The Epstein files are fading from memory. This library is keeping them alive
New York: If the so-called Epstein files are the hidden agenda of US politics in 2025, they have largely disappeared from public comment in the months since.
It could be argued that the impact of these substances, released in drops a few days before Christmas, is greater across the pond in England than in Washington.
David Garrett is determined not to allow the files and US President Donald Trump’s place in them to be erased from the collective consciousness.
On a quiet street in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein have opened the Memorial Reading Room: part library, part art installation, part museum. Inside you’ll find all 3.5 million files called Epstein: downloaded, printed and bound into 3437 volumes.
Each volume consists of 800 pages. In total, the books weigh 17,000 pounds or 7711 kilograms. “They say this is 17,000 pounds of evidence of one of the most horrific crimes in American history,” says Garrett.
The Michigan-based organizer put the exhibit together with the Institute for Primary Facts, a Washington nonprofit that aims to educate Americans about citizenship and democracy through pop-ups like this one.
“We wanted to be able to provide context,” he says, passing the tag around on a sunny Tuesday morning. “When people think of 3.5 million files, it’s the law of large numbers; you don’t really know what that means until you go in and see it.
“It’s very difficult to come here and look at all these books of evidence and think that the investigation is complete. It’s very difficult to think that only two people went to prison. It seems a little out of place and impossible to believe.”
The exhibition is a work of activism. Like many Epstein survivors and their families, Garrett believes Trump’s Justice Department orchestrated the files to benefit Epstein’s friends and potential co-conspirators and to the detriment of the victims.
The ministry denies this and says the accidental release of victims’ personal information was done in error. It is also stated that the Trump administration has complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act and disclosed much more information about the Epstein case to the public than its predecessor.
Garrett doesn’t believe it. “This law that was intended for transparency… actually did the opposite and made it almost impossible to actually use them for accountability purposes,” he says.
“What we hope to do with this chamber is to generate some attention and public pressure on the Department of Justice to release all the files and organize them properly this time.”
Printing all the files is a huge technical task, says Garrett. Not only were the files scanned using a variety of software platforms and formats, but the redactions also proved difficult to reproduce.
“When you proofread a file digitally, you use what’s called 300 percent black. But 300 percent black tears the paper in the printer. So we had to go through every pixel on 3.5 million pages to get it ready for printing.”
On the back wall of the gallery, visitors will find an extensive timeline of the Epstein saga, including the long history of the financier’s relationship with Trump. The two men were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s and often socialized together in New York.
They fell out at some point in the mid-2000s, although the circumstances are still unclear. Trump says he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for “stealing” young female employees, but some reports suggest the two initially fell out over a real estate dispute.
Garrett believes the US president has more questions to answer. “What you see here is that these two men, these two convicted criminals, led very similar lives,” he says. “One died in prison, the other is the president of the United States.”
Trump claims he has been vindicated by the released dossiers: They contain no weapons against him and instead ensnare prominent Democrats like former president Bill Clinton, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman.
I frankly ask Garrett why there are no pictures of these people on the wall.
“None of them are covering up this crime,” he says. “None of them controls the Ministry of Justice, none of them has the authority to make these files public.
“Jeffrey Epstein says Donald Trump was his best friend. They spent a lot of time together. He can talk about other people all he wants, but there is no one more like Jeffrey Epstein than Donald Trump. They are essentially the same person.”
The New York exhibit is only open for two weeks, but Garrett says plans to tour other cities are afoot. Relatively speaking, few people will ever set foot in a reading room, let alone leaf through the millions of pages within its walls.
However, it was successful in attracting attention and received a lot of attention on traditional and social media platforms. The Epstein files may have diminished in importance, but their place in history is certain.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
