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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump 'authorized' Epstein's death, brother told FBI
"It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business."

Bombshell report reveals Epsteins brother told FBI Trump 'authorized' his death
by Sarah K. Burris
Alternet.org, December 23, 2025
The documents in relation to the investigation of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are slowly being released by the Department of Justice. One of those documents is the bombshell revelation that Epstein's brother, Mark, believed President Donald Trump "authorized" the death.
Mark Epstein met with the FBI in 2023 and told them that his brother was about to start revealing names of the men who knew about his trafficking, The Miami Herald reported on Tuesday.
The tip sent to the FBI came in on February 22, 2023.
Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in his jail cell, it reads. I have reason to believe he was killed because he was about to name names. I believe Presient [sic] Trump authorized is [sic] murder.
The documents detailing whether Mark Epstein spoke directly with the FBI haven't been uncovered yet.
Source w. links: https://www.alternet.org/msn-uk/trump-epstein-2674825370/
H2O Man
(78,506 posts)I've watched a number of interviews with the brother. He understands.
Easterncedar
(5,419 posts)H2O Man
(78,506 posts)I was just watching five deer enjoying a meal out on my lawn. I don't have bird-feeders, so I just pour a pile of food out there. It has been a cold December, and I try to make sure there is food enough for everyone.
Katcat
(526 posts)But where I am, WV, its in the 50s at 10 p.m.
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)
To be fair, Tartaglione denied making the marks on Epsteins neck when the presidents friend was found unresponsive in his cell the first time. Barrs DoJ was surprised to hear the news and moved Tartaglione to another cell.
Perhaps this under-reported story is why many today think Epstein tried to kill himself.
https://yonkerstimes.com/dirty-westchester-ex-cop-is-epsteins-cell-mate/
The assignment of a violent psychopath as a cell-mate makes one wonder if Barr really had Epsteins safety in mind. Otherwise, somebodies high up in the MAGANAZIGOP might have wanted to shut Epstein up permanently before there had been a trial, let alone a conviction.
Recently, Tartaglione told Rupert Murdochs New York Post that Epstein confided in him that the Feds offered Epstein a deal in exchange for dirt on Donnie Dipshit. Tartaglione added that Epstein told the Feds he barely knew Trump, that they didnt like each other, but Dipshit was nice to females, and that he knew nothing about Trumps politics. Right-o.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/18/us-news/feds-offered-jeffrey-epstein-a-deal-for-dirt-on-trump-ex-cellmate/
PS: Might've been Epstein's last cell mate, too.
H2O Man
(78,506 posts)This fellow was on the payroll of the local Russian mob. He had an assignment.
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)by Craig Unger
WhoWhatWhy.org, November 26, 2025
Excerpt...
But at least one chapter of Witkoffs life has not been explored by the mainstream media namely his ties to the Russian Mafia. In 2013, The Real Deal, a trade publication that covers the real estate industry, reported that Witkoff submitted a recommendation for indicted Russian mobster Anatoly Golubchik several years earlier when Golubchik applied to live in a condominium building at 971 Madison Avenue.
The recommendation is of special interest because, according to indictments in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Golubchik played a key role in a high-stakes gambling ring based out of Trump Tower. According to Poker News, a trade publication for the gaming industry, the poker game was often attended by a glitzy clientele that included Hollywood actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon. (The story behind it was later made into a movie called Mollys Game, starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba.)
The gambling ring was busted in April 2013, when police burst into an apartment on the sixty-third floor of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, just three floors below Donald Trumps penthouse.
With its 24-karat-gold faucets, alabaster walls crafted by Portuguese artisans, and $350,000 bathroom floor made of amethyst imported from Tanzania, the apartment was one of the most ostentatious apartments in what was already one of the most ostentatious buildings in America.

Semion Mogilevich, FBI, wanted poster
More importantly, it was also populated by a number of colleagues of mobster Semion Mogilevich. A multibillionaire mafioso known as the Brainy Don, Mogilevich was one of the most powerful figures in the Russian Mafia and a one-time denizen of the FBIs Ten Most Wanted List. He ran drug trafficking and prostitution rings on an international scale; in one characteristic deal, he bought a bankrupt airline to ship heroin from Southeast Asia into Europe. He used a jewelry business in Moscow and Budapest as a front for art that Russian gangsters stole from museums, churches, and synagogues all over Europe. He has also been accused of selling some $20 million in stolen weapons, including ground-to-air missiles and armored troop carriers, to Iran. He uses this wealth and power to not only further his criminal enterprises, the FBI says, but to influence governments and their economies.
