Vox Sentences - What’s in the Epstein documents?

Friday, January 5, 2024

Ellen Ioanes here — good afternoon, and happy Friday. Here’s what’s on tap today.

UP FIRST: New information in the Jeffrey Epstein case

CATCH UP: Dissent among Israeli leadership over what’s next in Gaza

—Ellen Ioanes, reporter

What's up with these docs?

Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

This week, more than 1,000 documents related to the still-unfolding story of the deceased financier and serial abuser of young girls Jeffrey Epstein were made public.

As my colleague Li Zhou has explained, there have been days of speculation about what the documents might reveal, and rumors swirled on social media that they contained a list of powerful people complicit in his crimes. Those rumors fueled existing conspiracy theories that powerful politicians linked to Epstein (who haven’t been accused of any wrongdoing) like former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump were somehow trying to suppress the nonexistent list to protect their reputations. 

However, as Li writes, the truth is: 

The “list” is actually dozens of documents from a 2015 court case filed by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre against his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of child sex trafficking. These documents reference roughly 150 of Epstein’s associates, including Clinton and Trump, but don’t provide significant new information so much as they offer a more in-depth look at the people in Epstein’s circles.

To refresh your memory, Epstein was a mega-rich money manager who, in addition to associating with powerful men like Clinton, the UK’s Prince Andrew, and attorney Alan Dershowitz, was also a sexual predator who abused girls as young as 14. He took a deal and received an abbreviated jail sentence for sex crimes in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2019 that a Miami Herald investigation made the full extent of his crimes — and how he’d evaded justice for them — public.

Epstein died by suicide while in jail in 2019, so we may never have a full account of his misdeeds — and who else was involved in them. But the Herald is fighting to unseal thousands of documents related to proceedings against Epstein, and they started coming out this week. 

Documents released Wednesday and Thursday include police records, depositions from victims, emails, and court documents. More documents are expected in the coming days, and Dershowitz has joined the Herald’s suit to have them released, arguing they will prove he didn’t participate in Epstein’s abuse. 

Read Li’s full piece about the Epstein documents here.

Israel’s break in the ranks

Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images

As Israel’s war in Gaza stretches into its fourth month, with no end in sight, cracks are starting to show in the government over how to prosecute the war and what happens next. The issues raise further questions about whether Israel actually has a workable plan for what comes after the war, and whether its war cabinet will be able to agree on a realistic path forward.

Here’s what happened:

• In a meeting on Thursday night, lawmakers from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and other right-wing parties expressed their dissatisfaction with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi over an internal review of the IDF’s security failures on October 7. 
• The lawmakers objected to Halevi’s proposed panel to carry out the investigation, as well as the timing of the probe, with right-wing members arguing the military should worry about October 7 after the war. 
• Two of the most notoriously ultra-nationalist officials specifically objected to the appointment of ex-defense chief Shaul Mofaz to the investigatory panel due to Mofaz’s role in Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. 
• Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also presented his plans for the next phase of the war. According to those plans, the IDF will now focus on hitting Hamas targets in the south while carrying out “raids, the destruction of terror tunnels, aerial and ground activities, and special operations” in the north, as CNN reported. 
• Though Gallant proposed continued “operational freedom of action in the Gaza Strip” after the war concludes, he said there would be “no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip.” But far-right leaders have advocated to forcibly displace Palestinians and resume Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

• Cheaper prescription drugs are on the way in Florida. The FDA approved Florida’s request to import millions of dollars’ worth of prescription drugs from Canada — saving the state up to $150 million in just the first year. The pharmaceutical industry is, predictably, not having it. [New York Times]

   

• America’s school shooting crisis continues in Iowa. A shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, has killed one sixth-grader and injured five others. [Associated Press]

   

• Winter is coming — finally. Two major winter storms are set to hit the East Coast and affect as far west as the Great Lakes and Texas starting this weekend. Bundle up! [CNN]

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