Epstein reading room exhibit criticized as political stunt

In February, reporters at NPR noticed missing pages from the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. Further reporting revealed the missing documents were 2019 FBI interviews with a woman who alleged sexual abuse by Epstein and Donald Trump when she was a minor. The Justice Department offered no explanation for withholding the records, and Trump issued blanket denials.

The scandal threatened to become a major controversy, but its momentum was overtaken on Feb. 28 when Trump launched an unprovoked and likely illegal war against Iran, pushing the Epstein files from the headlines.

The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, a pop-up exhibit by the nonprofit Institute for Primary Facts, has turned a Tribeca storefront into a physical library of the Epstein files. The group printed 3.5 million pages of digital files released by the government and bound them into 3,437 volumes, displaying them on floor-to-ceiling shelves. The overwhelming volume illustrates the scale of the investigation.

“If you are doomscrolling on your phone, you see a cat video, and an ICE raid video, and your aunt’s birthday cake, and evidence of one of the most horrific crimes in American history – it’s all just together on your phone. One thing is as important or unimportant as the other,” said David Garrett, one of the primary organizers. “Having a physical space really gives people the ability to see context.”

The reading room bills itself as “an exercise in radical transparency” and is free and open to the public through May 21, though visitors must make an appointment. Most are not allowed to peruse the documents due to concerns that the government failed to redact victims’ personal information. The exhibit also includes a timeline of sexual misconduct allegations against Trump and Epstein, and notecards for reflections. In the center, 1,400 artificial candles behind semi-sheer curtains honor Epstein’s victims. (The Justice Department told Congress in December it had redacted the names of 1,200 people in the files identified as victims or relatives; Garrett said the group chose 1,400 to account for victims not yet known.)

“When you look at that and each one of those is a life, you’re like, ‘How is it that he wasn’t stopped after 10 or 20 or 200 or 500 or 1,000?’” Garrett said of the candles. “It means something when you see that – that’s hard to get on your phone.”

The project succeeds in demonstrating scale: the 5-pound volumes require effort to lift, and the sheer number of victims – including Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide last April – is viscerally apparent.

However, the project fails to convey the individual horror of the Epstein case. The detailed stories of abuse documented by journalist Julie K. Brown are reduced to a political troll of Trump. Epstein cultivated relationships across the ideological spectrum, and the exhibit’s narrow focus on the president undermines a fuller understanding of the networks of money and power that enabled his crimes.

The reading room resembles a library but lacks its utility. The Justice Department released the files haphazardly, and the exhibit reproduces that disorganization rather than bringing structure.

“The fact that the files are bound especially seems foolish,” said investigative journalist Emma Best, co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets). “It makes them less readable and much harder to update.”

Volunteers have created more useful tools, such as JMail.world, which turned the Justice Department’s PDFs of Epstein’s emails into a searchable email interface, and EpsteinExposed, a database and network graph built by a data engineer who quit his job to organize the files.

“Six figures would pay for a lot of research which could be used to identify people in the files and contextualize their presence,” Best said. “That much money would fund DDoSecrets for a year.”

Without practical usefulness, the exhibit leans on aesthetics, reminiscent of Instagram-friendly immersive experiences. Garrett confirmed the team included late-night TV writers, activists, and people who created Disney immersive experiences. The candle display, with its synced flickering lights, feels more like a Museum of Ice Cream installation than a serious examination of sexual violence and elite impunity.

Garrett said he founded the Institute for Primary Facts after the Smithsonian removed references to Trump’s impeachments from a display last year. “I got pissed off,” he said. “I texted everyone I knew, like, ‘I’m gonna raise money and I’m gonna do a thing.’” The institute’s public filings reveal little about its funders, but Garrett, a wine entrepreneur, said he “wrote the first check.” The board includes Garrett, Democratic strategist Jenna Lowenstein, and Mary Corcoran, co-founder of an anti-Trump Republican PAC.

“What unites the people involved is concern with what we consider to be the erosion of democracy in the United States,” Garrett said. “It could be that Donald Trump has never done anything wrong in his life, but just the mere fact that he’s interfering in and impeding the investigation … that’s the kind of corruption that can ruin a democracy.” (Trump’s second term has seen interference in the Justice Department and FBI; the department has failed to release another 2.5 million pages of Epstein documents as required by law.)

Garrett stressed that the project is not aligned with any campaign or political party.

“If Donald Trump was enacting policies that he believed in and following the rule of law, I wouldn’t be here, probably,” he said. “I was mad at Bush too, but I didn’t do this. I think [Trump is] breaking the law. I think he’s corrupting our democracy. I think I owe my kids a functioning democracy.”

The approach feels unsatisfying. Some believe keeping Trump’s association with Epstein in the spotlight helps Democrats win the House in the midterms and prevent authoritarianism. While the aims may be worthwhile, the project instrumentalizes documentation of horrific abuse for media coverage.

“For me, the purpose of this is attention,” Garrett told the Guardian. The stunt generated desired headlines. As the interview ended, George Conway arrived with supporters for his congressional campaign, filming something for Instagram.