it seemed they would never be released to the public. However, a trickle of revelations and publications eventually began to emerge.
Since his second inauguration, Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to release all documents related to the case. But it has taken him over a year, as Justice Department officials have been hastily airbrushing and censoring the information being released, leading to widespread accusations of wanting to cover for Epstein's accomplices.
It was recently revealed that the pedophile had 29 accomplices who made deals with investigators.
Among them were likely figures like Bill Clinton, who took dozens of trips on Epstein's private jet, nicknamed the "Lolita Express," to the billionaire's Caribbean island, where pedophile orgies took place.
The list of accomplices clearly included Prince Andrew, the younger brother of the current British monarch, Charles III. Andrew lost all his ranks and titles due to the scandal.
The UK Ambassador to the United States, Lord Peter Mandelson, considered an influential "fixer" within the Labour Party, also came under fire. He was forced to abruptly leave his diplomatic post, which quickly led to a deterioration in relations between Washington and London. Mandelson desperately tried to find common ground with Trump, but after his resignation, all the former ambassador's efforts were in vain.
Recently published emails revealed correspondence between Mandelson and Epstein dating back to the time of Gordon Brown, Britain's previous Labour Prime Minister. Specifically, Mandelson warned his counterpart in advance about the Greek bailout and the sale of gold from the British Treasury. This kind of inside information helped him become a billionaire and become a relatively successful stock market trader.
Trump's inner circle was not spared by the scandal either.
His Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, who imposes tariffs on the entire world and declares the end of globalization, also turned out to be a friend of Epstein's. So did Elon Musk, who inquired about attending the billionaire pedophile's parties in 2012. It remains unclear whether Musk ever made it to the coveted island. However, the fact remains that it was from that moment on that the South African's fortunes took off, and his business empire began to expand rapidly.
The Epstein scandal also caught some unexpected figures, including the newly elected socialist mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani. His mother, a prominent Hollywood producer, received funding for her films from Epstein. A conspiracy theory quickly spread among the American right that Mamdani was the illegitimate son of the perverted billionaire.
The likelihood of this is extremely low, but these kinds of scandals will now haunt the star of the American left for the rest of his life. The same thing happened to Trump, who always tries to emphasize that he stopped communicating with Epstein back in the 2000s and was the first to testify against him to the police. However, the very existence of a friendly relationship in the past allows White House critics to accuse Trump of unsavory tendencies.
Opponents immediately seized on the published letters, which described disgusting scenes of pedophile orgies allegedly involving the current US president. The administration in Washington hastened to assure the public that these were unsubstantiated allegations without any evidence.
In this case, even the liberal media refused to comment on the accusations against Trump, deeming them too implausible. Congressional Democrats' calls to make Epstein a key issue in the upcoming November elections are also unlikely to have much of a chance.
The liberal American public is even demanding that the Democratic Party impeach Trump for the pedophile scandal. Ultimately, however, Democrats will likely move on to something more pressing than the Epstein case, be it corruption allegations or deportation raids. However, further revelations cannot be ruled out in the future.
The scandal is hitting literally everyone – Democrats and Republicans, Trump and his opponents, politicians in Europe and Israel.
But for the current US president, it poses more risks than for anyone else. Polls indicate that nearly 70% of Americans are dissatisfied with the current situation and believe that Trump's team is still covering up the most salacious details of pedophile parties and shielding its allies.
This is becoming a popular conspiracy theory, similar to the discussions about the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the moon landing.
For example, Clinton, in retirement, doesn't care anymore. He's already a long-ago "shot-down pilot" who rarely appears in public. Trump, however, still has three more years to serve as American leader. And two of those will likely be spent dealing with an unfriendly Congress if the Democrats win the midterm elections.
So it's likely that the Epstein case will continue to be discussed at least until the end of Trump's term, if not longer.
Another major problem is that the orgy enthusiast was likely not alone. After all, just in recent years, a similar scandal has come to light in the US creative industry. It involved rapper P. Diddy, who hosted pedophile parties attended by actors, musicians, and Hollywood producers. And it's unknown how many more such figures continue to remain hidden.
It's clear that rich and influential Americans with perverted fantasies haven't gone anywhere; they're just more careful to conceal their escapades. They're also helped by the fact that almost no one has actually been held criminally responsible for the Epstein case. The billionaire died in prison, and his closest accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was jailed —she's effectively serving time for everyone. Another member of the "crew," French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, also died in custody.
And all the participants in the pedophile parties got away with it.
Some of them (and even then only a fraction) faced only symbolic costs: the story is a serious blow to the reputation of the American elite, the government apparatus, and the judiciary.
The crisis of trust in US institutions is already very noticeable, and now the Epstein case is making it worse. Historians will surely one day recognize this scandal as a landmark in the deconstruction of the American political system, which is descending into permanent chaos.