Tag: jeffrey epstein

David Brooks Said ‘Count Me Out’ Of Epstein Story, Then Wound Up In Epstein Photos

A few weeks ago, New York Times columnist David Brooks urged people to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal already.

“The Epstein Story? Count Me Out,” reads the title of his Nov. 21 op-ed. In it, he laments that America’s political class has spent months trying to get a clearer picture of the late convicted sex offender’s ties to President Donald Trump and other powerful people, and what they may have known about Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.

There are much more pressing issues facing the country, Brooks argued, and the real reason people are so focused on the Epstein scandal is because “the QAnon mentality has taken over America,” a reference to a far-right political conspiracy theory centered on a deep-state cabal of elite liberal pedophiles.

It’s also not fair to lump all wealthy and well-connected people into the category of “the Epstein class,” he argued. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has been using this phrase, something he’s said he picked up from voters who have asked him if he’s on the side of “forgotten Americans” or “the Epstein class.”

“I know a thing or two about the American elite, ahem, and if you’ve read my work, you may be sick of my assaults on the educated elites for being insular, self-indulgent and smug,” Brooks wrote. “But the phrase ‘the Epstein class’ is inaccurate, unfair and irresponsible. Say what you will about our financial, educational, nonprofit and political elites, but they are not mass rapists.”

The longtime New York Times columnist may have wanted to turn away from the Epstein scandal, but it found him on Thursday, when Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more photos provided by Epstein’s estate ― and Brooks was in them.

He appears in four of these photos, all of which seem to be from the same event. One shows Brooks smiling for the camera, and another shows him seated at a table near Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Two more images show Brooks in the background, apparently holding a glass of wine, and then again, talking to Brin.

Epstein doesn’t appear in any of the pictures with Brooks, but is in two separate photos that seem to be from the same event.

The pictures don’t show Brooks doing anything weird or wrong. He was just hanging out with a group of rich and famous powerful men, one of whom happened to be a registered sex offender who’d pleaded guilty three years earlier to state charges for procurement of minors to engage in prostitution.

Asked for comment about Brooks appearing in the latest Epstein photo dump, The New York Times responded almost immediately.

“As a journalist, David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event. Mr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, senior vice president of communications at The New York Times, told HuffPost in an emailed statement.

Keep reading

Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How The Iran–Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner’s Base 

When a Southern Air Transport plane was shot down over Nicaragua in October 1986, the world got a rare window into U.S. government covert activity. Southern Air Transport was founded as a small cargo airline in 1947, the same year the Office of Strategic Services evolved into the Central Intelligence Agency as the U.S. pivoted to its Cold War posture. The agency owned the airline outright from 1960 until 1973, at which point it was sold to the same man, Stanley Williams, who had run the company since the Kennedy administration. 

The downing of the plane and the testimony of its lone survivor, Eugene Hasenfus, pulled a string that eventually unraveled the scandal known as Iran–Contra. Using Southern Air Transport planes, the CIA was shipping weapons to Iran, using Israel as a middleman, and deploying the profits to arm the Contras against the leftist Nicaraguan government. 

None of it was legal, and Southern Air Transport was getting too hot. In 1995, the company relocated its headquarters from Miami, Florida, to Columbus, Ohio. The company rebranded by flying imported shipments of clothing from China. But for three years in Columbus, the airline was dogged by rumors it had been—or was still—involved in drug smuggling. 

According to the veteran Columbus journalist Bob Fitrakis, who provided his historical reporting on the topic to Drop Site and The American Conservative, investigators in both the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio’s Office of Inspector General were looking into Southern Air Transport amid ongoing public scrutiny of the Iran–Contra affair—and sources in both offices identified Jeffrey Epstein as having a pivotal role in relocating the planes. 

At the time, Epstein was a relatively obscure financier managing the money and real estate investments of the Ohio-based fashion and retail mogul Leslie Wexner. Under his stewardship of the Wexner empire, the planes that previously carried arms to Iran and Nicaragua were repurposed to deliver clothes to feed Wexner’s network of retail chains, including Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. 

Southern Air Transport abruptly declared bankruptcy on October 1, 1998—exactly one week before the CIA Inspector General released its official findings on the Iran–Contra affair, linking the airline to allegations of Contra cocaine trafficking from Nicaragua. Per Fitrakis, under pressure from the governor’s office, Ohio officials dropped their inquiries, meaning that Epstein’s role never became public.

How did Epstein end up moving the former Contra planes to Columbus? Answering that question—or at least getting close—requires a closer look at the men behind the scandal that defined the second half of the Reagan administration and gave the public the clearest look inside the U.S. government’s clandestine global operations in a generation or more. Like a spy-service Forrest Gump, Jeffrey Epstein can be found there every leg of the way.

