The Epstein Files: A 40-Year National Security Crisis Finally Breaches Congressional Firewall
Eight members of Congress now call it what it is: A cover-up of "an explosive, expansive network of corruption and sex trafficking that is literally global in scale."
The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has been a national security crisis for four decades. This week, that reality finally breached the GOP firewall and entered the congressional record as Congresswoman Melanie Stansberry revealed the investigation involves FBI and CIA probes, thousands of victims worldwide, and what she calls an "explosive, expansive network of corruption and sex trafficking that is literally global in scale."
Stansberry becomes the eighth lawmaker to explicitly call this a cover-up, joining Democrats Robert Garcia, Ro Khanna, and Ron Wyden, plus Republicans Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The bipartisan pressure is eroding Trump's support and now threatens GOP congressional members who face a stark choice: demand transparency or become complicit in the cover-up.
"Beyond Imagination"
In an MSNBC interview, Stansberry, a House Oversight Committee member with classified access, revealed:
"There are FBI investigations. We have been told there are potential CIA investigations involving not only international wire transfers but potentially foreign actors... This is a criminal investigation on a scale that involves potentially hundreds and if not hundreds, thousands of potential victims in the United States across the world."
Six survivors testified privately to committee members. Stansberry's response: "I still haven't found the words to respond to how stunning what I heard was."
The financial mechanics she described validate everything documented in "The Greatest Heist" and my 2019 series "The Secret Life of Jeffrey Epstein":
"We know that there are hundreds of wire transfers and transactions that were moving over a million dollars a year just for sex trafficking activities... When Epstein could no longer successfully abuse children in the United States, they were paying for young women to be flown in from Eastern Europe."
The Money Trail
Senator Ron Wyden expanded his three-year investigation this week, demanding Treasury records for 58 individuals and entities while explicitly accusing the Trump administration of a cover-up:
"Given the scale of Epstein's sex trafficking operation, which victimized thousands of women and girls and reached around the globe, it is preposterous and unacceptable that only Epstein himself and Ghislaine Maxwell have faced prosecution. The Trump administration's ongoing coverup of the Epstein files is giving comfort to the pedophiles and accomplices who were a part of his sex trafficking ring."
Wyden's list includes JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, UBS, and individuals like Leon Black, Jes Staley, Alan Dershowitz, and Glenn Dubin. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has twice refused to provide these records.
The records would illuminate how "high-profile individuals paid Epstein staggering sums of money, which was then used to move women around the world or engage in dubious transactions indicative of money laundering."
Active Obstruction
The cover-up isn't historical—it's happening now. House Republicans are blocking a bipartisan discharge petition led by Thomas Massie, despite four GOP members calling this a cover-up. Stansberry revealed:
"They're trying to stop a discharge petition from members on both sides of the aisle from having the files released. I don't have confidence that under the current leadership that the committee will be allowed to fully do its job."
While the Epstein estate complies with subpoenas, she noted: "Donald Trump has not complied with the subpoena."
The National Security Implications
Stansberry's revelation that this involves "international money laundering, wire transfers, potentially foreign governments" transforms this from scandal to national security crisis. She stated plainly: "When you start to dig into what happened and how it was covered up by the justice system, it's beyond imagination."
The patterns align with intelligence operations using kompromat to compromise global power structures—exactly what sources described to me in 2019. The same financial mechanisms that enable oligarchic wealth extraction protected these predators.
The Reckoning
Congressional Republicans face a defining choice. With bipartisan agreement this is a cover-up, continued obstruction becomes criminal complicity. When you block investigation into child trafficking involving "potentially foreign governments" and active CIA investigations, you cross from politics into potential treason.
The discharge petition awaits. Eight members of Congress have called this what it is. Thousands of victims demand justice. The list of those potentially compromised by any cover-up is growing to include Bessent and Witkoff, who was Epstein's neighbor. Any cover-up could also bring down Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, and RFK Jr. As the stench of Epstein comes closer to Donald Trump, his popularity threatens to drop below 25%, where he will struggle to survive politically.
Treasury Secretary Bessent's obstruction makes him an active participant in protecting what Stansberry calls an operation of unimaginable scope.
For 40 years, this network operated with impunity. Now, finally, the truth emerges. The only question: Will Congress expose it or remain complicit?
The world is watching. The cover-up has become more dangerous than whatever the files contain.
Paid members, watch the full interview below.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Narativ with Zev Shalev to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.