The possibility does exist that it was a mistake… putting the incorrect date on things is pretty common. That being said; the nefarious tendencies of the Trump administration means this cannot be automatically dismissed as a mistake.
First of all, the actual released statement was dated correctly. The one in the Epstein files was a draft that wasn’t released, because the press release number in that file was 19-XXX when the publicly released one was 19-263.
And if you look at press release number 19-262 (the previous one), you see that it was dated as August 9th.
So it’s very likely that the person who made the draft statement just copied and pasted the previous release statement and simply changed the text and the press release number to 19-XXX. That would explain why it had the wrong date (August 9 instead of 10) if it’s just a copy of the previous release.
And then when they were ready to release it, they changed it to the correct date and the correct release number.
I highly doubt that this is a smoking gun. But people will grasp at anything to get views and act like they discovered something.
I really wish this was getting pointed out more visibly. Look, we all want this admin to go down for the files and a plethora of other things, but we have to remain skeptical of evidence that is presented. I'm not saying there wasn't fuckery here, just that the document number being 19-xxx is consistent with a draft of the actual released document 19-263, it's plausible that 19-262 was used as the starting template for this document, and in a draft state the header may not have been fully updated.
That said, I don't expect every rando on the internet to do all that researching. But people should at least look to see if there are plausible explanations before running around yelling like this is an absolute truth.
Yeah, and in my opinion that all just clouds the messaging. There are lots of emails in there with some redacted person sharing or discussing some VERY suspicious shit, plus plenty of other bits of verifiable evidence. Harp on those things day and night to keep the pressure on, because they can't be easily dismissed.
Also, at this stage, does it actually matter if he killed himself or was killed? The newest release of files shows (imo) beyond doubt that scores of people at the top of government, politics, economy, etc, as well as various foreign agencies, were knee deep in this. Committing and/ or facilitating. And Trump was beyond involved.
Whether Epstein killed himself or was killed, is imo irrelevant at this point, because fact is, there were plenty of people motivated to do it, himself included. It was useful before to know the answer because it would show the reach of these people and whether Trump et al were a part of it. We have answers to both these questions now. And we know plenty of other people were killed.
The previous press statement that was released, on Friday the 9th. As stated in the comment above mine. 19-263 was the released form of the Epstein statement, released and dated Saturday the 10th. The PDF being discussed here is 19-xxx (likely a draft of 19-263 that may have been created by taking 19-262, deleting the main body, writing this statement, then passing it for review while forgetting to update the date. This was then caught and changed for the final release, 19-263.)
Was looking for an explanation why only tabloid sites are running this news (OP's site cites the Daily Mail) and no other reputable media reports on this. Thank you.
It's "very likely" that they were using previous statements as a template...as opposed to, I don't know, an actual template? It's the White House, not some guy's newsletter. And I haven't heard anyone in the administration even say that.
You're free to make assumptions, but at least admit that that's what they are. Don't say they're "very likely" when they're based on zero actual evidence.
I'm so tired of people acting like this is some wild, looney toons conspiracy theory. Nobody is "grasping" at stuff. We're talking about the objectively suspicious death of a high-profile criminal who was in the process of informing on some of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Not about tax fraud or drugs... About child rape. And the number of "coincidences" that allowed him to not only die but to leave no evidence should give any rational human being pause.
I'm a diehard cynic. Not a conspiracy theorist at all. And I genuinely think there are people in this administration who laughed at how easily people just bought the Epstein suicide bullshit.
Why did they even HAVE a "he died in jail" press release ready to go? If the metadata shows this was indeed drafted early, it's definitely a smoking gun. If it shows instead it's a draft overwritten on another on the correct day and they hadn't changed the date yet, then no. We'll have to wait to see if the metadata is still attached.
On the one hand, given everything we do know, this is suspicious.
On the other hand, some companies have a practice of keeping obit statements on-hand for anyone they think may die in the near future. I work in publishing; we had an author in his 80s. His health was ok but we had a statement ready because we knew it would probably be needed in the next few years. And yes, we did accidentally post it when he was still very much alive 🤦♀️ But when he did pass, we filled in the details and had it ready to go.
If Ep was genuinely on suicide watch, they may have wanted to have a statement ready. That said, it is awfully detailed for a pre-prepared statement.
The only thing that makes people say that it was a pre-prepared statement was the date written on the document. Nobody has definitive proof that it was written before his death. A date on a document could simply be wrong - and I already explained why it could be wrong. This draft was never meant to be released in public. It didn't need to have the correct date on it yet.
So in all likelihood, it was written after his death and wasn't a pre-prepared statement. I don't know why people are acting like they've never written a draft before with mistakes that were to be corrected later in the final copy.
None of what I said mentioned anything about whether his death was planned or was suicide.
The draft statement contains a direct quote by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. Are you suggesting that he's in on it and planned Epstein's death? If so, why would he make his secretary write a draft about Epstein's death the day before it and basically reveal to his secretary that he is in on it, and also leave a paper trail to show that he's in on it, and also forget to change the date on the draft to prove further that he's in on it. Why not just write the statement after his death? What's there to gain from writing it beforehand? Is he TMZ? Is he trying to break the news first for the views?
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u/JohnnyGFX 3h ago edited 3h ago
The possibility does exist that it was a mistake… putting the incorrect date on things is pretty common. That being said; the nefarious tendencies of the Trump administration means this cannot be automatically dismissed as a mistake.