Snip...
Now that Witkoff has come up with a peace plan that gives Putin everything he wants, his ties to the Russian Mafia are of particular interest because, in Russia, the Mafia has long been a de facto state actor serving the FSB, the state security service that is the successor to the feared KGB.
Continues...
https://whowhatwhy.org/international/who-is-steve-witkoff-and-why-is-he-in-charge-of-negotiating-ukraines-future/
The pros likely have this all on tape for Putin, ready for public release as needed for blackmail, etc etc etc. It's just another coincidence, I'm sure.
H2O Man
(78,506 posts)I watched a few Watergate documentaries last night. Always a holiday favorite! And thinking of how long the White House was able to stall and cover up. We are seeing something very similar, though on a grander scale.
electric_blue68
(25,616 posts)markodochartaigh
(4,904 posts)it's own post.
yellow dahlia
(4,281 posts)Beartracks
(14,312 posts)==============
Wiz Imp
(8,747 posts)Trueblue Texan
(4,156 posts)It says Epstein didn't appreciate waking up to find Tartaglione's hands around his neck, then later it says Tartaglione denied making the mark on Epstein's neck when he was found unresponsive in his cell the first time.
Does this mean Epstein may have been assaulted by Tartaglione more than once before they moved him to another cell? Otherwise, it's not really a believable account.
Easterncedar
(5,419 posts)Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)Newly released emails show the late convicted sex offenders extensive network of foreign contacts, whom he corresponded with about Trumps policy decisions.
By KYLE CHENEY and NAHAL TOOSI
Politico, 11/12/2025
Nearly a month before President Donald Trump met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to pass a message to Russias top diplomat: If you want to understand Trump, talk to me.
I think you might suggest to putin that lavrov can get insight on talking to me, Epstein wrote in a June 24, 2018, email to Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway who was leading the Council of Europe at the time of the exchange. Lavrov was an apparent reference to Sergei Lavrov, Russias longtime foreign minister.
In the email exchange, one of hundreds released Wednesday by congressional investigators, Epstein indicated he had previously talked about Trump with Vitaly Churkin, Russias forceful ambassador to the United Nations, before Churkin died in 2017.
Churkin was great, Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, wrote. He understood trump after our conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple.
Continues
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/12/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-russia-emails-00648919

Above, Lavrov in the Oval Office. You call it 'Leverage.' We call it, 'Blackmail.' Whatever. It works.
3catwoman3
(28,484 posts)yellow dahlia
(4,281 posts)milestogo
(22,450 posts)You could die at any time.
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)Michael Wolff says Trump talked to Epstein about MURDERING HIS WIFE IVANA after finding out Marla Maples was pregnant:
"Trump said, 'what if I pushed her down the stairs?'"
BOSSHOG
(44,603 posts)Im reminded of a line from the maid in Paper Moon talking to Tatum ONeal. once I tried to push her out a window in a Little Rock.
FakeNoose
(40,005 posts)... or Michael himself may get pushed down the stairs. I hope it doesn't happen, but he has put the word out that he has a shit-ton of interview material on Epstein, going back many years. I'm sure he'll do a book on Epstein, but he might be waiting until Chump has his meeting with the Grim Reaper.
B.See
(7,634 posts)Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)There was no reason for him to take his own life. Had he been convicted and sentenced to life behind bars, then a suicide is understandable.
Well never get his testimony or hear his side of story on the reasons why DOJ redacted the names of strong, powerful, prominent and rich men would have been mentioned at his trial.
malaise
(292,237 posts)as we suspected for eons
More Christmas cheer
🎄🎄🎄
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)
Leaked Emails Reveal Jeffrey Epstein's Connections to the Surveillance Industry
by Matthew Petti
Reason, Wed, August 27, 2025
After his first arrest for sex crimes, Jeffrey Epstein tried to get into a new line of work: surveillance. In 2015, he partnered with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to invest in a security tech startup called Reporty Homeland Security, now known as Carbyne. Leaked emails show that Epstein was using Barak to seek out opportunities in the surveillance industry and build connections with powerful figures around the globe, including American businessman Peter Thiel, the former director of Israeli signals intelligence, and two people in Russian President Vladimir Putin's circle.
After he was first caught sexually exploiting teenage girls, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution in 2008; he served a little over a year in detention. Meanwhile, he invested his wealth in bizarre projects, including a ranch to breed women with his DNA and "efforts to identify a mysterious particle that might trigger the feeling that someone is watching you," according to The New York Times.
