Who and What Are In the Epstein Files
Massive redactions mar release. Plus: Brown and MIT cases solved (thanks to Reddit). TikTok signs the deal. Trump's Hunger Games. And News That Doesn't Suck.
Who's ready for this week to end? It started with tragedy and is ending with a bureaucratic sleight of hand. The DOJ dumped hundreds of thousands of Epstein-related files, most of them blacked out. The legal compliance performance inspired some in Congress to threaten to sue the DOJ. Still, the Epstein document dump does contain some new information. We get into it below.
Also, Reddit detectives solved what law enforcement couldn't: a murder case spanning Brown and MIT. ByteDance is "selling" TikTok — but not really. Trump's trying to rebrand the Kennedy Center as another personal property. The EEOC is targeting workplace discrimination against white men. And ICE? They're now aiming to denaturalize 100 citizens per month, turning a rare legal tool into a monthly quota. Thank goodness we have News That Doesn't Suck. Today it’s about groundbreaking gene editing that helped a baby with a rare genetic disorder take its first steps.
Here Are Your Headlines
Delay, Deny, Defend: The DOJ on Friday released “hundreds of thousands of pages” of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. We’re working through the massive dataset. But for now, here’s what we can tell you. The document dump includes audio recordings of the DOJ’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell; video of the door to the jail cell where Epstein died; what appear to be thousands of photographs, many with faces blacked out; an address book with names visible but numbers redacted; a list of 254 “masseuses” with names and numbers both redacted; and endless pages of blacked out content and files that are indecipherable without context. There’s an official FBI complaint dating back to 1996, in which a professional photographer reported that Epstein stole photos she’d taken of her 12 and 16 year old sisters. She further alleged that Epstein asked her to photograph young girls in swimming pools and warned that “if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down.” Appearing on CNN, attorney Jennifer Freeman said this vindicates one of her clients, Maria Farmer, who for decades has claimed that she reported Epstein to the FBI in 1996 and “nothing was done.”
What’s Missing: The law required the DOJ to release all files in searchable form. The files are not searchable (if you try searching the term “Trump” nothing comes up, despite his own chief of staff confirming he’s in there; the New York Times found multiple instances of his name and photos of his face, most of them the same as in files already made public). The DOJ also did not release all its files related to Epstein, an apparent violation of the Epstein Transparency Act. Multiple House Democrats say they “are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law.” In a 6-page letter, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche explained how the DOJ decided what would be released. 200 DOJ attorneys helped review and redact documents. (187 of them worked in the National Security Division. This could merely be because Epstein interacted with world leaders – or something more.) Blanche also said 1,200 names were identified as victims or victims’ relatives and were all redacted. Blanche said he and his colleagues “are protecting every single victim” and a DOJ spokesperson insisted that the administration is “providing levels of transparency that prior administrations never even contemplated.” (Translation: not full transparency….)
Details Emerge: The files include multiple photos of former President Bill Clinton. In one, he’s swimming in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell and a person whose identity has been redacted with a black square. In another, Clinton is relaxing in a hot tub, shirtless, next to a person whose identity has been redacted. Other photos include what look like phone messages written for Epstein; at least twice, Epstein received a message with the same wording: “I have a female for him.” (Strangely, the name of the caller is redacted.) One document includes 2007 testimony from an FBI agent, who details how a 15-year-old girl was allegedly recruited by another underage girl to give Epstein massages; he “tried to engage” her in “more and more sexual behavior” and had nude photos taken of her, all while she was underage.
Photo Evidence: House Democrats had already released 68 photos from Epstein’s estate on Thursday. The photos lack context, but include several celebrities. They include Woody Allen, Google’s Sergey Brin, and New York Times columnist David Brooks — who just weeks earlier compared Democratic interest in the Epstein files to the QAnon conspiracy, (and did not mention any association with Epstein). Several photos appear to show parts of a woman’s body, on which quotations from Lolita have been written. The lines are taken from the opening of the infamous book, in which the protagonist, a middle-aged man, declares his love for the eponymous young girl who he subsequently kidnaps and sexually abuses.
Yes, But: Keep in mind, Epstein worked to clean up his image by making donations to universities and helped find financial backing for projects in science, technology and the arts. As a result, he was photographed with people who worked in these spaces. Those listed in his address book or photographed with him were not necessarily involved in sexual activities with him.
