A comprehensive accounting on Jeffrey Epstein is finally underway. At least some of the documents the Justice Department began releasing Friday — with more to come by year’s end, the agency said — will probably reveal new information or associations, creating fresh threads for journalists to explore.
Some fundamentals that we already know about this story are important to recognize as we collectively try to move forward.
This political scandal is about much more than everyday politics.
This political scandal is about much more than everyday politics. Democrats will surely feel pleased with themselves for their part in elevating the story and forcing the release of the files. Many might have been motivated by a simple political calculation: Donald Trump was friends with Epstein for years, so anything that keeps Epstein’s name in the news would make the president look bad. But the eventually bipartisan push for release had the effect of creating at least a momentary sign of life in Congress, which has shirked its responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government for much of the year.
There’s a more fundamental reason why we should all be pleased at further exposure of Epstein’s activities and his network of friends and associates.
At its core, the Epstein story is about power and powerlessness, accountability and impunity. When crimes like Epstein’s abuses are exposed — and especially when we learn that prominent people were complicit, or ought to have seen what they closed their eyes to — it offers a chance to reinforce our values and aspirations for the kind of society we want to have.
How did Epstein get away with his abuses for so long? Why did the rules not seem to apply to him? Why, even after he was first convicted, did he not seem to lose his standing among the powerful? Those questions, and not just his connection to the president, are what will have implications for the national reconstruction project that must begin when Trump leaves office.
For years, it was Republicans who were most interested in the Epstein story — and not just any Republicans but the most conspiracy-minded among them. It isn’t hard to see why. Epstein was a real-life version of some of their wildest imaginings, especially the QAnon conspiracy theory that the world is controlled by a cabal of murderous satanic pedophiles who kidnap and kill children to drink their blood. When he died in a federal prison in 2019, it convinced many on the right that Epstein was the key to unlocking something even bigger, an all-encompassing conspiracy of unfathomable scope and villainy.
And when the Trump administration dragged its feet on releasing the files — with the president begging the country in July to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” many of those die-hard MAGA loyalists felt betrayed — and said so, loudly. Although the president continued urging Republicans not to succumb to what he claimed was a Democratic “hoax,” the effort for release gathered force — pushed by Epstein’s victims and the human inclination to be curious about what powerful people are trying to conceal.
The newly released files aren’t the only source of information the public can now access about Epstein. Democrats in Congress have been releasing photographs provided by the Epstein estate, which include images of people such as Bill Gates, Steve Bannon and Noam Chomsky on Epstein’s plane or at his properties. Does that prove they committed crimes or had some advance knowledge of Epstein’s? No. Is it terribly embarrassing for them? Absolutely.
And it should be. If you were friends with Epstein, you deserve to be shamed and scorned.








