But Wasn’t Epstein Banned In 2000?

A contemporary account (2007) of Epstein’s first arrest, with this timely note:

Meanwhile, the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach last night confirmed a Web site report that Epstein has been banned there. “He would use the spa to try to procure girls. But one of them, a masseuse about 18 years old, he tried to get her to do things,” a source told us. “Her father found out about it and went absolutely ape-[bleep]. Epstein’s not allowed back.” Epstein denies he is banned from Mar-a-Lago and says, in fact, he was recently invited to an event there.

Epstein approached the wrong girl: one with a father who cared.  So not Virginia Giuffre.

This report is just after Epstein’s plea deal, when up to 40 civil cases were being filed.

And in a bid to squash a possible pile-up of messy civil actions, Epstein’s legal eagles, led by Gerald Lefcourt, are mulling a possible lump-sum offer to settle the claims all at once, said sources close to the police investigation. But the attorneys believe many of the suits could be frivolous. “You are a girl who is broke who uses drugs. Here’s your shot at getting some money,” one insider said.

Pretty much how they are still being treated, 18 years later. So Epstein’s methods were not perfect, and the girls were largely treated as disposable by…well, by everyone. Did Trump know the name of every employee at his club, and consider them essential to his operation?

Yeah, right. He remembers a member raising hell, and some reporter 20 years later says a name, and Trump says “Coulda been.”

Case closed! Or, you know, not.