Old Sheldon

This is an extraordinary speech by Sheldon Whitehouse on the Senate floor a few days ago. It is largely free of rhetorical flourishes, is often dry, drags in places, and is long, but riveting nonetheless. I started it assuming that I would drop out after 10 or 15 minutes, but once I got into it, I was never really tempted to quit.

Whitehouse spent a little more than half his working life as a practicing attorney, and it shows. This is constructed like a highly effective closing argument after a long and complex trial, with every thread laid down for the jury leading to a damning conclusion.

Josh Marshall had a similarly positive reaction.

The speech runs almost an hour long. But it’s worth it. There’s so many details in the speech it defies easy summary. The best overview is to think of all the ways Donald Trump was and is connecting to the Russian government and the oligarch para-government. Whitehouse then shows that Jeff Epstein is right there at almost every point of contact. It’s a mix of old information, new investigating and a pretty close analysis of emails in the Epstein Files that wouldn’t really jump out at you on their own but become quite interesting when lined up with other outside information which places them in context.

But that’s not why I’ve linked to it here. Instead, I want to highlight the Russian connection with respect to two companies—Palantir Technologies and SpaceX—and three individuals: Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Kimbal Musk.

Kimbal is often left out of this conversation, but he does serve on the boards of both Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX and has extensive access to the companies. He is also, as previously mentioned, extraordinarily intertwined with the saga of Jeffrey Epstein.

Add to that Elon’s extensive involvement with radical white nationalist groups in Europe, and you have the kind of stories that would normally rule out a high-security clearance—yet these companies have access to some of the most sensitive national security data imaginable.

Seems like something someone should look into.  

Sen. Whitehouse to uncover connections between Trump, Russia, and Epstein.