NEWS IN A NUTSHELL: Mandelson Arrested, Disinformation Debunked, and the Plot to Sabotage Trump
The Epstein files have created another chaotic month. Here are some of the biggest headlines, a fact-check of viral online claims, and a prediction for the days ahead.
PETER MANDELSON ARRESTED
This evening, Peter Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. This comes after the Met Police carried out searches at his properties in Wiltshire and north London earlier this month.
The force launched an investigation into the ex-Labour minister on February 3rd over allegations he passed market-sensitive government information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein via emails that have since been made public within the millions of documents that make up the Epstein files.
In a carefully choreographed act intended to satisfy public calls for heads to roll over the Epstein scandal, rather than invite Mandelson to a police station to be interviewed (as is customary), police officers arrived at his home in Camden, London, placed him under arrest, paraded him past journalists and paparazzi who had been tipped-off beforehand, and led him into an unmarked police car. He was then taken away for questioning.
The Metropolitan Police have issued the following statement:
“Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
“He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and has been taken to a London police station for interview.
“This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.”
I will provide an update in due course.
PRINCE ANDREW’S ARREST
Mandelson’s arrest was easy to predict, for it mimics another high profile incident that took place last week: the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Thames Valley Police detained him on Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, citing his connections to Epstein.
The arrest took place on Andrew’s 66th birthday. But celebrations were cut short when unmarked police vehicles and plainclothes officers were observed at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate, where Andrew has resided since vacating his long-time home at the Royal Lodge earlier this month following new allegations that he had shared sensitive material with Jeffrey Epstein.
Emails from the recently-released batch of Epstein files show Andrew’s assistant passing on reports of visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam, and confidential details of investment opportunities during his tenure as trade envoy between 2001 and 2011.
Under official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive, commercial, or political information about their official visits.
Immediately, commentators and journalists portrayed the arrest as vindication for his accuser, the late Virginia Giuffre, who had alleged she had been trafficked to him in 2001. However, the arrest has no connection to those allegations, which have never been proven in a court of law. Furthermore, my five plus year investigation revealed that Giuffre had been proven to have falsely claimed that she had sex with Andrew during a long weekend with him at Epstein’s Zorro ranch in New Mexico. In 2016, however, she admitted that no such incident had taken place. Giuffre was also revealed to have made numerous false allegations against other individuals. You can listed to the below podcast episode for further details.
You can also read my further reporting on Andrew’s arrest by clicking here.
EPSTEIN BREAKS HIS SILENCE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
Whilst embarking on another potholing expedition into the mountain of 3.5 million documents that make up the Epstein files, I found something that, remarkably, no-one else had yet found: A long draft statement written by Epstein himself, in which he discussed his sexual appetite, confessed to being a frequent patron of massage parlours and prostitutes, and revealed the truth behind the allegations against him. And, just as remarkable, everything he wrote in the statement corroborates what myself and Jessica Reed Kraus have been publicly saying for many years.
Watch our latest live below to hear Epstein’s statement read out in full for the first time, with some added context:
DIGGING FOR BURIED BODIES ON EPSTEIN’S RANCH
New Mexico’s Department of Justice said on Wednesday that it is examining an allegation arising from documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice that the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein ordered the burial of two foreign girls outside his secluded New Mexico ranch.
Lauren Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Justice, said the agency has requested an unredacted version of a 2019 email containing the claim from federal authorities. “We are actively investigating this allegation and are conducting a broader review in light of the latest release from the U.S. Department of Justice,” Rodriguez said in an emailed statement responding to questions about the matter.
The allegation the move is based on, however, is an email sent by an anonymous individual as part of a scam.
The redacted 2019 email had been sent a few months after Epstein’s death to Eddy Aragon, a New Mexico radio show host who had discussed the Zorro Ranch on his program.
The sender, claiming, without proof, to be a former Zorro Ranch employee, requested payment of one bitcoin (worth thousands of dollars) in return for videos that the email said had been taken from Epstein’s house and showed the financier having sex with minors.
No payment was made, no videos ever materialised, and though the email was forwarded to the FBI, no evidence was found to suggest the sender’s claim was genuine.
