Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It is getting to the point where even I am blown away by the flagrant dishonesty and sloppy execution when it comes to covering up all of this madness and continually distracting from the truth around this topic. That being, Jeffrey Epstein, a name you should know well by now.

We live in very polarized times right now, politically, but strangely, the Michael Jordan of sex trafficking over here is one the few issues a lot of people can agree on in terms of him being guilty and also being deeply connected to the rich and powerful. Hell, most are even skeptical of the official government narrative that he killed himself. I mean, back in July, the FBI couldn't even release a prison cell security cam footage video without making it glaringly obvious they chopped three minutes out of the thing, which makes you wonder whether or not the people doing the dirty work here are messing up on purpose in order to make the Trump administration look stupid. Another thing pretty much everyone can agree on is the Epstein files, specifically the release of them. It's a pretty uncontroversial take at this point to say that they should be released in full for everyone to see, of course, with respect to victims and maybe ongoing investigations.

But outside that, people understandably want to know how deep this rabbit hole goes. Because remember, not only was this guy originally investigated and charged in the 2000s when he took an insane plea deal that saw him avoid any serious prison time. But also, due to the nature of Jeff's crimes, there are a lot of unnamed accomplices involved. And knowing who some of those people were, or whatever Jeff's client list was, could be important, especially given the almost endless laundry list of international celebrities and politicians he had been known to schmooze with publicly.

Just one problem, though. Our current President had been friends with the for years and years and years and years. Which is part of why it's been such a struggle to get these files released to the public over the past year, even with the demand for these files increasing every day. I mean, Trump's own FBI director has lied under oath, questioning whether or not Jeffrey Epstein trafficked minors to begin with:

"There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case, yesterday, that he trafficked two other individuals. The information we have, again, is limited." - Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

"So the answer is no one?" - Senator John N. Kennedy - R. Louisiana

"For the information that we have." - Patel

And Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ [Department of Justice] is not any better having denied the existence of a client list entirely. But as it turns out, a lot of this ended up being pointless theater and delay because Congress finally twisted Trump's arm and passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the Department of Justice to publish in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. So it's literally now, the law.

These files have to be released, and if there are any redactions to them, they must be explained and justified because, again, it's the law. But when has Trump ever cared about that? Which is why, as of the recording of this video, not only have all of the files not been released yet, but what files we do have look like this [black screen], and this [black screen], and this [black screen], this over here [black screen], too. So, yeah, a lot of these documents have some crazy redactions going on, to the extent where it is very clear that there is some purposeful curation going on in terms of what we actually do see. Because not only are there a lot of pictures of Bill Clinton, but also Michael Jackson?

This is a name that is obviously going to draw a lot of attention. Michael's image is being dropped in this document and photo dump with no clear indication of what crimes he might be implicated in. Something I'm sure the Trump administration just presume people weren't really going to think of given Jackson's history of accusations with inappropriate behavior with minors:

"As we sit here today, do you You still think that it's acceptable to share your bed with children?" -Ed Bradley, CBS 60 Minutes

"Of course. Of course, why not? I didn't sleep in the bed with the child. Even if I did, it's okay. I slept on the floor. I didn't say I slept in the bed. Even if I did sleep in the bed, it's okay." - Michael Jackson

Before I go any further on this topic, I do want to say this is not a Michael Jackson truth or YouTube channel. However, this inclusion seems politically motivated when you look at the nature of these photos, like this picture of Michael Jackson and Epstein, where it's unclear when or where it was taken because this photo dump was done without providing locations, dates, or context. There's also this alleged bodyguard statement about the nature of the photo, which does seem to clear Michael Jackson and lay out his innocence. But I mean, after all, it is still just a random post on the internet, and who knows how true it is.

Again, this picture itself doesn't link Michael to any specific Epstein crime. Apparently, there's even testimony of one Epstein victim having met Michael through Jeffrey, but there was no substantiation of Michael's involvement in any of the crimes Jeffrey had been known to involve himself in, allow his third parties, his accomplices to take part in. Then we have this other photo of Michael with Bill Clinton, with some children's faces being edited out of the photo. And understandably, at first glance, this is a pretty unsettling image.

However, the woman in the picture with Michael and Bill is actually none other than Diana Ross. And the kids in this picture are actually Diana's and Michael's kids, not victims of any Epstein-related crime. And we know this because this picture was taken around a highly publicized DNC fundraiser that Michael was involved in at the Apollo. You have to ask, why would a seemingly innocuous image of Michael and Bill Clinton be tossed into this just massive document dump around one of the most notorious criminals in our modern times? Because look, despite Michael's history and despite Bill Clinton's history, there is a possibility, I would say maybe even a probability, that these two could have been in the same place at the same time for completely uncontroversial reasons not related to any criminal activity whatsoever. So yeah, I'm just saying from my own perspective, there does seem to be some heavy spin involved in what is being shown and what isn't.

And if you don't believe me, interestingly, there have been some further removals of images and material since the original release of this first wave of documents. As has been reported by numerous outlets, we have this series of PDF images in which there is a number missing in this ongoing sequence of many different pictures.

And apparently, the photo that was removed was this one over here, which actually has Trump's smirking face in it. This photo of him and Melania and Jeff and Ghislaine, of course, that has been spread across the internet for years now. So Trump and the DOJ clearly got caught with their pants down here, tried to remove this picture, but then ended up posting it back up after the public outcry in reaction to its removal, claiming this picture being taken down had nothing to do with Trump or politics in the first place.

So, yeah, again, to close things up here, I'm not coming on here to claim that Michael Jackson has never done anything weird or questionable, but his inclusion in these photos does seem to be a sleight of hand on some level. Like, 'oh, hey, look at the major superstar celebrity hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein. That's the person that he used to involve himself with, not the guy who is the President right now.'

But yeah, there you go. Very odd stuff going on. Very odd.

Anthony Fantano, documents, release, forever.