Epstein’s 50th birthday book blows up the myth that his powerful friends were clueless. Inside its pages is a section literally titled “Children”—and even a fake check from Donald Trump, “selling a fully depreciated asset,” a girl, for $22,500. This isn’t just depravity hidden in plain sight. It’s proof his friends weren’t looking away. They were laughing. They were in on the joke.
For years, one of the most frustrating parts of reporting on Epstein has been the pervasive narrative—even pushed by some journalists—that it was just him and Ghislaine Maxwell, who, according to the FBI, abused as many as 1,000 girls. That his rich and powerful friends were somehow oblivious to the darkness that was blindingly obvious to anyone who stepped into his Palm Beach mansion and saw the walls lined with photos of naked girls.
The New York Times’ Ezra Klein put this narrative on full display in July when he said on his podcast: “I think I should say, before I start this episode, where I am on the Epstein story. If you forced me to give you my best guess, I think this guy had a lot of powerful friends, and that he was a predator and a pedophile, and those sides of his life were mostly separate.”
But if seeing is believing, then the birthday book should end the debate. Some of the most powerful leaders in the world weren’t separate from Epstein’s depravity—they were complicit in it by, at the very least, saying nothing at all. They treated his obsession with young girls as a sick joke worth celebrating.
This is why survivors insist the book matters. On the latest episode of The Red Letter, Epstein survivor Marijke Chartouni explains why she believes it corroborates their accounts. She also shares the story of personally confronting Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, urging her to support Rep. Thomas Massie’s bill to force the Department of Justice to release the files.
Marijke walked away from that conversation hopeful and tearful—only to discover later that she had been spun by yet another politician. It was a painful reminder of the same dynamic that let Epstein thrive: powerful people protecting each other, while survivors are left fighting for scraps of justice.
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