Dear Editor,

In the runup to the 2012 presidential election, Donald Trump tweeted repeatedly that Obama would attack Iran in order to win.

“In order to get elected Barack Obama will start a war with Iran.” November 29, 2011. 

“Barack Obama will attack Iran to get re-elected.” January 17, 2012.

“I predict that President Obama will at some point start a war with Iran in order to save face!” September 16, 2012.

“Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike on Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” October 9, 2012.

“Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly – not skilled.”

These quotes appeared in mediaite.com, The Times of India, indiatimes.com, and CNN.  

Sound familiar? No wonder some critics are calling this the “Epstein War.” Is the master of distraction up to his old tricks? Why are 53 pages missing from four separate FBI interviews with a young woman who claimed she was 13 when she was raped by both Trump and Epstein? Is Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice involved in a coverup?

A New York Times review of the DOJ’s recent release of over 3 million pages identified more than 5300 files containing over 38,000 references to Trump, Melania, his properties and other associated terms. To be fair, “references” do not prove guilt. 

One other fact: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), after reviewing the unredacted files, (probably AI generated), said that he found Trump’s name appeared “more than a million times,” although these include extensive raw data and potentially some repeated and unsubstantiated references. Again, no conclusive proof of guilt.  

But did Trump “see no evil” in all these interactions with Epstein? Was he a playboy back then? He was convicted of sexual abuse of E. Jeanne Carroll and awarded $5,000,000. He was convicted of 34 felonies for his involvement with a porn star while his wife, Melania, was pregnant with his last child. The unanimous jury verdict in that trial stated that Trump “falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.”

He is quoted in an offhand moment while taping the Access Hollywood video, “You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women] — I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it ... You can do anything," including, he said in a vulgar comment, grabbing women by their genitals. (actual quote is “grab them by their ****”). Does a leopard change its spots overnight?

Are the Epstein documents hitting close to home for him?  Iran was and still is a brutal dictatorship which has killed its own people and spread death throughout the Middle East. I am not mourning the death of the Ayatollah. But it does make one wonder about Trump’s motivations and timing for this war against Iran.  

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County