Americans are increasingly disheartened by the way 'rich and powerful' associates of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appear to be evading justice in the United States, according to John Fishwick Jr., a trial lawyer and a former US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
The controversy surrounding the release of the so-called 'Epstein Files' has seen powerful people, including European royals, politicians and diplomats, losing their jobs and facing further investigations, but the feeling for many Americans, Fishwick said, is that wealthy U.S. elites will not face the same consequences.
"There's certainly a lot of blame to go around for this. Several administrations had the opportunity to look into the Epstein case and to bring charges not just against him, but against all the folks who were assisting him, aiding him. And then, you know, when you read all these emails of all these rich and powerful folks, certainly alluding to what seems to be very disgusting behavior, and certainly they would have had knowledge of what he was doing with those young girls. So, I do think it's very disheartening to Americans to know that a lot of rich and powerful people looks like they're going to escape prosecution," Fishwick said in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).
The Epstein files investigation took another dramatic turn on Monday, when Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and confidant, refused to answer questions in a virtual appearance before a U.S. Congressional committee.
Her lawyer said she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate at the committee hearing unless U.S. President Donald Trump pardons her from her 20-year sentence for crimes committed as Epstein’s accomplice.
Fishwick said refusing to speak might make it less likely for Maxwell to have her sentence commuted or receive a full pardon.
"If she comes out and says so-and-so did this or so-and-so did that or didn't do this, I'm not sure she'd be believed. And so why give that person a pardon or commute their sentence? They've been found guilty. Justice was done, presumably in that case. Her appeals have run the course. So, I think in that setting, if I was a prosecutor, you know, I certainly wouldn't want to grant somebody in that situation a pardon or commutation. If they didn't want to testify, then that's their decision," he said.
Fishwick also said that, despite the huge attention being paid to the ongoing Epstein files controversy, criminal investigations of others for participating in the crimes for which Epstein and Maxwell were convicted was unlikely, given the time that has passed.
"It's going to be very difficult because you know, you're going to have to have corroboration about what happened. You know, you can have the victims' testimony, but I don't think they know about all the folks, what happened behind the scenes. They know about Epstein, but he's dead. They know about Maxwell and she's been convicted. And so it's a lot of conjecture about these other folks. We're very suspicious about what they did and what they knew. I think the only charges that could probably come out of this if somebody convenes a grand jury, the DOJ convenes a grand jury and folks go in there and misrepresent what happened. There could be charges for obstruction of justice or for perjury, either to a grand jury or to Congress. But to actually build a trafficking case from something that happened decades ago, I think it's going to be very difficult," he said.
Disheartening that ‘rich and powerful’ Epstein associates could escape punishment in U.S.: legal expert
