Jeffrey Epstein-related books and TV shows have exploded amid Trump's case-closed claims
The data points to deep public curiosity in Epstein's underage sex trafficking operation, and a possible government coverup, at a time when President Trump is trying to shift attention away from the topic.
Old copies of investigative reporter Julie K. Brown's 2021 book 'Perversion of Justice,' about Epstein, have been snapped up by buyers in recent weeks, leaving the book out of stock all across the web, from Amazon and Barnes & Noble to smaller and independent shops.
Brown said she has been hearing from interested buyers who can't find any print copies.
'I'm told the publisher is printing more copies,' she wrote on X to people who have been asking.
HarperCollins, the publisher, confirmed to CNN that the book is now entering its third printing.
'I hope it reflects that people really want to understand the story from the beginning,' Brown added in an interview with CNN.
A 2016 book about Epstein from James Patterson's true crime series, 'Filthy Rich,' has also climbed up Amazon's sales chart in recent days.
A Netflix docuseries based on that book, 'Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich,' came out in 2020, and gained new viewers earlier this month when the Trump administration said it would not release any further material from its years-old probe of Epstein.
The case-closed message from the FBI and Justice Department fueled an uproar — and a dramatic spike in people searching for more information about the matter.
Google Trends showed a sudden uptick in Epstein-related searches when the government statement was released on July 17, and even higher levels of interest after Trump attempted to quell the outrage.
Similarly, from the first full week of July to the second week, US viewership of the Netflix docuseries rose 268 percent, as measured by minutes watched, according to Luminate, a streaming data firm.
A search of Epstein's name on YouTube, filtered only to show videos uploaded in the past week, found more than 40 videos with more than one million views each. Most of the top clips featured late-night TV hosts roasting Trump and speculated that the president wants certain secrets kept under wraps.
Last Friday, Trump sued the Wall Street Journal for libel over the newspaper's account of a birthday letter to Epstein bearing Trump's name and an outline of a naked woman.
On CNN's 'NewsNight,' New York Post editor at large Kelly Jane Torrance said the new Journal lawsuit might be a 'bad idea' for Trump because 'it's the Streisand Effect all over again.'
'Donald Trump is bringing so much more attention to this story than if he had just ignored it,' she said.
Two recent polls indicate that the public's interest in Epstein and the Epstein-adjacent universe of conspiracy theories does not outrank public policy matters like immigration and inflation.
However, when polled on the topic, Americans say the government should disclose more. 'Americans overwhelmingly suspect that the files contain damaging information about powerful and wealthy people,' CBS News pollsters reported Sunday.
Brown told CNN that she has been even busier this month — with source calls, TV interviews and the like — than she was when Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019.
The reporter remains intrigued by unresolved questions, particularly about the sources of Epstein's riches. 'As they say, 'Follow the money,'' she remarked on 'AC360' last week.
Brown also said she believes government officials 'want to put a lid on this,' and that has made some of Epstein's victims even more anxious.
'I spoke to a couple of them over the past few days and, you know, they're afraid,' Brown said.
Then Brown paraphrased what the sources had said to her: 'The more our government covers up for Epstein, the more fearful I become because I keep thinking, 'Who is this guy? Who are the people that are in these files?''
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Mounts New Attack Against Wind Projects on Federal Land
(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is considering halting all wind development on federal lands and in federal waters as the president expands his campaign against the renewable energy source he's long criticized. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus Boston's Dumpsters Overflow as Trash-Strike Summer Drags On Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Tuesday ordered a comprehensive review of the agency's approval process for wind projects, including right-of-way authorizations, environmental analysis and wildlife permits. The order, which Burgum said aims to end preferential treatment for wind and solar, is sure to further spook renewables investors and developers already reeling from the administration's attack on clean energy. President Donald Trump, who was in Scotland Tuesday to open a second golf course at his sprawling estate in the eastern part of the country, criticized the UK's support for wind power and decried turbines as overly expensive eyesores. 'Windmills are a disgrace,' he said earlier in the day. 'They hurt everything they touch. They're ugly. They're very inefficient. It's the most expensive form of energy there is.' Trump, who fought against a wind project within view of his first golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland, indefinitely halted the sale of new offshore wind leases on his first day in office and paused permitting of all wind projects on federal lands and waters. More recently, the Interior Department ordered that all solar and wind projects on federal lands required Burgum's sign-off, a move that threatens to mire their approval process in red tape. In April, Burgum halted work on Equinor ASA's $5 billion Empire Wind farm off the coast of New York, but then reversed the decision a month later after the administration reached a deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to open the way for new gas pipelines to be built in the state. Torgrim Reitan, Equinor's chief financial officer, said in an interview last month that further investments in US offshore wind are likely off the table. Wind power backers criticized the latest move by the Interior Department, with the American Clean Power Association saying it amounts to 'a confusing mix of unprecedented requirements on wind projects.' 'On its current course, the Interior department will block electricity from the grid resulting in higher prices, lost jobs, and decreased system reliability,' Jason Grumet, the trade group's chief executive officer, said in a statement. 'The proposed federal interference with private economic activity is unprecedented and creates a troubling challenge for critical infrastructure investment of any kind.' --With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Skylar Woodhouse. (Adds comment from trade group in last two paragraphs.) It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
