Well Beyond Watergate
Opinion by Ben Everidge for Thomas
Photo Credit: ABC News
Why the Epstein Files Must Be Released…
“The greatest threat to American democracy is not a foreign adversary. It is the belief that some people are simply above the law.”
In the long shadow of Watergate, America’s most infamous political scandal that brought down an American president and several of his top lieutenants, there is another darkness now looming. Its name is the Epstein Files.
Once thought to be a sordid side story of a disgraced financier, the Epstein saga has since metastasized into something far deeper, far more dangerous. The web of political elites, celebrities, judges, presidents, and power brokers tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s activities is no longer the stuff of conspiratorial whispers. It is a test of national integrity.
And America is failing that test.
From Watergate to the Walls of Secrecy
Watergate shattered the illusion that the White House was infallible. It reminded the nation that the presidency is not a crown, and the Constitution is not optional. But what Watergate did for executive accountability, the Epstein Files threaten to reverse through silence, delay, and redaction.
We have seen the outlines of corruption: sealed depositions, hidden client lists, deferred prosecutions, sweetheart immunity deals, mysterious deaths. What we haven’t seen, what the public deserves, is the truth.
If Watergate was the tip of a single corrupt iceberg, then the Epstein Files suggest an entire glacier of institutional rot, spanning continents and generations. And still, the files remain behind locked doors.
Why?
A Test for Our Institutions and Our Soul
This is not a partisan issue. This is not about left or right, Democrat or Republican, MAGA or progressive. This is about whether we still believe in the rule of law.
Because if we do, if we believe the American justice system is more than a rigged chessboard for the rich and powerful, then we must demand the release of the full, unredacted Epstein Files.
And not in 25 years. Not after the next election. Now.
Let the chips fall. Let the truth speak. If presidents are implicated, so be it. If billionaires fall from grace, let them. If entire philanthropic empires collapse under the weight of complicity, let them crumble. We cannot heal what we refuse to expose.
The Call for Action: A Citizen’s Pledge
We at Thomas call on elected leaders, civic watchdogs, legal professionals, and independent candidates across this country to demand:
Full release of all unsealed and redacted Epstein case files held by the DOJ, FBI, SDNY, and any associated federal body.
A bipartisan commission with independent legal oversight to investigate and publicly report on systemic failures of justice in the Epstein case.
A Truth and Accountability Pledge signed by candidates for office in 2026 and 2028, affirming support for complete transparency in this and similar cases.
A Personal Word from Thomas’ Editor
“I served on Capitol Hill in the immediate aftermath of the fallout of Watergate. I remember how fragile the republic felt in those days, and how strong we became once the truth was known.
“Today, the Epstein scandal eclipses Watergate tenfold.
“If we fail to expose the truth, we send the message that some crimes are too big to prosecute, and some people too powerful to confront.
“That is not the America I believe in. And I don’t think it’s the America you believe in either.”
— Ben Everidge, Editor-in-Chief
Let the Truth Be Known
The world is watching. Survivors are waiting. And history is recording every silence, every shrug, every delayed release.
The longer we wait, the deeper the damage. The more we conceal, the greater the collapse.
Transparency is not optional. It is essential.
The time has come. Open the files. Let the truth rise.
A THOMAS SIDEBAR
Why Transparency Matters: What the Constitution Demands And Who Guards the Guardians?
Transparency is not a courtesy. It is a constitutional necessity. The U.S. Constitution does not use the word “transparency,” but it codifies the principle through the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and Congressional oversight powers. Together, they form the framework for a government that answers its citizens, not its secrets.
“We the People” cannot govern a republic we are forbidden to see.
Free speech without free information is just noise.
Due process without accountability becomes denial.
At the heart of the Constitution is a simple, radical idea: no one is above the law. Not kings. Not presidents. Not judges. Not billionaires in closed rooms. When agencies redact, delay, and bury information in the name of “security,” they often mean protecting power, not protecting people.
Who Guards the Guardians?
That ancient Latin question - Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - “Who will guard the guards themselves?” has never been more relevant than in the era of Epstein.
Our modern guardians include the Department of Justice, the FBI, the courts, elite universities, media giants, and philanthropic institutions, many of which intersected with the Epstein orbit at some level.
But the system broke. Guardians failed. Some became enablers. Some looked away. And some, it seems, may have been part of it all along.
The People Are the Last Check
The only remaining check on this system is you. The voter. The citizen. The parent. The survivor. The journalist. The independent mind. The patriot.
You are the final guardian. And if you do not demand truth, no one will give it.
So, we ask again:
Who guards the guardians?
We do. We must.
