Despite gas prices and the war, never forget the Epstein Files

I recently read “Nobody’s Girl” by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She was one of many young girls who were trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. It’s not a read I would easily recommend, only because the details of Giuffre’s life are hard to bear.

Another recent read was “My Life on the Road” by Gloria Steinem. The circumstances of Steinem’s life were not easy, either, but Steinem lived a long, productive life. Giuffre turned her suffering into activism but ultimately died by her own hand.

A stark and telling difference between the women was that Steinem had a kind and loving father. Giuffre’s dad, on the other hand, began sexually abusing her at a young age and then pimped her out to a friend. From early on, she was set up for a life of being trafficked.

As word slowly got out about what was happening on Epstein’s Little St. James Island, at his Manhattan townhouse, in Palm Beach, at a Paris apartment, and at Zorro Ranch, investigations ensued. Documents and data were collected. Journalist Julie K. Brown investigated and wrote the grisly truth.

We the People woke up and asked for the Epstein files and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi (remember her?) said she had a client list on her desk. She later recanted. Her boss, our president, also promised justice and production of the Epstein files.

In July 2025, Congressmen Ro Khanna and Tomas Massie pushed for release of the files by introducing the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The president signed the act and then released a tranche of files on Martin Luther King Jr. instead.

There was a mid-December due date for full release of the Epstein files. The Department of Justice released a dribble. They asked for an extension. When documents were finally released, they came in dribbles, heavily redacted. Months later, when more files were released, perpetrators’ names were redacted, while victims’ names were not, which got the terms of release exactly wrong. And still, there are a couple million unreleased documents.

If you’ve forgotten about the Epstein files, you can be forgiven. The Flood-the-Zone-and-Move-Fast-and-Break-Things Gang wanted it that way. To take your mind off things, the president blew up Venezuelan boats. He overthrew the Venezuelan president. He tried to acquire Greenland. And Canada. And the Panama Canal.

He started a one-day war with Iran. The war is ongoing.

This is far from a complete list of all the mayhem that has served to distract the public from discovering the truth about the president’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. It must be damning; there’s no other explanation for the stalling and obfuscation.

So. To keep this issue in the public’s mind, the Institute for Primary Facts printed and bound all the currently released files and have created a traveling installation called the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room. A smaller experience in the form of a pop-up library called the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Bookmobile has also been created. They are both on their way to Iowa!

Repeat: They are both on their way to Iowa! From Texas! Pinch me. I must be dreaming.

Keep in mind that these are just the materials that have been released; there are still 2.5 million documents that the public is owed. Still, the stats are astounding: 3.5 million documents bound in 3,347 volumes have been released. Remember: some of the documents contain redactions, but there are also 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

Hurry! The Reading Room will be in the capitol city from Sept. 21-24. The Bookmobile stops in Des Moines this Friday, Sept. 18. It advances to Iowa City on Sept. 20 and travels up the road to Cedar Rapids on the 21st.

The Reading Room also has a timeline display and sports a large wall where visitors can write messages on Post-it Notes. Candles flicker in a draped enclosure for each Epstein victim. Telephones — the old-fashioned kind — are part of the exhibit and visitors are encouraged to call the Justice Department and demand that the rest of the files be released.

To reserve a spot to attend either the Reading Room or the Bookmobile, see details at: https://trumpepsteinreadingroom.com/tour#itinerary  

Joan Zwagerman wants to attend the Trump-Epstein Reading Room and hopes that you do, too.