CNN
26 minutes ago
- CNN
The US economy rebounded sharply in the second quarter
Economy Donald Trump Tariffs FacebookTweetLink The US economy expanded sharply in the second quarter as businesses dialed back on imports after stocking up earlier in the year to get ahead of President Donald Trump's tariffs. Gross domestic product, which captures all the goods and services produced in the economy, registered an annualized rate of 3% in the April-through-June period, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That's up sharply from the -0.5% rate in the first quarter, which was the first quarterly GDP decline since 2022. Economists polled by data firm FactSet estimated second-quarter GDP to come in at a 2% rate. The latest GDP report is a key part of an avalanche of economic news this week expected to show how consumers and businesses are weathering Trump's sweeping economic policies. But the tariff-driven buying frenzies in the beginning of the year have made it difficult to asses the underlying health and direction of the world's largest economy. In the first quarter, surging imports took a toll on economic growth, but that trend reversed in the second quarter as businesses drew from their existing inventories instead of importing, in turn boosting GDP. This story is developing and will be updated.
Fox News
27 minutes ago
- Fox News
Schumer calls on FBI to conduct counterintelligence threat assessment on Epstein files
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on the FBI to conduct a counterintelligence threat assessment on the Jeffrey Epstein files. Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday that the FBI assessment should accomplish three things: determine if foreign intelligence agencies could gain access to the information "the president does not want to release in the Epstein files, through methods that include cyber intrusion;" identify any vulnerabilities that could be exploited by foreign intelligence agencies with access to non-public information in the Epstein files, "including being able to gain leverage over Donald Trump, his family, or other senior government officials;" and result in the FBI publicly showing that the bureau is "developing mitigation strategies to counter these threats and safeguard our national security." At his weekly Democratic leadership press conference afterward, Schumer condemned what he categorized as the Epstein "cover-up," further taking aim at President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. "Trump promised he'd release the Epstein files while he was on the campaign trail, yet he has yet to do it," Schumer told reporters. "Speaker Johnson quite literally preferred to shut down Congress, sending everyone home on an Epstein recess to avoid the topic. Americans are right to be angry over the lack of transparency, but there are also some very real questions about risks to national security." "Given Trump's total about-face on releasing files and given what we know from the FBI whistleblowers, it's natural to ask, what happens if our adversaries use cyberattacks and other means to access files and materials into Epstein that are damaging or worse for President Trump and or those around him?" Schumer continued. "What happens if the Epstein files end up in the hands of Russia or North Korea, or Chinese governments? Unless the Epstein files are fully released to the public, could our adversaries use that, Epstein, to use that information to blackmail someone like the president? Last Thursday, Schumer noted, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services were among several government agencies hacked as part of a breach to Microsoft SharePoint system. "This was confirmed that it was Chinese actors. So we don't need this happening again," Schumer said. "We have to ensure that it can't happen. National security is not and should never be a partisan issue. We need to do everything we can to make sure we protecting the U.S. and American families. This report is vital in doing that. Beyond that, there is one more thing Donald Trump could do to quell people's anger, confusion, frustration, and/or deep fears. That is, release the files." Last week, Johnson ended the House legislative session a day early, averting a potential vote on a resolution by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that would have compelled the Justice Department and the FBI to release the Epstein files. Johnson asserted on Sunday that House Republicans supported "maximum disclosure" but argued that the resolution was "reckless" and poorly drafted, arguing that it ignored federal rules protecting grand jury materials and "would require the DOJ and FBI to release information that they know is false, that is based on lies and rumors and was not even credible enough to be entered into the court proceedings." Johnson said he supported the Trump administration's stance that "all credible evidence and information" be released, but emphasized the need for safeguards to protect victims' identities. During a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, Trump was asked why he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club in West Palm Beach, Florida, years ago. "That's such old history. Very easy to explain, but I don't want to waste your time by explaining it. But for years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate," Trump told reporters. "He hired help, and I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He stole people that worked for me. I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out and that was it." Trump said he turned down an invitation to Epstein's notorious island in the Caribbean and claimed former President Bill Clinton and former Harvard University President Larry Summers had gone. "I never went to the island and Bill Clinton went there, supposedly 28 times. I never went to the island, but Larry Summers, I hear, went there. He was the head of Harvard and many other people that are very big people. Nobody ever talks about them," Trump said. "I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down. But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments, I turned it down."
