This is going to be name-dropping for the ages, but it’s just the beginning.
According to press sources, a federal judge determined on Monday that the names of persons affiliated with convicted sex offender and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, must be made public.
Meanwhile, on the same day, a Republican congressman accused some of his “colleagues” of being “compromised in this area.”
The names are part of documents associated with a now-settled defamation case between Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts-Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former lover, and procurer, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, a publication that has closely followed the Epstein case due to its British ties.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York decided on Monday.
“Under the ruling, dozens of individuals — who have previously only been identified as ‘Jane Does’ or ‘John Does’ in various court filings linked to the suit — will likely be identified when materials tied to them are ‘unsealed in full,’” the Daily Mail reported.
According to the Daily Mail, some of the “Jane Does” are Epstein’s victims—young girls who were drawn into his orbit—though their names will be withheld in some cases.
However, the over 170 names in question contain far more than the unfortunate females who happened to match Epstein’s dubious tastes.
The John Does are expected to be Epstein’s “powerful friends,” as the Daily Mail put it, and many of them will go public in early 2024.
Their names are “are set to be exposed as part of a vast unsealing that a judge ordered on Monday will take place in 14 days,” the Daily Mail reported.
That is not a given. According to the Daily Mail, the parties concerned have 14 days to appeal Preska’s decision. And given how the Epstein case has unfolded behind closed doors—from Epstein’s free-wheeling days hosting the likes of Britain’s Prince Andrew, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and former President Bill Clinton to Epstein’s “suicide” in a federal prison in 2019—snags in Preska’s order would not be surprising.
But it hasn’t stopped social media users from guessing what will be revealed.
BOOM: JUDGE RULED NAMES OF OVER 170 JEFFREY EPSTEIN ASSOCIATES SET TO BE UNSEALED IN THE FIRST DAYS OF 2024! 🎆
Judge Loretta Preska ordered Monday that Jeffrey Epstein’s vast network of powerful friends are set to be exposed as part of a vast unsealing via court records that… pic.twitter.com/tS3eKQccd5
— LIZ CROKIN (@LizCrokin) December 19, 2023
BREAKING: 177 Jeffrey Epstein high profile associates will be revealed in the new year.
Good 🔥
Judge Loretta Preska ruled that 177 names of Epstein's friends, recruiters, victims & others shall be revealed to expose the pedoph*les s*x trafficking operation.
Some names include… pic.twitter.com/OsG3fC2vIi
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 19, 2023
Some people are about to get paid, some "pestered", and some are going to get what they deserve.
May God bless Honorable Judge Lorretta Preska for having the gull to do this.
Anyone else think she looks like Barbara from the show Shark Tank? pic.twitter.com/zhS4xULmgP
— Jay | The Midwest Dad | (@JC_Midwest) December 19, 2023
But Preska, who was nominated to the bench by then-President George H.W. Bush in March 1992 and confirmed by a Democratic-controlled Senate the following August, wasn’t the only one making headlines Monday in the Epstein affair.
According to Newsmax, Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett is urging House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to release flight logs from Epstein’s plane, dubbed “The Lolita Express” due to Epstein’s penchant for surrounding himself with teenage girls as well as wealthy, middle-aged men.
He was doing it because Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn had been “snubbed” by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin when she attempted to make the Epstein flight logs public, he told Newsmax’s Chris Salcedo.
“Too many of my colleagues, I’m afraid, are compromised in this area for whatever reason,” Burchett said. “Somebody’s whispered in their ear and said, ‘Hey, you don’t want something to come out on something else, you better keep your mouth shut on this.’ And that’s exactly what they’ve done.
“And it continues to go, whether it’s the honeypot the Russians used to use or something worse, I don’t know. But it’s clear and you see that up and down the line. You see good conservatives vote for liberal policies and, frankly, you see some liberals occasionally will vote for something else.
“So obviously, the Congress has been compromised, and this continues on through the White House, through the Justice Department. The trash can is very deep. It’s not a swamp, it’s an open sewer.”
"Too many colleagues, I'm afraid. are compromised in this area." @RepTimBurchett calls out the reluctance to release the flight logs of Jeffrey Epstein. @CSalcedoShow pic.twitter.com/IC5r7WrKg3
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) December 19, 2023
On a day when a federal judge ordered the release of court records relating to the Epstein case, Burchett’s statements hit home even harder than they would have otherwise.
Extortion and blackmail against Epstein’s friends and clients—men in positions of wealth and power—have long been suspected as part of the Epstein story (at one point, Epstein threatened to expose a Gates affair, according to a New York Post report in May), but Burchett’s message was shocking.
Surprisingly, he didn’t cite any examples of “good conservatives” voting for liberal policies for reasons unrelated to politics, nor did he cite any instances of the Justice Department acting inappropriately (though nothing from the Justice Department these days would surprise anyone who follows the news).
However, if blackmail is being used against U.S. officials in positions of power, regardless of party affiliation, Americans need to know about it, and the system established by the Founders provides them the authority to do so.
The first step is to obtain the names of everyone affiliated with Epstein and his shady business.
And Judge Preska’s decision on Monday is a good start.