Hi, it’s James West, Mother Jones executive editor. I hope everyone’s recovering from what my colleague Anna Merlan summed up as President Donald Trump’s “remarkably dull and profoundly racist” State of the Union address. I missed the whole thing because I was lucky enough to enjoy some brag-worthy counterprogramming: My talented Reveal colleagues picked up the trophy for best news and politics podcast at the Ambies—the Oscars for pods. If you aren’t subscribed, you’re missing out. In recent episodes, host Al Letson has taken listeners to a besieged Minneapolis; a reeling Caracas in Venezuela; Yellowstone National Park, where even the wolves are being sucked into America’s culture wars; and Alaska, to profile just one of the many radio stations targeted by Trump’s gutting of public media.
Meanwhile, I published a slightly obsessive story this morning that I’d love you to check out, about a pattern I discovered deep inside the Epstein files. Like a lot of journalists, I’ve been picking through this disordered dump of emails documenting Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of cloying elites, and I began to wonder: Why does the deceased financier keep referring—with familiarity—to the furnishings of the Oval Office? It turns out Epstein had an “Oval Office” of his own, and his staff used the self-aggrandizing nickname for it.
Although Epstein’s lavish office gallery has been pored over for its rococo collectibles and framed photographs of the rich and powerful, a deeper analysis of the documents suggests that this lesser-known study (indeed ovoid in shape) was the most functionally critical room in his infamous Manhattan townhouse. It’s where his longtime assistant Lesley Groff issued schedules and memos, where bold-faced names lounged, where Epstein’s “girls” kept their purses and prepped for Little St. James (a.k.a. Epstein Island), and where packages for Woody Allen’s wife were assembled. The “Oval Office” was also the heart of Epstein’s humdrum home office needs: printer toner, wallpaper choices, bubble wrap.
As I write in the piece: “Track the phrase through the documents and it begins to map the contours of Epstein’s influence network: how it worked, what it procured, and which men came through his Oval.”
I hope you’ll check out the piece—and don’t forget to subscribe to the (award-winning) Reveal.
—James West
