Good morning and Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading today.
Today is my birthday, and I kicked around the idea of taking the day off. But then I started reading about retail billionaire Les Wexner and his closed-door deposition yesterday in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, which Republicans didn’t even bother to show up for, so concerned are they about the trafficking of women and children.
If you don’t know, Wexner is the retail giant behind Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. He owns other brands, as well, but I’m mentioning those two for a specific reason. Not only does Wexner appear in the Epstein Files, but he’s also listed as a co-conspirator in a 2019 DOJ document. During his deposition, Wexner claims that he was an innocent victim of Epstein’s “con,” and that he can’t recall many of the details Democrats are interested in learning. Convenient, that.
House Democrats said that Mr. Wexner, the former chief executive of Victoria’s Secret and a prolific donor to Republican candidates, repeatedly denied having any personal relationship with Mr. Epstein and said he had been “conned” by the financier and sex offender, but had done nothing wrong.
In an opening statement he provided to the committee, Mr. Wexner, 88, described himself as “naïve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein.”
He added: “He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”
Here’s where I tell you that Virginia Guiffre, an Epstein victim who died by suicide last Spring, mentions Wexner four times in her book Nobody’s Girl.
Giuffre alleged that those who were in Epstein's circle would have been aware of his abuses, writing that readers should not "be fooled by those . . . who say they didn’t know."
"Anyone who spent any significant amount of time with Epstein saw him touching girls in ways you wouldn’t want a creepy old man touching your daughter,” she wrote. "Even the men who didn’t partake of the favors Epstein offered could see the naked photos on his walls and the naked girls on his islands or by his swimming pools."
This is definitely the kind of thing you send to a guy you don’t know very well:
By all accounts, Wexner and Epstein spent significant time together. Guiffre also claims that she and Epstein “hosted” Wexner at what has become known as “Epstein Island.” As Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said yesterday, “There would be no Epstein island... no Epstein plane... without the support of Les Wexner."
“He’s claiming there was no friendship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, said at a news conference during a break in the deposition, a claim he dismissed as “bogus.”
Mr. Wexner also told them that he had not been questioned by the F.B.I. or the Justice Department, Democrats said.
“He is someone who has been named by survivors, someone who is in the files more than most people, someone who is clearly the financial benefactor to Jeffrey Epstein,” Mr. Garcia said. “What the hell is going on?”
It’s rich that Republicans, who are always screaming about protecting women and girls, couldn’t find the time to show up for Wexner’s questioning. After all, this is the same base that flocked to see Sound of Freedom, a whack-a-doo Jim Caviezel film about saving victims of sex trafficking, in 2023. But saving teen girls from sex trafficking by prolific Republican donors is apparently less interesting than saving them from Colombian drug lords.
As I said above, Wexner has denied any wrongdoing, and what follows is solely my opinion.
In addition to the lack of interest in doing anything about Epstein or his pedophile pals, here’s what makes me incandescent with rage over this whole Wexner thing. As I mentioned, Wexner owns Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. If you know anything about those two brands, you no doubt recognize the outsized influence they’ve had on what Americans consider to be “the ideal woman.” Whether we’re talking about Victoria’s Secret’s angels or the size-zero white teens in A&F ads, the message was the same: Beautiful means white, tall, and thin.
Now, we’re learning that the same men who convinced women that being “beautiful” means looking like a long-legged teenage boy with breasts were shameless pedophiles. And despite the legions of feminists who have protested for decades that adult women are not naturally hairless, with a 20-inch waist and the dewy skin of a 14-year-old, that’s the ideal American women have been chasing since they were tweens. And the men who sold us that ideal are attracted to children.
The men who sold us that ideal are attracted to children.
The harm done to women and girls by Wes Lexner and his ilk is incalculable. And it makes me angry. That “look” has trickled down to men and boys, too many of whom are “grossed out” by women with body hair or wrinkles or who have the gall to look like they’ve gone through puberty. I’m not laying it all at the feet of Les Wexner, but I’m not absolving him of his part in it, either.
Tell your wives, tell your daughters, tell your sisters, and your mothers: Stop chasing a beauty ideal dreamt up by grown men who are attracted to children.
On a final note, the State of New Mexico has begun an investigation into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch, and they’ve created a panel to oversee the inquiry.
The committee’s creation is the latest call for transparency and further investigation in the aftermath of the US Department of Justice’s release of a trove of Epstein files, which has sent shockwaves across several industries after revelations of the late financier’s ties with prominent figures.
US Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico applauded the passage of the measure Tuesday, saying in a meeting with the measure’s co-sponsors, “New Mexico is acting where the federal government is failing to do so.”
“For many, many years, there were allegations of sexual assault and abuse that happened at Zorro Ranch here in New Mexico, which is one of multiple properties that Jeffrey Epstein held, and those crimes were never fully investigated — neither by local authorities nor the FBI,” said Stansbury, a Democrat.
On that note, I’m going to take some time off for my birthday, and I hope you have a great day, too.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
Please enjoy Nazgul, who reportedly escaped from his home in a nearby B&B, kicking ass and taking names in Cortina.
The NBC feed is here (no one was in danger of getting bitten) - NBC won’t let me embed.
Hey, survive and advance out there today, kids. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
