Rachel Abrams

I'm Rachel Abrams.

See you on Monday.

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily.

The latest release of files related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein left key questions about his rise to power and his connections to the president unanswered.

Today, my colleague David Enrich explains how he and a team of reporters worked to fill in those mysteries and reveal the truth about Jeffrey Epstein's origins.

It's Tuesday, December 23rd.

David Enrich, welcome to the show.

David, I think this is probably your fourth or fifth appearance on the show this year to talk about Jeffrey Epstein.

And this time we're having you back because on Friday there was obviously this massive file released from the Justice Department that, as far as I understand it, did not really advance our understanding of Jeffrey Epstein or his crimes or the people in his orbit.

Can you tell us what you think the biggest takeaways were?

Right.

Just to remind people, this whole file release is coming about because of a massive pressure campaign, mostly from Democrats, but also from some within the MAGA orbit for Donald Trump and his administration to release the so-called Epstein files.

Right.

And that basically forced Trump to sign legislation authorizing these files to be released from the Justice Department.

And why didn't they release them?

Okay, so knowing that there would be this sort of staggered release, what were you expecting to get?

Or maybe more importantly, what questions were you hoping that this batch of files would actually answer?

Well, the reporting that you mentioned is what I want to talk to you about because everybody's been eagerly awaiting the release of these files, right?

Like, hoping perhaps that the files would address some of these enduring questions about Epstein and his crimes.

And obviously, that did not happen on Friday.