A.G. Gancarski
Republicans in the Virgin Islands pressed Ron DeSantis on how federal neglect led to a shortage of lawyers and judges that potentially enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
As reported by the St. Thomas Source, Gordon Ackley, Chairman of the Virgin Islands Republican Party, grilled the Governor and 2024 presidential candidate about a lack of appointments for key positions as the financier, who died in prison under a cloud of sex trafficking charges in 2021, allegedly committed heinous acts.
“As President you get to appoint U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Marshals and federal judges that oversee the territories. These appointments are very important to us because this is the only check and balance we have against our Democrat-controlled Legislature and we need these checks and balances in place,” Ackley said.
“I feel that if we had those checks and balances in place, some of this negative publicity we’ve had through three Governorships here through the Epstein fiasco might have been headed off earlier,” Ackley added.
DeSantis noted that “massive amounts of positions” were unfilled under former President Donald Trump, as he used the Epstein question as a launching pad for how aggressive he would be to fill openings and put his stamp on the federal government.
“Of course,” DeSantis said. “I mean, it’s malpractice not to fill all available positions as the President. When you don’t do that then the bureaucrats run the show, and that means basically the Democrats are running the show.”
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time even this month that Epstein issues have been discussed by DeSantis on the 2024 trail.
During an event held by the Never Back Down super PAC, the Governor told an Iowa crowd that he would release whatever details weren’t released about Jeffrey Epstein.
“I don’t know why they didn’t make all that stuff public. You have a right to know what happened with all of that and we will declassify or put out whatever we can on that,” DeSantis said in Le Mars.
DeSantis was never close to Epstein, but the financier’s issues have intersected with the state and its officials to such a degree that the Governor, in his first term, ordered an investigation of Palm Beach County officials in the wake of Epstein’s 2019 death in a jail cell to ensure that the criminal did not get “special treatment.”
Notably, DeSantis this summer reappointed a lawyer who negotiated a “sweetheart” plea deal for the Palm Beach billionaire sex offender 15 years ago to one of several commissions responsible for nominating judges in Florida.
DeSantis again named Miami Beach lawyer Lilly Ann Sanchez, a shareholder at LS Law Firm, to the Judicial Nominating Commission of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami-Dade County. He first appointed her to the group July 2, 2019.
Sanchez was part of a quartet of lawyers that included Ken Starr, author of the Starr Report that led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, who defended Epstein against charges of the statutory rape of numerous underage high school girls.
Epstein ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting and trafficking underage girls, serving just 13 months on work release in a private wing of a Palm Beach jail.
Eleven years later, in March 2019, Sanchez and Starr co-wrote a letter to The New York Times defending Epstein’s light sentence. They contended the “number of young women involved in the investigation has been vastly exaggerated” and that Epstein’s time in prison and “enormous monetary settlements relying on his negotiated agreement” entitled him to “finality like every other defendant.”
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Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
10 comments
Earl Pitts "Famed Fiction Reviewer" American
October 17, 2023 at 10:02 am
Congrats on the amount of thought and time it took to take a totally leftist set of issues related to Epstine’s opperations and pretzel the finger of blaim (ouch sore writer’s finger syndrom) to illogically point to America’s Next POTUS 2024/2028 Ron Desantis.
You Sir are a very talanted teller of tales, dream weaver, charlatian, snake oil salesman and hero of every Dook 4 Brains Leftist that loves fiction.
Carry on Sir,
Earl Pitts “Famed Fiction Reviewer” American
Earl Pitts is a Pedophile
October 17, 2023 at 2:29 pm
Earl, we all know that if you could afford it, and didn’t live in that crappy little trailer you rape children in, you’d be the first in line to visit Epstein Island.
You’re a pedo, and everybody here knows that.
Hang yourself.
rick whitaker
October 24, 2023 at 10:31 am
CAUTION ⚠ TROLL COMMENT FROM EARL
Fake hypocrisy
October 17, 2023 at 10:24 am
So Epstein got away with his criminal behavior for how long in the swamp called Florida?? DeathSantis appoints the same lawyers so hard on pediphiles to pick judges. He is sooo worried about the children of this state. We already knew it’s whatever works for Ronnie. Or who pays the most to his campaign
Thomas Kaspar
October 17, 2023 at 10:34 am
Odd and bogus drag and pedo SEO clickbaiting .
charger John
October 17, 2023 at 10:35 am
every person defending Epstein is part of the web.
Sex traffic of a child or conspiracy should carry a death penalty!
Even agent of government concealing the evidence is guilty.
They all need to go down! Where is justice. Same for mossad and CIA honey pot snares.
Earl Pitts is a Pedophile
October 17, 2023 at 3:11 pm
And Earl Pitts should be first one we execute.
It’s Complicated
October 18, 2023 at 7:41 am
‘Negotiating a sweetheart deal’ needs to be looked at in context of the best interests of the client. If the client is the perp, the negotiator did the job well. If the client is the government (the people), the negotiator did NOT do the job well. One does not have to like the client to objectively assess whether the job was done well.
In the vast majority of criminal cases the defense legal counsel are FAR better (KSAs) than the government’s legal counsel. The government does contract civil or administrative cases out to private sector attorneys, but they do not in criminal cases.
The government really does need to release EVERYTHING related to the Epstein case, and let the chips fall where they may.
Donna Underwood
October 19, 2023 at 4:56 pm
The main reason Epstein was killed was to protect someone’s Political Career. Who had the most to lose at that time. I still believe that Trump had all the Power to have something like this taken on to protect himself. He did frequent that Island and we all know that Trump believes himself such a ladies man. What would stop him from being with these young girls. There are photos and documents with names and important information of high profile Clients. Epstein was ready to turn all that over to work out a deal. Like I said, “Who had the most to lose.”
Who wouldn’t want that information getting out? Who had the most power for this Cover Up?
Jack
October 24, 2023 at 7:47 am
Trump and his wife were both good friends of Epstein and I would not put anything pass Trump and his associates
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