Reason’s Robby Soave Makes the Case for Why the Epstein Files Shouldn’t Be Made Public

New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File

Reason Senior Editor Robby Soave argued that releasing millions of files on Jeffrey Epstein may not have been such a great idea because it has led to a witch hunt aiming to “embarrass, harass, or smear anyone tangentially associated” with the dead sex criminal.

Soave made his case in a new article in The Free Press on Tuesday.

He noted early in his piece that any “sane” person would want to see sexual abusers punished and that it is understandable that many people believe justice has not been served. But he argued that the release of the Epstein files has turned into a goldmine for political partisans whose prime motivation is “digging up dirt” on their enemies, not helping victims.

Soave wrote:

For example: The Epstein files reveal no facts whatsoever to support the idea that Democratic Party elites—namely, Bill and Hillary Clinton—or Republican Party elites—specifically, Donald Trump—were guilty of sex crimes with children.

Yet this lack of proof is itself being treated as evidence of some sort of larger cover-up: The Clinton and Trump stuff must be buried even more deeply!

The veteran libertarian journalist acknowledged the argument for releasing all the files is not an absurd one. Soave said it has shone a light on the “incredibly poor discernment of many well-respected societal elites,” including men like Noam Chomsky, Bill Gates, and Steve Bannon. Judging them for their cozy relationships with Epstein is not an issue, he said.

But he also argued that supporters of civil liberties and privacy should be concerned with the government releasing files “that contain gossip, unverified information, and outright lies. The political nature of the Epstein files must be acknowledged.”

He ended his piece by circling back to Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), whom he referenced earlier in the article. Higgins was the only dissenter in the 427-1 House vote to release more Epstein files last year; Higgins argued putting the files in the hands of everyone, including a “rabid media,” would “absolutely result in innocent people being hurt.”

Soave said — based on what we have seen the past few months — it was worth wondering if “Higgins’  lone no vote will see its reputation improve over time.”

His article in Bari Weiss’ former outlet comes a few days after 3.5 million Epstein-related documents were released; that followed a massive release of documents last fall.

The New York Times reported right after the latest batch was published by the DOJ that it used a” propriety search tool” that found President Trump’s name appeared in 5,300 of the documents.

Trump, meanwhile, has said in recent days the new files “absolve” him and that it is time for the nation to “get on” to other issues.

Soave followed up his article on Wednesday by saying the “Epstein obsessives” are incapable of defending their claims of a global pedophile ring. They can only “shriek hysterically,” he said.

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