Epstein Files: Microsoft’s Bill Gates appears ahead of DoJ deadline
US Congressional Democrats released new photos from the Epstein estate, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and other personalities can be seen.
US Democratic Congressmen on Thursday released another set of 68 photographs from the Epstein estate. These include images of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Political Activist Noam Chomsky and others. Alongside, images of Epstein’s passport pages, text messages, maps and some lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita written on a woman’s body.
These photographs are not shocking because of what they prove. They are unsettling because of what they show. Epstein was not operating on the edges of society but was contrarily moving comfortably within it. Saying that a photograph proves nothing is technically correct, but incomplete. The question here is not guilt, it is access. Who had it, how easily it was granted and how little it raised concern. Epstein did not need public endorsement of his actions. He needed people to assume nothing was wrong.
Aesthetics on the grave of Ethics
The appearance of Lolita in these materials is disturbing for what it represents. The novel is about the sexual abuse of a young girl by a middle aged professor. Multiple images of quotes from it, written across body parts of a woman can be seen. Even at committing evil acts Epstein and his mates didn’t lack aestheticism, highlighting the absence of any possible guilt.
Unfortunate Silence of Institutions
What these releases point to is not individual failure alone, but institutional behaviour. Epstein crossed paths with media, academia, philanthropy and the legal system over years. At multiple points, there were opportunities to question, to slow things down, to look closer, instead, there was hesitation. Records stayed sealed. Questions remained unasked, not because everyone agreed, but because no one wanted to push.
What’s next – Truth or more Drama?
Department of Justice will be releasing the long awaited “Epstein Files” before its December 19 deadline. This declassification is hoped to answer all the questions and present the complete truth. However, the probablity of tampering or trimming out of documents cannot be ruled out when many of Trump associates and the President himself is linked with the case.
The Epstein case is often framed as an exception. It is easier to believe that but the images suggest something more, a system that absorbed warning signs and kept moving. These photographs do not close the story, but simply make it harder to claim that no one saw anything. This was not hidden. It was visible, documented and for years, quietly ignored.
References:
https://www.ft.com/content/96d65675-f4c2-4b70-aede-2e77a8648fe8
