The Epstein story? Count him in.<\/p>\n
In November, in the wake of the release of tens of thousands of new documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, New York Times columnist David Brooks announced his intention to sit this one out.<\/p>\n
In a column<\/a> titled \u201cThe Epstein Story? Count Me Out,\u201d Brooks, a mainstay of the anti-Trump center-right, dismissed the furor over Epstein as an extension of QAnon, the far-right conspiracy cult <\/a>that emerged during the first Trump administration and centered around increasingly deranged myths around a pedophile cabal that supposedly ran the world. The case was like catnip to QAnon types, Brooks argued, because it revealed that a powerful, well-connected financier really was engaged in sex-trafficking.<\/p>\n Brooks didn\u2019t mention that he had not only met Epstein in the past, but also attended a dinner alongside the infamous sex trafficker in 2011.<\/p>\n The connection was only revealed Thursday when photos of Brooks at an event with Epstein emerged as part of a release of a new tranche of documents<\/a> by the Democratic members of the House Committee on Oversight, which has been investigating the Epstein saga and has access to reams of documents handed over by the estate of the late pedophile.<\/p>\n It was not immediately clear when or where the event took place, but a spokesperson for the Times told The Intercept that it was a \u201cwidely-attended dinner\u201d in 2011 that Brooks attended in the normal course of his journalistic duties. Brooks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a journalist, David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event,\u201d Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha wrote. \u201cMr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n David Brooks at a 2011 dinner that Jeffrey Epstein attended. Brooks is not the first Timesman to appear prominently in the recent disclosures around Epstein. In November, when the GOP-controlled Oversight Committee dumped thousands of documents gleaned from an email inbox belonging to Epstein, it revealed new depths to the relationship between Epstein and Landon Thomas Jr.<\/a>, a former Times reporter who was fired in 2018 after it emerged that he\u2019d solicited a donation to a charity from Epstein. Thomas, a business reporter, appeared in numerous emails with Epstein in which Epstein teased information he said he had regarding Donald Trump. Those tips were not made public, and neither Thomas nor the Times have commented on why he did not appear to have reported them out.<\/p>\n We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Thank You For Joining! <\/p>\n \n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/p>\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?\n <\/p>\n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s release of documents also included a number of photos of prominent thinkers and political operatives known to be in Epstein\u2019s orbit in later years, including the leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky and the right-wing provocateur and erstwhile Trump confidant Steven K. Bannon.<\/p>\n
Photo: House Oversight Committee<\/p>\n
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