New York Times columnist David Brooks has been identified in a batch of photographs released from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, raising questions about his previous public dismissal of the scandal.
Photos Emerge from Epstein Estate
The images were made public on Thursday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Released in batches by the committee's minority Democrats, the photographs lack specific contextual details like dates and locations. However, they appear to show Brooks attending a lunch or dinner event, seated beside Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google.
In a statement, The New York Times confirmed the event took place in 2011. This was three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The newspaper stated that Brooks, who did not respond to a direct request for comment, had no further contact with Epstein before or after this single occasion.
"As 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," a Times spokeswoman said. "Mr Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner."
Brooks's Earlier Dismissal of the Epstein Case
The timing of the photo release is particularly notable given Brooks's recent commentary. Last month, he published a column expressing his disinterest in the long-unfolding Epstein scandal.
"Why is Epstein the top issue in American life right now?" Brooks wrote. He argued that in an era of short-form video news, it pays for those in politics and media to focus on salacious, easily understood topics. He went further, likening the public fascination with the case to the QAnon conspiracy theory, suggesting it fed an irrational belief in a scheming cabal of elites.
The newly revealed photographs immediately prompted scrutiny about why Brooks did not disclose his attendance at an event also attended by Epstein when writing a column about his lack of interest in the case.
"To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with attending the same event as Jeffrey Epstein," noted Business Insider journalist Jacob Shamsian in a social media post. "I just find it odd to not write about the topic when you’re a journalist and he’s the biggest story on the planet."
Broader Implications and Reactions
Thursday's document dump also included images of other prominent figures such as Bill Gates, Woody Allen, and Noam Chomsky. In his November column, Brooks had also criticised Democrats for "hopping on this bandwagon" by pushing for more transparency into Epstein's associations, warning it could undermine public trust and fuel right-wing populism.
This was not the first time Brooks minimised the story. In a July appearance on PBS NewsHour, he dismissed it as a seasonal distraction, saying, "Every August, Washington goes crazy with some stupid story. And then in September we think, 'What was that all about?' And so this year we’re a little early."
The emergence of his photograph from an Epstein-linked event now casts his previous dismissals in a new light, highlighting the complex intersection of media commentary, personal proximity to scandal, and public accountability.
