Report: Epstein's Contacts Included CIA Chief

Facts

• According to a Wall Street Journal report, Jeffrey Epstein's private calendar shows he met with a number of high-profile individuals after he was convicted as a sex offender — including political activist Noam Chomsky and CIA chief William Burns.¹
• The meetings were scheduled between 2013 and 2019 after Epstein served time in jail in 2008 for a sex crime involving a teenage girl. The purpose of most of the meetings remains unclear, but many prominent people claim they visited Epstein for donations and to make powerful connections.²
• The new documents show Chomsky was scheduled to fly with Epstein — who reportedly donated at least $850K between 2002 and 2017 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Chomsky taught for decades — for a planned dinner with film director Woody Allen in 2015.³
• A spokesperson for Burns, who has headed the CIA since 2021, confirmed the US spy chief met with Epstein a decade ago when he was the deputy secretary of state in 2014, adding "the director did not know anything about him" at the time beyond his expertise in finance.⁴
• Other prominent figures on the list include former Pres. Barack Obama's White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, Bard College Pres. Leon Botstein, former co-chief executive of Kissinger Associates Joshua Cooper Ramo, and banker Ariane de Rothschild.⁵
• Meanwhile, none of these figures appear in Epstein's black book of contacts or flight logs of passengers who traveled on his private jet. The WSJ could neither verify if each scheduled meeting actually took place nor reveal the purpose of the meetings.¹

Sources: ¹Wall Street Journal, ²Times, ³Insider, ⁴FOX News, and ⁵New York Post.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Daily Mail. A repeat offender, Epstein had been accused of sexually abusing girls in Florida for years, some as young as 14 years old. Despite his conviction and death, questions remain about who in his famous circle of friends and associates may have done illegal things under his shadow. This list of high-profile individuals raises new questions surrounding Epstein's alleged suicide and the possibility he was murdered because of who he had dirt on.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Insider. The meetings reportedly occurred when Epstein had been sentenced for a crime, served his sentence, and wiped the slate clean according to US law and norms. Since the political elite and business leaders thought Epstein had been rehabilitated and maintained their connections with him were purely professional, there is nothing suspicious about the revelation, or reason to rehash old conspiracy theories.