It was New Year's Eve and the music was still playing when the ceiling of the ground floor of the venue caught fire. People started recording with their cell phones until someone shouted, This place is on fire, we have to get out fast! Then came the screams, different from those of minutes earlier and not captured by the cameras. And chaos.
Within hours, there were reports about Epstein's correspondence with Steve Bannon, Larry Summers, and Michael Wolff. One Epstein e-mail suggested, but offered no proof, that Trump "knew about the girls," many of whom were later found by investigators to have been underage. Another missive from Epstein implied, mysteriously, that he had spent the first Thanksgiving of Trump's Presidency in Palm Beach, in close proximity to him, years after the two had supposedly broken off all contact. Several other e-mails also hinted at ongoing ties.