Keep reading

Blanche says DOJ won’t release full Epstein files by Friday deadline

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice (DOJ) would not be releasing the full Epstein files on Friday as required under new legislation, instead sending over a partial batch.

Blanche told Fox News the Justice Department would release “several hundred thousand” documents on Friday, “and then over the next couple weeks, I expect several hundred thousand more.”

Blanche attributed the delay to the need to redact any names or identifying information about witnesses, but failing to turn over the full unclassified files could run afoul of the law, which gave the department 30 days to publicly share the documents.

“So today is the 30 days when I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today. And those documents will come in in all different forms, photographs and other materials associated with, with all of the investigations into, into Mr. Epstein,” Blanche said.

“What we’re doing is we are looking at every single piece of paper that we are going to produce, making sure that every victim, their name, their identity, their story, to the extent it needs to be protected, is completely protected. And so I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks.”

DOJ was compelled to turn over the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by a bill that got near-unanimous support in Congress, signed into law after President Trump reversed his earlier stance opposing their release.

While the bill does allow for redactions related to victims and for DOJ to withhold some information about the investigation, it does not provide a rolling deadline to turn over the documents.

Under the law, the DOJ has 15 days to turn over its rationale for any documents withheld.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said not releasing the required files in full amounts to breaking the law.

Keep reading

Epstein files release in chaos as Trump officials scramble to redact thousands of documents hours before deadline

Donald Trump‘s Department of Justice is working around the clock to redact thousands of pages from the Epstein files before their legally required release Friday.

White House officials are bracing for the release of the files after Trump has been the subject of rampant speculation about his connection to Epstein. 

Also believed to be in the files are former President Bill Clinton, the former Prince Andrew, and others.

There are fears that the same rushed workflow and deadline could lead to similar mistakes to the release of the JFK assassination files, which unintentionally revealed the social security numbers of more than 200 people. 

Pam Bondi’s DOJ lawyers are worried that the the Justice Department’s National Security Division don’t have the proper guidance on how to provide the most information legally possible. 

Attorneys for the DOJ are reportedly working on over 1,000 documents per week to get the files ready in time to meet their deadline, CNN reported. 

They must be able to edit the files to protect the victims of the late billionaire pedophile and meet executive and legal privacy requirements. Many are preparing for more to be redacted than is legally necessary. 

‘Either they’re going to screw it up or they’re going to withhold things. It wouldn’t surprise me. Some of it may be incompetence as much as deliberate,’ a non-DOJ lawyer awaiting the release said. 

The DOJ has asked additional counter-intelligence specialists to drop everything else they were doing to process the files. Some refused the assignment.  

Keep reading

Chomsky had deeper ties with Epstein than previously known, documents reveal

The prominent linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky called it a “most valuable experience” to have maintained “regular contact” with Jeffrey Epstein, who by then had long been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor, according to emails released earlier in November by US lawmakers.

Such comments from Chomsky, or attributed to him, suggest his association with Epstein – who officials concluded killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges – went deeper than the occasional political and academic discussions the former had previously claimed to have with the latter.

Chomsky, 96, had also reportedly acknowledged receiving about $270,000 from an account linked to Epstein while sorting the disbursement of common funds relating to the first of his two marriages, though the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor has insisted not “one penny” came directly from the infamous financier.

Keep reading

British Police Will NOT Investigate Former Prince Andrew’s Alleged Use of Taxpayer-Funded Security Officer To Dig Dirt on His Accuser, Late Epstein Victim Virginia Giuffre

Randy Andy is still protected from prosecution.

Now that Former Prince Andrew lost all his royal titles and honors, you could be excused for believing that he was finally about to face real law enforcement consequences for his decades of alleged crimes.

But you’d be wrong.

The British establishment is still fiercely protective of Mr. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

Today (13), it arises that the Metropolitan Police of London will not launch an investigation into the reports saying Andrew asked a taxpayer-funded officer to help dig up dirt on the woman who accused him of sexual assault.

Sky News reported:

“The Mail on Sunday claimed in October that Andrew tried to get his personal protection officer to investigate Virginia Giuffre for a smear campaign in 2011.

He reportedly passed Ms. Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 and emailed the late Queen’s then-deputy press secretary telling him of his request.”

Keep reading

Explosive Epstein photo release shows Trump, Clinton and ex-Prince Andrew… as disturbing images expose pedophile’s sick private world

House Democrats have released over a dozen new photographs of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein parading around with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.

Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee unveiled 19 intimate photos from the estate of the disgraced financier.

The photos also depict graphic sex toys but it is unclear the location or dates of the images. 

The photos do not implicate any of the individuals in Epstein’s crimes. Democrats have selectively released 19 photos of a collection of 95,000 unseen images from Epstein’s estate. 