The leaked emails show that Epstein was also interested in more mundane means of spying on and manipulating people, which overlapped with the technologies governments often pursue. This interest crossed borders.
Barak's email inbox was quietly posted by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a website widely considered to be a successor to WikiLeaks, on a file-sharing platform for verified journalists and researchers in May 2025. The contents came from Handala, a hacker group named for a Palestinian cartoon character that has been leaking files taken from senior Israeli officials for several months.
Although the emails were posted without technical metadata or cryptographic signatures that would allow their authenticity to be verified, they include dozens of images, videos, voice recordings, and scanned documents from Barak and his friends and family that have never been published elsewhere. And they include information that was not publicly known at the time of the email leaks, including a reference to Epstein's birthday book.
Continues
https://reason.com/2025/08/27/inside-jeffrey-epsteins-spy-industry-connections/
Global reach, money has. Same for blackmail.
malaise
(292,237 posts)Truth will out
Rec
🎄🎄🎄
Response to Kid Berwyn (Original post)
malaise This message was self-deleted by its author.
Botany
(76,253 posts)Both guards just happened to fall asleep @ the time and the video monitors went out too.
You cant blame the guards either. Hey, Mr.Guard here is a nice picture of your home and family.
Shame anything might happen to the house and people.
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)Saturday, August 10, 2019
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
Attorney General William P. Barr issued the following statement:
I was appalled to learn that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead early this morning from an apparent suicide while in federal custody. Mr. Epsteins death raises serious questions that must be answered. In addition to the FBIs investigation, I have consulted with the Inspector General who is opening an investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Epsteins death."
PS: Bill Barr has fixed a lot of problems over the years fulfillment of his lifelong dream.

How Bill Barr Is Helping Trump Escape the Russia Scandal
The White House would rather have a fight over contempt than betrayal.
by David Corn
Mother Jones, May 12, 2019
On Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted to proceed with a contempt resolution against Attorney General Bill Barr. The man installed as the nations chief law enforcement officer by President Donald Trumpwho had been looking for his own Roy Cohnhad refused to hand over an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Muellers final report and had ducked a committee hearing the previous week because Democrats had insisted on allowing the committees counsel to question Barr. The contempt vote, committee Democrats say, was a demonstration of Democratic unity (among a caucus divided on the question of impeaching Trump) and a signal to the partys base and others that the Dems, as they face an obdurate Trump administration bent on stymying congressional investigations, are willing to punch back. But they may be punching in the wrong direction and, consequently, helping Trump escape the Russia scandal.
Barr is a convenient target for the Democrats. He misled the public about Muellers reporttwice: with the four-page letter he wrote purportedly summarizing the reports conclusions, and the press conference he held before the report was released. Barr downplayed the evidence related to the question of whether Trump had committed obstruction of justice and said Mueller had handed him the decision on whether Trump had committed this crime. (Muellers report said that was a matter for Congress to handle.) Barr said Trump had cooperated fully. (Trump had refused to be interviewed.) He echoed Trumps mantra of no collusion. (Mueller had investigated whether there had been any criminal conspiracy related to the Russian attack on the 2016 election and found nothing to prosecuteand rendered no judgment on collusion.) And Barr, unsurprisingly, had not mentioned that Muellers report cited numerous lies from Trump and his crew about their interactions with Russia and Moscows assault on the United States.
An attorney general spinning for a president who might have criminally obstructed justice is important. But, arguably, it is not as important as what has prompted all this hubbub: the Trump-Russia scandal itself.
The Mueller report reaffirms the core elements of what is probably the most consequential political scandal in American history. Russia, it notes, waged a sweeping and systematic attack on a US presidential election. And, Mueller notes, Trump and his campaign, while publicly denying this attack was underway, sought to benefit from it. As the report states, during the campaign, Trump called this whole thing with Russia a total deflection and said that the notion Moscow was intervening in the election was farfetched and ridiculouswhich is precisely what Russia was claiming at the time. Trumps embrace and promotion of Moscow disinformation was not a crimebut Mueller included it in his narrative.
Muellers report lays out the curious series of interactions between Trump associates and Russia throughout the 2016 contestshowing that the campaign even attempted to establish a back-channel connection to Putins office after public reports that Moscow was behind the hack-and-dump attacks mounted against Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Additionally, the report details how Trump lied to the public about his secret efforts during the campaign to develop a Trump tower project in Moscow. (After 10 months of negotiations, the project fizzled out once Trump essentially secured the Republican presidential nomination in June 2016.) The report points out that Trump continued to lie about this deal after he won the election. It cites a remark he made at a press conference days before moving into the White House: I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because weve stayed away We could make deals in Russia very easily if we wanted to, I just dont want to because I think that would be a conflict.