O Mistério: After a frantic, seemingly fruitless five-day manhunt, officials on Thursday night discovered the dead body of the person believed to be behind both the mass shooting at Brown and the murder of lauded MIT nuclear physics professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro. Here’s what we know.
Power of the Internet: As the search for the Brown shooter entered its third day, with the trail growing increasingly cold, law enforcement received an anonymous tip that Rhode Island’s attorney general said “blew this case right open.” The tip pointed to a post on Reddit where someone said they’d seen the shooter. “The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates,” the post read. “That was the car he was driving.” The poster, a Brown graduate, reached out to Providence police and “really turned out to be critical to our investigation,” Providence’s mayor said.
Gruesome End: Investigators tracked the car to a rental place in Boston. From there, they got a name — Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. They then tracked the car to a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. In the unit, they found the suspect’s body, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Timeline: According to officials, Neves Valente used the rented car to travel to Brown, where he spent several days scoping out the surroundings before carrying out his horrific attack; he shot 11 students, killing two. As police searched unsuccessfully, Neves Valente traveled north, back to Boston, where he had rented hotel rooms. There, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Leah Foley, Neves Valente shot and killed Loureiro. Foley said Neves “was sophisticated in hiding his tracks,” employing techniques like changing his license plates and using a phone that obscured his location.
But Why? Neves Valente’s motive(s) remain unclear, and it doesn’t seem he was targeting the Brown students he shot. At the same time, evidence suggests the attacks weren’t random. First, Neves Valente and Loureiro studied physics together at Portugal’s top science and engineering school in the 1990s. Neves Valente graduated top of the class, beating Loureiro for the honor. But in the following decades, Loureiro was the more successful of the two; while he received a master’s degree in 2000 and a PhD from a top London university in 2005, Neves Valente enrolled in a doctoral program but never finished. Here’s a twist: He studied for his PhD at Brown University, but only from 2000 to 2001, when he took a leave of absence. According to Brown’s president, Neves Valente likely spent a “great deal of time” in the building where he carried out the mass shooting, as that’s where physics classes are usually held. But the president said Neves Valente had no active affiliation with Brown at the time of the attack.
Taking the Chance: The Trump administration used the attack to justify suspending a green card lottery program that allows roughly 50,000 people from countries underrepresented in the US obtain legal permanent residency every year. Neves Valente entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and won this lottery in 2017. The odds are stacked against applicants; in 2025, 20 million people applied. Those chosen are subject to the exact same vetting as any green card applicant. The program was created by Congress, so its unilateral suspension by Trump will likely be challenged in court.
What’s In a Name: Trump’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Center on Thursday unanimously voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” The board members argued the change “recognizes that the current Chairman [i.e., Trump] saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction.” Since Trump appointed himself chair in February, ticket sales have fallen to their lowest levels in years, artists have boycotted the center, and multiple productions have been called off. On Friday, Trump’s name had already appeared on the building’s facade. However, the law that created the center specifically prohibits renaming it. Multiple Kennedy family members criticized the move. Maria Shriver called the move “beyond comprehension,” adding, “just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go….”
Strikes Midnight: TikTok has signed the deal handing its US operations to a group controlled mostly by US investors. The algorithm will still be controlled by ByteDance, which will reportedly keep about half of the profits of the new US entity; but the algorithm will reportedly be overseen by US auditors, and the US-specific algorithm will be retrained on Americans’ data. The storage of that data will be overseen by Oracle, which is run by Trump ally Larry Ellison. In other words, the Trump administration has chosen to accept multiple terms the Biden administration rejected several years ago. In the Biden years ByteDance offered concessions, including giving the president veto power over changes to the app’s data collection policies and what speech is allowed; it’s unclear if Trump’s got these terms included. The deal still needs approval from China.
Big Beautiful Coincidence: Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC — and did so hours before the UK government began its decennial review of the publicly funded outlet’s charter. Conservatives in the US and UK have for years sought to undermine the broadcaster, accusing it of having a liberal bias. According to the chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Trump’s suit “does not have any legal basis.”
Hunger Games: Trump on Thursday announced the creation of the “Patriot Games,” in which two high school athletes — one boy, one girl — from each state and territory will compete. No word yet on whether tributes will be selected by lottery.
Keep reading to find out about… ICE’s worrying new quota for targeting naturalized citizens. A shock resignation from one of Trump’s most loyal allies. Why the US just struck multiple sites in Syria. The administration’s latest outreach to white men that’s definitely, definitely not DEI. Trump’s take on presidential history (hint: it all leads back to one person).
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