The US Department of Justice, on March 6, 2026, released a batch of previously unreleased documents from the Epstein Files that include notes from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviews with a woman. Those documents have revealed that Jeffrey Edward Epstein (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019), the American financier and child sex offender, had introduced the woman to President Donald John Trump and both of them sexually assaulted her multiple times. The woman was a teenager at that time.

The FBI interviewed the lady multiple times. During one of the interviews, the lady informed the FBI officers that Epstein had taken her to either New York or New Jersey in order to introduce her to Trump in the 1980s. According to the alleged victim, she bit Trump when the latter forced her to perform oral sex.

During her third interview with FBI agents, the woman detailed threats she and her mother had received in the years following the alleged assault. She stressed that she felt the threats were not coming directly from Epstein or Trump, but were connected to them. They received a number of threatening phone calls and voicemails, telling them to “leave the island” and to “keep your mouth shut”. The lady told investigators that she had several “close calls” where she almost ran off the road since moving to the Pacific Northwest. However, it is unclear whether the woman notified the Police about the threats at that time.

President Trump has repeatedly claimed that he had no involvement in Epstein’s crimes and was unaware of the sexual abuse. He has also attacked investigations into his conduct, calling evidence and information released by the Justice Department or associated with cases against him false, fabricated or a hoax. However, Democrats have accused the President of using the power of his office to suppress, conceal or manipulate information, actions and criminal acts in an attempt to protect his political standing.

Meanwhile, a section of political analysts has opined that President Trump triggered the Iran War, jointly with Israel, on February 28, 2026 to remove the Epstein Files from public attention and media reporting. According to analysts, the President is a master at sowing chaos and confusion to divert attention from his actions. They believe that the primary objective of the Trump Administration is to protect the President and his billionaire pals from any accountability for their alleged involvements in Epstein’s international enterprise of child sexual assault, trafficking and corruption.

Could Europe Defend Itself?
European leaders were angry with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte who stressed: “If anyone thinks here again that the European Union (EU), or Europe as a whole, can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming. You can’t. We can’t. We need each other.” The Dutch politician made the comment while addressing the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels on January 26, 2026. The statement is quite significant as President Trump had threatened to seize Greenland from its NATO partner Denmark a couple of days before Rutte’s address to the EP. Although the US President later backed away from the idea of annexing Greenland, the NATO Chief’s statement has raised the issue of European defence yet again.

European leaders are now worried as no one knows whether the continent would be able to defend itself without the US, if Russia wages a war against the rest of Europe. Are the Europeans even capable of achieving strategic autonomy? The issue has prompted the continent to face a harsh reality that it has avoided for years.

It may be noted that former President Barack Hussein Obama and several of his predecessors complained about European overreliance on US defence systems. They also asked Europe to spend more on defence. However, the top leadership in Washington DC backed down only after realising that repeatedly raising the issue of cutting European defence spending could weaken an alliance that was crucial to the US’ global supremacy.

On the other hand, the Europeans have long viewed their extensive, two-decade deployment in Afghanistan and support for US-led operations in different parts of the globe post-9/11 as a major investment in the Transatlantic Alliance, often feeling that this commitment, spanning thousands of lives and billions of Dollars, secured a long-term, reciprocal security partnership with the US.

In fact, if the US removes its security umbrella from Europe, the latter would not be able to defend itself. The Europeans still rely heavily on Washington DC for intelligence, surveillance, wartime communications and cloud computing, heavy transport aircraft and suppression of enemy air defences. They do not even have enough long-range missiles to carry out precision strikes.

Currently, France and the UK are the only two European countries that possess independent nuclear weapons capabilities. France maintains a sovereign arsenal of approximately 290 nuclear warheads, while the UK maintains roughly 225-250 warheads, with its deterrent largely integrated with US technology. The problem is that Russia maintains a significant numerical advantage in nuclear weapons over Britain and France combined, with a total estimated inventory of approximately 5,459 warheads (based on data available as of early 2026). This includes strategic warheads deployed on missiles and bombers, as well as a large reserve and stockpile of non-strategic (tactical) weapons. Hence, the two countries will have to further increase their nuclear capabilities in number and scope in the next few years to compete with Moscow.

Now, Europe must free itself from psychological dependence on the US and the European leaders should take responsibility for their own security.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das