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Now that the government shutdown is (almost) in the books, we can turn our attention back to other matters, e.g., why Donald Trump, and by extension the US government and (almost) the entire GOP, is trying to hush up the crimes of pedophile and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

At least that is the inescapable conclusion anyone who is following this saga with an open mind has to reach.

Of course, Trump would disagree with that characterization and instead claim that it’s all just a “hoax.”

Then again, he is hardly an impartial observer. After all, the president used to be pals with the sex trafficker of minors, was aware of Epstein’s proclivity for very young women, and, by his own account, shared “secrets” with him.

The latest piece of evidence that the government is engaged in some sort of cover-up comes courtesy of a whistleblower who described the preferential treatment that Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her involvement in their sex trafficking operation, is receiving.

After she met with the president’s former attorney and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this year to offer testimony intended to exonerate Trump, Maxwell was not only moved to a minimum-security camp in direct violation of Bureau of Prisons policies that prohibit the transfer of sex offenders to such facilities, she also received VIP treatment there.

In a letter to the president, Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, laid out some of the perks that Maxwell enjoys, according to a whistleblower.

For example, her meals are being customized and personally delivered to her cell, and the facility’s warden, Tanisha Hall, makes the arrangements for Maxwell’s guests, which includes providing a cordoned-off area for her visitors, who are allowed to bring computers.

In addition, she gets to play with a puppy and is allowed to work out after hours, including in a “staff-only” area.

“Meanwhile, any inmate or staff who questions or blows the whistle on the institution’s grotesque pampering of a serial sexual abuser and human trafficker at taxpayer expense is being punished and retaliated against by Warden Hall,” writes Raskin.

The lawmaker added that, according to a whistleblower, within the prison, “the deference and servility to Ms. Maxwell have reached such preposterous levels that one of the top officials at the facility has complained that he is ‘sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch.’”

Raskin noted that he also received information that Epstein’s partner-in-crime is working on a request to have her sentence commuted, and asks Trump whether Blanche offered Maxwell a deal in exchange for her demonstrably false testimony.

Earlier this year, Trump had not ruled out pardoning her.

The lawmaker put the president on notice that his “mysterious intermittent bouts of amnesia about Ms. Maxwell” are not convincing.

“You should not grant any form of clemency to this convicted and unrepentant sex offender,” Raskin stated. “Your Administration should not be providing her with room service, with puppies to play with, with federal law enforcement officials waiting on her every need, or with any special treatment or institutional privilege at all.”

In addition to asking Trump to make Blanche available for public testimony, Raskin also wants the president to explain whether he discussed a potential commutation of Maxwell’s sentence with the deputy attorney general, whether he was involved in moving her to the minimum-security facility, and what Maxwell or her representatives had promised him in return for her testimony.

Finally, the lawmaker points out Trump’s suspicious behavior related to his former friend.

“You have adamantly refused to release the Epstein files despite campaigning on their release. You lied when you denied authoring a lewd and incriminating birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein, and you ridiculously claimed that your own unmistakable signature on that note was not your signature,” Raskin wrote. “You shut down the DOJ’s ongoing investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, and you expressly declined to rule out pardoning his main accomplice, convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The situation looks more and more suspicious to growing bipartisan majorities in Congress every day.”

Speaking of that bipartisan majority, now that the House will have to vote on legislation to reopen the government, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will no longer be able to keep the chamber out of session to prevent a vote on a resolution that mandates the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.

We can’t say that we are optimistic that DOJ will fully comply if that measure passes.

In July, Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi that his office was told that hundreds of DOJ personnel sifted through the Epstein documents and “were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”

While all of this, and Trump’s other bizarre behavior and statements related to Epstein, is highly suspicious, none of it proves that the president was somehow involved in any of his pal’s crimes. Sure, he seems to have been aware of something going on, but that doesn’t make him an accomplice.

Still, it would be nice to get some answers… even though the president, his administration, and GOP leaders in Congress seem hellbent on trying to prevent the full truth from coming out.

Hopefully, we will know a bit more where everybody stands once Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) Epstein measure comes up for a vote… and it will finally put the spotlight back on questions that are of great interest to the American people: How is it possible that Epstein was able to operate a child trafficking ring involving hundreds of young women for so long? Who else was involved in his crimes and the apparent cover-up? And why is Trump trying so hard to make all of this go away?