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It's worth noting that elected representatives of a on at least could agree that the web of Epstein's sex trafficking must be exposed. Yet even that has limits, because the legislation shields from public view. Trump has insisted throughout that he has done nothing wrong and did not know of Epstein's activities.

But , Epstein bedevils not only the president but academics, government leaders, royalty, journalists and banks, across borders and parties. Public trust has suffered, too. Here's a look at the escalating cost of the truth in the ongoing scandal.

Epstein friendship upends a pillar of academia

Economist Lawrence Summers has bounced back before after falling from the pinnacles of academia, government and punditry. That's not likely for now, in the face of newly released emails showing that Summers stayed in touch with Epstein years after the disgraced financier pled guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The letters reveal that Summers appeared to ask Epstein for advice about women — and Epstein dubbed himself Summers' “wing man� — as late as 2019. That has cost the economist his positions with OpenAI, the Center for American Progress, a think tank, and the Budget Lab at Yale University. At first, Summers pledged to keep teaching classes at Harvard, captured in an eyebrow-raising video Wednesday in which he opened a class by noting his shame about the relationship with Epstein. Then , the university said.

The 70-year-old Summers, a former treasury secretary and onetime contender to lead the Federal Reserve, has had to give up responsibilities at Harvard before. In 2006, he stepped down as president of the elite school after a speech in which he suggested that women were less represented in math and science fields because of “intrinsic aptitude.�

This week, Harvard said it was conducting its own review. In 2020, the elite school that Epstein visited its Cambridge, Mass., campus more than 40 times after his 2008 plea deal. It said he was given his own office and unfettered access to a research center he helped establish. It also found that Harvard accepted more than $9 million from Epstein during the decade leading up to his conviction but barred him from making further donations after that point.

A former prince loses royal title, duties, castle home

A well-documented connection with Epstein has his home on castle grounds and his title as prince of the realm.

Revelations about the king's brother trickled forth for years and left little doubt that Mountbatten-Windsor, as Prince Andrew is now known, not only was involved in Epstein's sex crimes against minors but stayed in touch with the disgraced financier after his conviction.

The evidence against Andrew grew increasingly hard to ignore even by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who was said to consider Mountbatten-Windsor her favorite child and may have shielded him from the full consequences of his scandals.

That became impossible after Andrew gave a disastrous interview to the BBC in 2019. He was widely panned for failing to show empathy for Epstein’s victims and for offering unbelievable explanations for the friendship.

In her posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre said she was only 17 when she was trafficked to Andrew and that Epstein took a now-famous photograph that showed the then-prince with his hand around her waist.

Andrew denied ever meeting Giuffre, did not recall the photo being taken and committed no crimes. But he did reach with her. Giuffre died by suicide in April.

“I can't take any more of this,� a sender identified in Epstein’s contacts as “The Duke� wrote to him in 2011 of the scrutiny of their friendship, according to the

The flood of tawdry stories threatened to undermine support for the British monarchy at a time when Charles, 76 and in cancer treatment, is seeking ways to buttress the institution for his son, , to inherit.

Charles stripped Andrew of his title and forced him to move out of , the 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle where Mountbatten-Windsor has lived for more than 20 years. Mountbatten-Windsor is banished to , the king's remote and private estate in the east of England.

Trump’s image of control took a hit

This time, the president failed to control — then claimed credit for resolving it.

In fact, Trump signed the bill to release files only after he’d lost a highly visible political fight, including with some of . That started a 30-day clock ticking for the release.

But six years after Epstein’s death, his friendship with Trump continues to chip away at the president’s .

Trump increasingly began paying those costs in July, when the Justice Department that no “further disclosure� of the Epstein files would be forthcoming. MAGA supporters, expecting Trump to make good on his campaign promise to release the files,

Trump he no longer wanted the support of such “stupid people� and “weaklings� — but that . He tried but they kept doing so. A White House effort to lean on key Republicans supporting the files’ release didn't work.

Major developments that Trump has trumpeted as achievements didn't quiet the Epstein issue for long. Democrats made sure of that, on Nov. 12, the same day Congress and Trump .

The president thundered on social media that Epstein’s email claiming that was a “hoax.� At another point, the president was forced to respond to a Wall Street Journal report that he’d written and signed to Epstein that referred to secrets. Trump denied writing the note and against the news outlet. Earlier this month, the president the Justice Department to linked to Epstein.

Then, faced with the fact that Republican in Congress would vote to release the FBI files, Trump abruptly backtracked.

“I DON’T CARE!� Trump wrote in a social media post. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.