More reasons not to believe the loopy intel asset theory.

I haven’t given much thought to the “Jeffrey Epstein as a Mossad asset” angle because, as Rich’s excellent column today points out, it’s too moronic. Reading the piece, though, it dawned on me that if Epstein had been a clandestine agent for some intelligence service — whether foreign or our own — then Ghislaine Maxwell would have been one person who probably would have known that.

Maxwell was indicted after Epstein offed himself. She was in custody from the time of her arrest and went through very extensive pretrial motion proceedings, then a lengthy trial at which she was found guilty, eventually being sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. With her appeal having been rejected by the Second Circuit U.S. appeals court, that could well be a life sentence for Maxwell, who is 63. (She is seeking review by the Supreme Court, but that is unlikely.)

This is all relevant because, if Maxwell had reason to believe Epstein was an intelligence asset, she could have used that to try to derail her prosecution. This process is known as “graymail” (a play on blackmail): Defendants claim that they cannot mount their defense (which the Constitution guarantees them the right to do if the defense is legally viable) unless they are permitted to reveal classified information that is in the possession of the government. Very often, if there is pertinent classified information, it would not necessarily be exculpatory, but the defense lawyers know the government won’t want to reveal it because it could result in disclosure of vital secrets or expose methods and sources of intelligence.

So . . . the government fights disclosure, and the defendants argue that absent disclosure the charges must be dismissed because they can’t get a fair trial. This happens often enough that there is a legal process for it in federal law, known as the Classified Information Procedures Act. (We discussed CIPA extensively in connection with Biden DOJ special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of now-President Trump for alleged illegal retention of national defense intelligence.)

There appears to be no indication in the record, at least that I can find, that Maxwell ever made any CIPA motions in connection with her prosecution. There is no indication in the Second Circuit’s 2024 rejection of her appeal that the case entailed any claims about classified information or any suggestion that Epstein was an intelligence asset.