Continues...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/05/how-bill-barr-is-helping-trump-escape-the-russia-scandal/

Barr is a fixer for the GOP, CIA, Mafia, Reagan, Poppy Bush, Baby Doc Bush, Trump, Epstein, etc etc etc. BFEE
The Ties That Bind Jeffrey Epstein, William Barr & Donald Trump
Todd Neikirk
Hill Reporter, May 19, 2019
During Attorney General, William Barrs confirmation hearing, he was mostly peppered with questions about how he would handle the Mueller Report. Senator Ben Sasses (R-NE) questioning, however, diverged from the pack. Sasse asked Barr about the lenient sentence given out to billionaire pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. The future Attorney General told Sasse that he would look into the matter.
This, however, was not the first connection between Barr and his family and the disgraced pedophile. In 1973, Barrs father Donald, the headmaster at Manhattans Dalton School, hired Epstein as a calculus and physics teacher.
While hiring Epstein, a noted mathematics genius, was not strange on its face, the hire was unusual for a number of reasons. Epstein had not earned a college degree as he dropped out of New Yorks prestigious Cooper Union. The other odd circumstance was that the new teacher was only 20 years of age.
Apparently, the hire was a successful one. The New Yorker wrote in a 2003 profile on Epstein, he was something of a Robin WilliamsinDead Poets Society type of figure, wowing his high-school classes with passionate mathematical riffs. Epsteins mathematical skills caught the eye of Bear Stearns chairman, Alan Ace Greenberg, whose son attended the Dalton School. Greenberg hired Epstein as an options trader and the former teacher was able to amass a fortune.
Continues....
https://hillreporter.com/the-ties-that-bind-jeffrey-epstein-william-barr-donald-trump-34107
Big Fixer going way back for the Ownership Class.
UpInArms
(53,960 posts)Christmas day of 1992, the New York Times featured a screaming all-caps headline across the top of its front page: Attorney General Bill Barr had covered up evidence of crimes by Reagan and Bush in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Earlier that week of Christmas, 1992, George H.W. Bush was on his way out of office. Bill Clinton had won the White House the month before, and in a few weeks would be sworn in as president.
But Bushs biggest concern wasnt that hed have to leave the White House to retire back to Connecticut, Maine, or Texas (where he had mansions) but, rather, that he may end up embroiled even deeper in the Iran-Contra treason and that he and his colleagues may face time in a federal prison after he left office.
PCIntern
(27,947 posts)K and R
Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)by Kevin Reed
World Socialist Web Site, December 24, 2025
The chaotic dump of material into the public domainriddled with redactions, unexplained anomalies and overt political spinexpresses the crisis of the American ruling class and its determination to shield its own from exposure and accountability.
According to media tallies, the latest batch consists of upwards of 11,000 separate files totaling nearly 30,000 pages, making it the largest single release to date under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The documents span court records, FBI and DOJ communications, emails, news clippings, spreadsheets, photos and hundreds of video files, together with materials related to Epsteins 2019 death in federal custody.
The release was accompanied by an extraordinary but unsurprising political disclaimer from the DOJ posted on social media at 7:34 am:
Some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.
The tranche comes on top of earlier data sets which included thousands of investigative photos of Epsteins New York and Virgin Islands properties, travel images, call logs, police files, and grand jury presentations and interview transcripts. On a purely quantitative level, the state acknowledges that the overall archive will ultimately amount to several hundred thousand documents revealing that what is being presented to the public remains partial, selective and tightly managed.
The large volume and unstructured character of Tuesdays release, without coherent explanation, indexing or contextual analysis, is clearly intended to overwhelm and confuse. Tens of thousands of pages are posted in bulk, packed with duplicative material, press clippings, procedural minutiae and, crucially, heavy redactions that render key documents unintelligible.
Continues
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/12/24/bheh-d24.html
Rich people and their slaves. Er, I mean, toys.
lamp_shade
(15,342 posts)Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)If Epstein was facing 30 years-to-life, OK. But most people with hope and a half-billion on hand would give the lawyer army a swing at the plate.
