Trump Was Warned, Survivors Were Betrayed

In America, we’re told no one is above the law. Not celebrities. Not billionaires. And certainly not former presidents. But what happens when that promise is broken—when justice is not just delayed, but deliberately buried? We’re watching it happen right now.

President Trump was privately warned by officials—including Pam Bondi—that his name appears several times in the sealed Jeffrey Epstein files. Instead of launching a public investigation, the Department of Justice gave him a heads-up. No press conference. No transparency. Just a quiet message behind closed doors.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and ask: who is the justice system really working for?

Because this isn’t just about Trump. And it’s not just about Epstein. It’s about the women and girls who were abused. It’s about the survivors who spoke up—many for the first time—hoping that telling the truth would finally matter.

But when powerful people get protection instead of prosecution, survivors don’t feel safe. They feel dismissed. Disbelieved. And worse, they feel the pain all over again. That’s not just emotional—it’s real trauma. Therapists call it revictimization, and it happens when survivors are forced to watch the system fail them. Again. When they see the people who hurt them walk free. When the truth is buried to protect reputations instead of revealing the harm that was done. For many survivors, the emotional fallout of that betrayal can be as painful as the abuse itself. If there is one lesson history screams at us, it is this: when we fail to hold abusers accountable, we don’t just allow future abuse—we retraumatize every survivor still waiting to be believed.

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t operate alone. His world was full of enablers—people in power who knew what was happening and chose to look the other way. Some of those people are still in positions of influence. Some have never faced a single consequence. And now, instead of holding them accountable, our government is helping shield them from the truth.

Trump’s efforts to distance himself from Epstein aren’t surprising. He’s been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women. He’s been caught bragging about it on tape. He has publicly insulted survivors and dismissed their stories. Of course he doesn’t want his name tied to Epstein’s crimes. But the bigger issue here is why the system is helping him do it.

This is not just one man trying to protect his image. It’s a network of political protection that puts the powerful first—and survivors last.

We’ve seen this before. In churches. In sports. In Hollywood. The pattern is always the same: silence the victim, protect the abuser, and move on. But survivors can’t move on—not when the system keeps telling them their pain isn’t worth confronting. Not when the government is telling us that the worst thing we have survived didn’t even happen. So when the names in the Epstein files are kept hidden, when survivors are ignored, when the focus is on salvaging reputations instead of exposing crimes, it signals to every survivor of abuse: you still don’t matter.

Keeping the Epstein files sealed doesn’t just protect the guilty. It sends a clear, cruel message to survivors: what happened to you isn’t worth the trouble of telling the truth.

But we know better. We are better. We have to be.

We know that sunlight is the only way to disinfect rot. That justice can’t live in sealed documents and secret favors. That if we care at all about the women and girls who were hurt, we have to care enough to name the men who hurt them.

Every day the Epstein files remain hidden is another day survivors are asked to sit with their pain while the people responsible walk away untouched. That’s not justice. That’s betrayal. And we can’t let it stand. Not for Donald Trump. Not for anyone.

Justice demands more than trials. It demands courage. It demands that we stand with survivors, not with those who prey on them from behind closed doors of power. It demands that we all speak up.

Because if we don’t speak up, if we don’t demand the truth, then we are helping to keep the cycle going. And the people who’ve already suffered the most will keep suffering—quietly, painfully, and alone. We owe them more than that. I’m owed more than that.

We cannot look away. Not now. Not again. So it’s time to tell the truth. All of it. And I will be first in line to believe every single victim brave enough to stand in the light.

Kate Gray is a columnist for The Forum, covering national and cultural affairs. She lives in the New York City area.