'Why the silence?': Retd Vice Admiral demands answers on Trump's muted response to Epstein files

Former Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy Mike Franken questioned the Trump administration's lack of progress in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, insinuating that President Donald Trump is dragging his feet because he may be "dripping with guilt" in an X post.

Franken, who was the Democratic nominee for the 2022 Senate election in Iowa, appeared to suggest that the guilt is evident from Trump's failure to sue anyone associated with the files. "Why do you think Trump tries to silence anyone who promotes the release of the Epstein files?" he asked.

The Grand Old Party's efforts to push the topic out of public discourse seem to be succeeding, in Franken's view. This is not the first time Franken was critical of the lack of accountability in the case. He posted in February this year that U.S. politicians mentioned in the files get reelected, whereas Europeans offer resignation. This, according to Franken, is because "Trumpism killed the last vestige of judicial equality."

Franken's questioning of the President's actions in the Epstein case is significant at a time when momentum appears to be subsiding from the January highs, when the Justice Department (DOJ) released 3.5 million documents, including travel logs, emails, photos, and videos. His remarks are part of a growing chorus looking to push a highly sensitive controversy back into the mainstream, threatening to turn the narrative into a direct test of the administration's institutional accountability.

The chorus includes not only Democrats but also Republicans, one of whom argues that the case is possibly bigger than the greatest presidential scandal in American history. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), in a recent interview, revealed that billionaires, along with Epstein, compromised governments across the world, motivating him, among other things, to co-sponsor the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Massie will be among the people being silenced by Trump in Franken's books.

Meanwhile, Democratic members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met with survivors of Epstein's sexual abuse in Florida last week, where they lambasted the government’s handling of the case. Multiple survivors gave emotionally charged testimony during a congressional field hearing about their experiences as teenagers roaming in his circle. Some also bemoaned the lack of privacy after their identities were revealed to the public following the DOJ's failure to redact their names from the Epstein files.

The event also saw the release of a report titled "The Price of Non-Prosecution: The Evolution of Epstein's Trafficking Network, From Palm Beach to Paris and Beyond," which details how a lenient sentence in 2008 enabled Epstein to continue his abuse and trafficking activities for almost a decade.