KS Toronado
(22,909 posts)Kid Berwyn
(22,726 posts)In death, Epstein may be the only figure Trump cannot upstage, the one story more interesting than him.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/25/jeffrey-epstein-conspiracy-00473422
KS Toronado
(22,909 posts)because he was ready to rat him out to get out of prison?
canetoad
(20,076 posts)When trump and Epstein fell out, ostenibly over the purchase of a Palm Beach mansion that trump eventually purchased, two weeks later Palm Beach police received a tip that young women had been seen entering and leaving his house.
...snip
'He's a real creep'
It is unclear when Trump learned of allegations that Epstein was preying on teenage girls. In a 2002 interview, he gave no indication of concern, telling New York magazine that Epstein enjoys his social life.
It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side, Trump said.
On Nov. 28, 2004 less than two weeks after the mansion auction Palm Beach police fielded a tip that young women were seen coming and going from Epsteins home, then-Police Chief Michael Reiter said in a deposition. Reiter declined to comment.
Did trump dob him in? I'll bet he did, even though tsf 'won' the auction, we've all seen the extent of his spite and retribution. This is a 2019 article from WaPo, although I've seen it mentioned elsewhere in archived articles.
FakeNoose
(40,005 posts)However the falling out you mention happened because Chump screwed his old friend Jeffrey out of a prime piece of property. I don't believe Chump had the motive to make the call. Jeffrey might have had a motive, and he eventually did tell many of Chump's secrets to Michael Wolff, but it happened almost 10 years later when Chump was running for President.
canetoad
(20,076 posts)But you never know what goes on in tsf's mind. Whether Epstein aggrieved him by wanting the house or something else. We will never know what transpired between those two.
TheRickles
(3,122 posts)UTUSN
(76,698 posts)Mme. Defarge
(8,881 posts)in NYC later that night. Maybe searching Epsteins New York residence for incriminating evidence on his clients?
fujiyamasan
(1,127 posts)Its becoming less and less likely this was just a suicide. There are too many convent coincidences in this whole twisted drama for them to be just that. Too many ties between the players. Epstein clearly had leverage on Trump and likely on Barr as well (and Barr had it on Trump too; thats probably why he hasnt been indicted yet even though trump hates him).
I have a feeling thats also why Barr didnt side with Trump on contesting the election. He knew this would all spill out at some point and he wanted out. Barr was Trumps bagman. He knows where the bodies are buried. Like any bagman, hes also not stupid. He knew the job was done and by dragging things out he was going to implicate himself at some point. Notice his name hasnt really come up recently. I dont think thats just luck.
I think the real concern for Trump was this would be out in time for the 2020 election, which he was possibly on track to winning until COVID.
Im usually not one to entertain conspiracy theories, but sometimes conspiracies arent just theories.
barbtries
(31,096 posts)I've never thought the man killed himself. always thought Barr arranged the murder, whether or not it was on a direct order from krasnov. I thought it was maybe something like "will no one rid me of this man who has the ability to destroy me?" and someone did.
FakeNoose
(40,005 posts)... that's a sure thing. Whether he can point out who murdered Epstein or not ... well that remains to be seen.
Mime
(32 posts)Barr's father Donald was the Headmaster of the Dalton School in NYC when Jeffrey Epstein was hired as a math teacher.
Donald Barr also wrote a book in 1973, Space Relations, science fiction about a planet ruled by oligarchs who engage in child sex slavery.
barbtries
(31,096 posts)I know it will probably never come out, but I think that's what happened. barr did the dirty work - not the actual murder, but setting it up, making the payments, etc.
Cheezoholic
(3,508 posts)Just as his disgusting sex ring was an intersection for the most vile aspects of power, not just sex.
reACTIONary
(6,950 posts)....by golly, it must be true.
mucifer
(25,501 posts)Bluetus
(2,190 posts)the family did not believe the suicide story.
The real question is whether the FBI investigated the death and what it found.
Totally Tunsie
(11,530 posts)It must get tricky trying to keep track of who you own and who owns you. Make one mistake or underestimate just one point or two and the house of cards comes tumbling down on top of you. No wonder Dozing Donnie can't get a good night's sleep. His mind - what's left of it - must be doing spirals whenever he closes his eyes. It's not enough to look over his shoulder. He must tie himself in knots at times trying to avoid the landmines in his life. BOOM!
Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!
Joinfortmill
(19,908 posts)dalton99a
(91,840 posts)usonian
(23,291 posts)Lovie777
(21,578 posts)did not commit suicide.
doc03
(38,787 posts)of his sycicopants you know things could happen to Epstein in prison, but there are no Trump fingerprints
on it. After all why would he, he barely knew anything about Epstein other than meeting him once.