The global news media is enjoying a field day with the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, which is only something to be expected for anyone suspected of passing confidential government information to benefit a foreigner. However, faith in the justice system is so corroded that there is an element of shock that people in high places are actually being held to account. Lord Mandelson will no doubt be next. In Norway, royalty and senior politicians are also under investigation. France has set up a commission to look into potential corruption involving people connected to Jeffrey Epstein. In fact, the only place where no activity is taking place appears to be in Trump’s America, where the president himself is at the epicentre of the whole sordid affair.
If anything, the US Justice Department is working hard to draw a veil over it all and ensure nobody is ever prosecuted for any of the potential crimes revealed by the three million Epstein files that have been made public so far.
There is also some surprise that Andrew was arrested rather than called in for a low-key interview with his lawyers present. I understand, arresting someone at this stage is only done if it's thought to be 'necessary.’ Maybe they thought he was a flight risk or could have destroyed evidence, I don’t know. Perhaps it was to send a message that Andrew isn’t being treated leniently. It was his 66th birthday and probably the first time in his whole life that he had ever been brought to book.
Les Wexner, one of the billionaire co-conspirators of Epstein, gave evidence to a congressional committee yesterday and told committee members nobody from the DoJ had ever spoken to him! Remember, the FBI has had access to these files for years and apparently done nothing to investigate whether the allegations are true or not. Now, within three weeks of the files being released, the British monarch’s brother is arrested, interviewed under caution, and his homes searched. The crime that he’s being investigated for carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
I should say Mr Wexner denies any wrongdoing. I’m not sure if Mr Mountbatten Windsor has made any comment yet on the misconduct charge, but I assume he will also deny it. Andrew's arrest comes on the same day that former president Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea was convicted of insurrection for declaring martial law in December 2024 and sentenced to life in prison. It can be done.
Many US commentators and talk show hosts are contrasting the very different reactions on the opposite sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
What continues to amaze me is the polling in America. A YouGov survey shows Trump is pretty unpopular, but given the scale of corruption, incompetence, economic damage and the daily avalanche of impeachable offences pouring out of the White House, you have to admit his overall support at 30-40% of the population is stunning.
On the Epstein case, almost a quarter (24%) of US voters approve of his handling of the 'investigations' into Epstein's crime. Just over half (53%) disapprove. I’m not sure even if God himself came down and indicted Trump on the most horrific charges, with video evidence, including murder, his popularity would get much lower. America has not just lost its moral compass; it has smashed the device with a sledgehammer and thrown the parts into a blast furnace.
Another budding Trump scandal can be seen in his mini-UN lookalike known as the Board of Peace. Seth Abramson, a professor, attorney, author and political columnist who has written entire books about the political scandals of Donald Trump, describes it as a "criminal enterprise" and the "new axis of evil." Others say his entire administration is "the most powerful crime syndicate in history."
“It is time to acknowledge what has become tragically obvious: the Trump administration is operating as a massive criminal enterprise.” This absolutely captures it. Instead of "Trump Administration," we should say "Trump Syndicate." #TrumpSyndicate— George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 (@gtconway.bsky.social) 19 February 2026 at 17:05
Looking at the BoP members who have decided to join, it does have all the appearance of an Organised Crime Group. Abramson's substack blog lists some of them:
- Benjamin Netanyahu, war criminal from Israel
- Vladimir Putin, war criminal from Russia
- Mohammed bin-Salman, war criminal from Saudi Arabia
- Mohammed bin Zayed, war criminal from the United Arab Emirates
- Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, war criminal from Egypt
- Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, corrupt dynastic ruler of Bahrain
- Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, war criminal and Trump business partner from Turkey.
- Aleksandr Lukashenko, war criminal from Belarus (vassal of Vladimir Putin)
- Ilham Aliyev, corrupt autocrat and Trump business partner from Azerbaijan
- Viktor Orbán, corrupt autocrat, antisemite, and Trump ally from Hungary
- Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, corrupt Qatari ruler and Trump business partner
This list of fabulously wealthy villains wouldn't look out of place in a James Bond novel.
Abramson has gone through the full text of the BoP's charter, signed by Trump:
"Not only is the new entity for all intents and purposes a kingdom ruled by its Chairman—who’s designated explicitly in the Charter as “Donald J. Trump”—but Trump has crafted the by-laws of the group in such a way as to make himself a sort of “forever king” of the Board of Peace unless he (i) voluntarily resigns from that role, which of course he would never do, or (ii) he’s “incapacitated,” a determination to be made only by the unanimous vote of an “Executive Board” he alone appoints. So obviously that situation will never occur, either, and even if it did (e.g., in the case of Trump being inarguably deceased), all that would happen is that a third clause, (iii), would kick in, which is that a “designated successor” only Trump can appoint would take his place as Chairman."
"In other words, no one but Trump has any control over the Board of Peace, period.
"And he has more or less sole power to decide who is (or remains) a member of the Board, assuming no member state should choose to “self-deport” from the group."
He has also announced that the USA will 'donate' $10 billion to the Board of Peace, money not approved by Congress and over which he will have total control:
Trump: "I want to let you know that United States is going to make a contribution of $10 billion to the Board of Peace." (Congress has not appropriated this money!)— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 19 February 2026 at 18:45
Finally, we owe a debt to Julie K Brown of the Miami Herald, who in 2018 picked away at the rather lenient plea deal that Epstein was given by Alex Acosta in 2008 when he was Attorney General in Florida. Mr Acosta then served as a member of Trump’s cabinet in his first term.
Ms Brown tracked down about 80 of Epstein’s victims and persuaded a few of them to identify themselves and give evidence about Epstein. It was published in November 2018 under the title: Perversion of Justice, Jeffrey Epstein and sparked all of this off.
This whole thing has the capacity to bring down the President of the United States. We can only hope.