It is unclear why House Democrats have chosen to release these specific photos. The estate provided the House Oversight Committee with the images as part of the lawmakers’ investigation into Epstein. 

The President is pictured in the release on three separate occasions. 

One photo shows a bowl of condoms with a caricature of Trump’s face along with a sign saying, ‘Trump condom $4.50.’ Each condom shows Trump’s face with the text, ‘I’m HUUUUGE!’

‘These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world,’ said Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee. ‘We will not rest until the American people get the truth.’

Keep reading

Sweden’s Princess Sofia is caught up in Jeffrey Epstein scandal as royal family admit the former lingerie model met the paedophile billionaire several times before marrying prince

Sweden‘s Princess Sofia has been caught up in the scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein after her family revealed the former lingerie model met the paedophile billionaire several times before marrying the country’s prince.

Before exchanging vows with Prince Carl Philip in 2015 and becoming princess of Sweden, Sofia Hellqvist was a reality television star, glamour model and a regular face on the New York party circuit.

The royal family has now disclosed that the princess met with the disgraced financier multiple times in 2005.

At one point, Epstein sent an invitation offering for the princess to visit him on his private island in the Caribbean, according to leaked emails published by the nonprofit site ddosecrets.com and reported in Swedish outlet Dagens Nyheter.

Epstein also offered the princess and her friend places at acting school, the newspaper claimed.

The pair were introduced several times by a Swedish businesswoman, Princess Sofia’s mentor, according to the outlet, who later attended her wedding.

The princess, now 41, worked as a topless model and a yoga instructor and helped to set up a charity before she married Carl Philip, 46, who is third in line to the throne.

‘This is Sofia, an aspiring actress who just arrived in New York. She’s the girl I told you about before I left, who I thought you might like to meet. Maybe we can visit before you go on holiday?’, the businesswoman allegedly wrote in an email to Epstein on December 18, 2005.

She also linked to a photograph of the then 21-year-old model.

‘I’m in the Caribbean. Does she want to come for a couple of days? I’ll send a ticket,’ replied billionaire Epstein, who three years later would be convicted in a state court in Florida for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.

According to the family, the princess did not accept the invitation to Epstein’s infamous US Virgin Islands home called Little St James, where multiple young women including the late Virginia Giuffre have alleged that they were trafficked and abused. 

They did not disclose where, how, or why the princess ever met Epstein. 

Keep reading

Federal Judge Orders Release Of Old Ghislaine Maxwell Files About Jeffrey Epstein

A federal judge in New York on Dec. 9 ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can unseal records in the case against Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, weeks after the passage of a law that required the government to disclose case records related to both Epstein and Maxwell.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the ruling after the DOJ, in November, asked two judges in New York to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s cases, along with investigative materials.

Last month, President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, meaning that the records could be made public within roughly 10 days.

The law requires the DOJ provide Epstein-related records to the public in a searchable format by Dec. 19.

In the order, the judge wrote that the law “does not explicitly refer to grand jury materials,” but added that it “textually covers the grand jury materials in this case.”

“The Court thus finds that modification of the Protective Order is necessary to enable DOJ to carry out its legal obligations under the Act,” he added.

“The Act unambiguously applies to the discovery in this case,” Engelmayer stated, adding that “unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” are covered in relation to Maxwell, Epstein, and connected individuals.

Keep reading

How Epstein Channeled Race Science and ‘Climate Culling’ Into Silicon Valley’s AI Elite

ewly released Jeffrey Epstein files reveal that an apocalyptic worldview – blending racial hierarchy, genetic “optimisation” and even climate-driven population culling – was circulating inside the elite, founder-linked networks shaping Silicon Valley’s rise.

These ideas appear most starkly in the convicted sex offender’s private exchanges with the AI theorist Joscha Bach, and sit alongside the longtermist and transhumanist philosophies championed by other influential figures in the same circles.

Joscha Bach, whose work on cognitive architectures and machine consciousness has shaped advanced AI research and influenced figures such as Elon Musk, appears in the documents engaging Epstein in sweeping discussions about race, hierarchy, genetic engineering and the supposed ‘utility’ of mass death, including under conditions of climate stress.

Meanwhile, another philosopher whose ideas underpin much of modern longtermism and whose work helped shape Silicon Valley’s early thinking on artificial general intelligence, Nick Bostrom, moved through the same intellectual and institutional ecosystem.

His published arguments on eugenics, selective population strategies and existential “optimisation” reveal a parallel strand of thinking within that milieu, financed and legitimised by many of the same networks.

Both men were also financed by Epstein.

Taken together, the Bach correspondence and the longtermist ideas circulating in this environment show that human hierarchy, population thinning and genetic destiny were not fringe provocations, but part of the ambient intellectual air inside the circles designing the next generation of AI.

Keep reading