How my sister Ghislaine beat the Epstein conspiracy theories

The nine-hour interview of my sister Ghislaine, conducted under limited immunity by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over two days in late July, generated an all-too predictable uproar. The reaction became still more intense following the release of the associated transcripts and audio late last month.

Having held Ghislaine in torturous conditions of solitary confinement in the run-up to her trial – including waking her up every 15 minutes during the night for 30 months at the same time as they deliberately deprived her defense of exculpatory “Brady” material – prosecutors ensured both Ghislaine and her legal case were effectively hollowed out. Under the circumstances, she could not and did not take the stand. The rest is history.

Her encounter with the Department of Justice’s Blanche was the first time ever she had spoken to a US law enforcement official. In the interview, Ghislaine challenged – if not demolished – the multiple prevailing conspiracy theories and myths surrounding Jeffrey Epstein: from the notorious “client list” to a supposed blackmailing scheme to the way he made his money and the alleged involvement of the Mossad intelligence agency. In regard to the creation of the nonexistent client list, in particular, and other fictions, she highlighted the insidious (and hugely profitable) role of the accusers’ lawyers and the foundational (and also hugely profitable) role of Virginia Giuffre in the whole Epstein mythology. Ghislaine calls it a “narrative” that was “built upon and just mushroomed – basically… a Salem Witch trial.”

We learned late last month that Giuffre’s posthumous autofiction is to be published, which suggests that the Epstein gravy train is still chugging away.

Poor old Todd Blanche. He seems to get parachuted by his ultimate boss into “hot-button” situations: just over three months ago, the President fired the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, citing concerns of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” and appointed Blanche as the new acting librarian of Congress. The trouble is that Hayden’s deputy, Robert Newlen, assumed the role of acting librarian by default on her termination and is publicly contesting the legitimacy of Blanche’s appointment.

Blanche is not the only Todd in the news. Over in France, where I’ve spent the better part of August in Provence, home to my mother’s Huguenot Protestant ancestors – and incidentally, where she is buried – Emmanuel Todd, a public intellectual and commentator, is making headlines. Todd is perhaps the primus inter pares of declinist thinkers, who predicted the fall of the Soviet Union and is now suggesting the US is in decline. He has a book, The Defeat of the West, in which he attributes the decline of western civilization largely to the collapse of Protestant values, principally of the work ethic, as well as education and social discipline. Alas, Todd offers no quick “Trumpian” fix, telling us instead we’re all going to hell in a handcart. He may well have a point.

The concept of being “wheeled to hell” as punishment is an old one. In the early 14th century, to escape political turmoil in Rome, Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon. One morning this summer I found myself wandering the old town, which Petrarch called “Babylon on the Rhône.” But the efforts of various Avignon popes endowed the city with a seriously impressive collection of architectural landmarks. On the opposite side of the river, I would recommend a detour to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the resort of the French cardinals during the 70 years of schism. The view across the river to the Papal Palace is wonderful.

Provence experienced a heatwave for most of last month, with average daily temperatures well over 90 degrees. Everything and everybody had to slow down just to cope which, to be frank, is not that hard in rural, provincial France with its traditional agricultural landscapes and quiet villages that seem eternal, made for sipping a cool glass of wine in the shade and leaving the world’s troubles to one side.

For whatever reason, however, I found I could not shake the name Todd from my mind. I discovered it comes from the Middle English word “todde” which translates as “fox.” So the name is indelibly associated with the rather foxlike qualities of cunning, intelligence and adaptability.

The late 19th-century American jockey Tod Sloan, the US’s first international sports superstar, had all those qualities in spades but his career finished badly and he was banned from racing and given the cold shoulder. He left his mark on the English language, though, when his first name was adopted into the rhyming slang used by London’s East End cockneys, giving rise to the expression: “Tod Sloan, on your own.” Over the years, the rhyme was lost, but “on your tod” came to mean being on one’s own. That’s a state which, whiling away time on holiday to beat the heat, I can certainly recommend.

This article was originally published in The Spectator’s September 15, 2025 World edition.