This follows a similar pattern of individuals trying to financially exploit the Epstein scandal by claiming to possess explicit video footage of Epstein. Sarah Ransome, a prominent Epstein accuser, previously asked a national newspaper to pay her a large upfront fee for sex tapes that, she claimed, starred Epstein, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Richard Branson. After being refused an upfront fee without proof that the tapes were real, she began to make a series of bizarre excuses before ultimately admitting that she had lied and no such tapes existed.
In another case, John Mark Dougan, a former Florida police officer who was fired from the force, moved to Russia, and began working for the Kremlin disseminating anti-west ‘fake news’, managed to get a large number of people to pay a subscription fee to his website on the promise that he’d soon release CCTV footage from Epstein’s home. Dougan was later exposed as a scammer, a screenshot he eventually released being revealed to have been taken from a popular pornography website, depicting two consensual adults with no connection to the Epstein case.
MEETING A PORN STAR
In the Epstein files, it was revealed that Epstein had a fondness for famous former adult film star Sash Grey.
Grey, who has long retired and has been vocal in her criticism of the adult film industry, is mentioned in numerous emails, with Epstein and one other associate sharing links to her adult videos.
In one email, one of Epstein’s female flings discussed at length being involved in domination shoots with ‘Sasha Grey’s man’, with Epstein advising her on how to use butt plugs.
In another email, Epstein was asked if he had met Sasha Grey in person, to which he claimed that he had. I reached out to Sasha this week but have so far received no comment.
There is no suggestion whatsoever that Grey did anything wrong or had any knowledge of the allegations against Epstein at the time. However, multiple news outlets have tried, and failed, to sensationalise the story.
ALLEGATIONS OF MURDER, AND ‘EPSTEIN’S LITTLEST GIRL’
A series of emails between Epstein and one of his former girlfriends has led to viral unsubstantiated claims to circulate online, alleging that Epstein and his associates were engaged in murder and child abuse.
In reality, the emails were sent by Susan Hamblin.
Anna Paulina Luna shared fresh details on X regarding Hamblin, highlighting a phrase from an email that read: 'Had a great night. Your littlest girl was a little naughty.' Luna urged the Department of Justice to revisit possible charges, suggesting that human rights violations could have been committed.
What Luna failed to do, however, was conduct a quick search for additional context to explain the email. If she had, she would have discovered that Hamblin was referring to herself as Epstein’s ‘littlest girl’, that she was in her twenties at the time the email and others written by her were sent, and it was a nickname based upon a miniature 3D model of herself she had previously taken photographs of and sent to Epstein.
In 2020 and 2021, British newspaper The Sun (known for printing ‘fake news’), published articles and videos linking Hamblin to allegations in a US legal claim involving Epstein. The coverage suggested she had some connection to the events described, although these reports were later formally retracted upon being revealed to be false. Hamblin pursued legal action in the United Kingdom, and The Sun issued a public apology in the High Court before Mr Justice Nicklin.
Another email sent by Hamblin used the phrase, “I give you permission to kill him”. This cause conspiracy theorists and dubious online commentators to spread the claim that Epstein had literally killed someone. However, when I trawled through the Epstein files for context, I discovered that the email was tongue-in-cheek and followed Hamblin telling Epstein that she had asked a male friend if he was having an affair, to which he allegedly lied that he was not (Hamblin claimed to have seen him with another woman).
MAXWELL BEHIND BARS
Jessica Reed Kraus has been dishing out intriguing updates of Ghislaine Maxwell based on alleged daily sightings from fellow inmates whom Jessica has been communicating with. You can read some of them below.
EPSTEIN ACCUSER SENDS TWISTED DEATH THREATS AGAINST CHILDREN
A criminal case was opened in the Netherlands against Epstein accuser Sarah Ransome, after she sent a series of illegal emails to numerous individuals, including Virginia Giuffre’s brother and fellow Epstein accuser Juliette Bryant.
In the emails, Ransome threatened to harm the children of her targets unless she was paid a large sum of money.
You can read the full story, along with some of the graphic emails, by clicking here.
Ransome has since escalated her online abuse by threatening Lady Victoria Hervey and several other innocent parties.
CHAOS ON CAMPUS
The board of trustees at Bard College has commissioned the outside law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent inquiry into past interactions between Epstein and the institution’s president, Leon Botstein.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, trustees said the firm will examine the breadth of correspondence between Epstein and the college, assess any donations associated with him, and review other related matters. Once the investigation concludes, WilmerHale is expected to advise the board on potential changes to donor screening processes, fundraising oversight, codes of conduct, and conflict of interest safeguards.
