And if they are digital, how has there not been any sort of hack? ‘Anonymous’ or foreign actors would surely love to have a chance to air the dirty laundry, no?
Remember when the Panama Papers were leaked, that exposed many celebrities who were involved in tax fraud and other criminal activities?
Remember how much it affected the involved people?
I remember the people who leaked them were killed.
Same reason that Putin’s enormous archives of blackmail materials on the world’s rich and powerful haven’t leaked. It ain’t like they keep this stuff in a zip file on a web server where you just have to know the address it’s at and crack a couple passwords…we’re talking isolated, air-gapped systems and physical archives where you would need in-person access to view the material, and are under strict observation the entire time you are viewing the files.
Probably to keep them legitimate. If leaked nobody would believe them.
Make them release it officially and people might take it seriously.
I don’t know if this is true, but I think it’s because they’re really old. If you look at all of the previous documents, they’re photos of text, emails, and some of them books. They’re not transcribed, so hard to search.
Also, you have to have levels of trust that the docs are real. These have been in a bunch of people’s hands, but who do you send it too where it gets the biggest bang as being legit? NYT isn’t all that trusted. Maybe The Guardian?
But then, you’re also putting your own life on the line. What’s Snowden or Reality up to these days? I can see why it’s complicated.
Turns out it’s generally hard to hack something but occasionally there is a mistake allowing someone else in. Just don’t count on it.
Assume the files have been marked and that they would know it’s you who leaked it. You’d probably get prosecuted at the very least and if there is a vote to release the files you’ll go to prison for nothing.
Just seems like there is such universal interest in ‘releasing’ them that something should have leaked by now. You hear the argument about the moon landing or other conspiracy theories that it would take so many people colluding to hide the truth it would be impossible not to leak, how many people have access to “the files”, and if there is a vote to release them, who just pushes the button or whatever to make that happen? (And in no way am I suggesting they are not real and only a conspiracy theory, just giving an analogy)
Blackmail material is only powerful as a threat. Releasing material from it makes the remainder less powerful. If you raise the stakes a little by adding some small details, an association here, a plausibly deniable link there, you can enhance the fear of the person on the other end of the blackmail without ruining the value of what you have. So depending on what people want they can get better results by keeping that information hidden.
On top of that most people who get dirt on one person get dirt on many people. You may want to take down one person but by if you release some stuff from the files then someone on the other side can burn people on your side. Mutually assured destruction will paralyse everyone.
As an outside to everyone I want all of it released because in my mind anyone implicated is either an active predator or someone who tolerates predators. But if you have paid good money to have a specific member of congress get into office and they are able to act in your favour then it doesn’t matter if they have a D or an R, they are yours. It is very expensive to get someone who understands the game into office and under your thumb. Much better to prevent the whole system from becoming unpredictable due to lots of sudden new blood and to keep known actors in place. Members on both sides of the aisle want the files locked away forever, meaning they want to protect predators. The failure to act is a choice, not an accident.
To be clear, I am including foreign actors, massive companies, all sorts of people. If you have an asset that can protect another asset without knowing then you generally would do so.
The only defence I can think of for not releasing them is that they are written in code that could destroy people for doing nothing other than having met him and there is no reference key.
E.g Mr X, a1 4d b2
Mr Y, a1 3f b2
A1 means “Straight and unmarried” but 4d means “Totally a Pedo” and 3f means “Will probably call the police if you even hint at it” and b2 is “Drinks heavily, doesnt do drugs”
Now thats a heavy handed example but look at all the conjecture about who “Bubba” is… Now imagine the conspiracy theorists if thats what the lists look like. That all being said even if they dont make them public the fact that they have these files and theres been no arrests is fucking shameful.
My guess is that they’re not particularly outrageous but they are damaging in a nonpartisan way (or else Biden could have released them). Maybe the unreleased information is about Epstein’s work with intelligence agencies, something that neither Democrats nor Republicans would want to release and individuals with access wouldn’t feel a moral obligation to leak.
But that still doesn’t explain why Trump doesn’t just say so without revealing any details - it seems less damaging than total stonewalling.
These are documents pulled in an investigation and are probably mostly paper (digital was less prevalent during the heyday of his abusive stage). Digital comms were likely less used in commitment of crimes for obvious reasons. Paper documents are rarely digitized unless someone has a reason to disseminate them to others.
