I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it now appears that the only Trump administration figure who acted with anything resembling a conscience in the matter of the “Epstein files” disclosure fiasco was Dan Bongino. According to the new book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency, by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, it was Bongino—and Bongino alone—who repeatedly told the White House they were fumbling the Epstein scandal with their continual obfuscations, half-measures, and broken promises.

At one point, Haberman and Swan write that he yelled at Chief of Staff Susie Wiles during one of the frequent White House meetings called to perform damage control on the Epstein story: “I warned you guys about this the whole time, and you ignored me. And exactly what I said was going to happen happened. And now you’re pretending I was in on this.”

A few months later, Bongino resigned.

What the New York Times excerpts from the book demonstrate is a remarkable lack of a coherent strategy regarding the “Epstein files,” combined with an even more remarkable lack of curiosity regarding the veracity of the claims therein against Trump. And despite what the President of the United States wants you to believe, there are allegations against Trump. One, as the excerpt recounts, involves painful nipple play: “One official would later describe it as a ‘surreal’ experience to be discussing nipples in the White House Situation Room.”

The fact is, I have no idea if Trump had sex with women—or, indeed, underage girls—trafficked or ensnared by Epstein. (The president, of course, has repeatedly denied any and all such allegations.........

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