Botstein, who has served as Bard’s president since 1975, has said his contact with Epstein began in 2011, when the college received what he described as an unsolicited $75,000 contribution for Bard High School Early College. This outreach occurred years after Epstein’s conviction for sex offences had become widely known. Botstein has stated that he continued the relationship in his role as the college’s chief fundraiser and has emphasised that Epstein was “not my friend,” a point he reiterated in a letter to the campus community.
The trustees’ decision follows fresh attention to Botstein’s dealings with Epstein after the release of emails and other records by the Department of Justice, including details of a 2012 visit by the college president to Epstein’s private island.
A PLOT TO SABOTAGE TRUMP?
You can read about the well-established modus operandi of the lawyers representing some of the Epstein accusers, and in particular their behind-the-scenes work with the media to exploit the scandal for financial gain, by clicking the article below.
It now appears that yet another publicity stunt is about the be pulled.
President Donald Trump will stand before Congress on Tuesday to deliver the annual State of the Union address. As the lawmakers sit in the House chamber listening to Trump’s agenda for the year ahead, David Boies and his associates (who have admitted to be working pro bono for the House Democrats) have already been plotting with the Democrats and the press to carry out a headline-grabbing spectacle to embarrass and smear Trump.
Their plan involves having Epstein accusers present in the room with Trump while he gives his long speech, during which they will carry out a so-far undisclosed act to grab the attention of every politician in the room, while they themselves will be intentionally placed in seats perfect for dramatic photographs of their stunt to be taken by pro-Boies/anti-Trump photographers.
Among those who have been invited is Haley Robson.
Rep. Ro Khanna announced on Thursday evening that Robson would be his guest when Trump delivers the annual joint address to Congress. Khanna served as the main Democratic sponsor of the discharge petition that forced the vote to release the Epstein files along with Republican Rep. Thomass Massie of Kentucky.
Robson said she hopes to hold Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi accountable, despite no evidence being found to suggest any wrongdoing on Trump’s part in relation to the Epstein scandal.
“I want to see Trump, and I want to look him in his eyes, whether I say anything to him,” Robson told the press over the weekend. “Same with Bondi, because I need them to know that I’m not scared.”
“Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls,” Khanna said in a statement.
What he failed to mention, however, is that Robson was in fact a recruiter of minors, not a victim of Jeffrey Epstein - and police at the time tried their best to prosecute her after she bragged about recruiting children. You can read the full shocking story below.
GUNMAN SHOT DEAD AT MAR-A-LAGO
Massie’s madness has contributed to a brainwashed young man being shot dead at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach. Massie, who recently falsely accused four innocent men of being involved in Epstein’s alleged crimes, has been intentionally contributing to the ongoing witch hunt and maelstrom of disinformation on social media. It appears to have had an impact - though not completely one he’d expected.
The suspect has been named as 21-year-old Austin T Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS.
His family in North Carolina had reported him missing in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to the BBC.
The missing persons information has since been turned over to federal authorities, the sheriff’s office said.
They added that the department had no record of prior history concerning Martin and that it was not involved in the Florida investigation.
US Secret Service agents fired at him after they saw him “unlawfully entering the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early this morning”, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi posted on X on Sunday.
The suspect “was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can”, the agency said in a statement.
The man was then shot after refusing orders, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
“The only words that we said to him was ‘drop the items’, which means the gas can and the shotgun,” Bradshaw told a news conference.
“At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” he said.
At that point, agents fired their weapons to “neutralise the threat”, Bradshaw added.
The officers were wearing body cameras and no law enforcement officers were injured, he said.
It was later revealed that the gunman had allegedly been brainwashed by some of the many conspiracy theories being promoted online relating to the Epstein scandal.
Well, that’s all for now, folks. But be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for my upcoming posts throughout the week.
Thanks for subscribing to me. Covering the Epstein scandal cost me my job as News Editor, but getting the truth out to you is far more important to me, and I truly appreciate your support.
MEANWHILE, YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN SOME MORE OF MY ARTICLES AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS:
did you see in the NYPOSt that Epstein had paid Private investigators to hide documents, computers and files in several storage units around the country- These will likely all come out too and this will just go on and on... Also Is Trump aware of the dems plot for the state if the union and shouldn't Trump be getting rebuttal people there to make statements about Virginia and all the other BS people?