“I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.”- George Fox, Journal (1647)

While war chaos and carnage in the Middle East distract the American public from Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes and those of his unindicted co-conspirators—exposed by the government’s release of millions of pages of documents, photos, and emails under the Epstein Files Transparency Act—many remain steadfast in their focus on truth and justice for survivors and accountability for perpetrators. “We are not a ‘hoax,’” asserted survivors in a November 2025 letter to Congress after President Donald Trump said the push to release the files was “a Democrat hoax.”

Among those committed to shining light on this crime network are Nick Bryant of Epstein Justice, along with many tenacious writers and reporters, especially young ones at college newspapers, and hundreds of victims who continue to speak out.

In his recent webinar, investigative journalist Nick Byrant defined the cognitive dissonance which is blocking further public scrutiny. It is “discomfort with conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors which causes mental tension, leading to efforts to reduce the inconsistency by changing attitudes, justifying actions, or ignoring new and contradictory information.”

Distract and minimize, confuse and deny, justify and excuse, become angry or enraged, and call crazy those who speak what others do not want to see or hear. In the throes of cognitive dissonance, people resort to all these ploys to relieve their internal discomfort. These horrible events could not possibly be true; the abuse could not possibly have been this widespread, some insist. Governments could not possibly have covered up this sex criminal’s harms, over decades, regardless of which political party was in power while people investigating are connected to those being investigated, as reported by Whitney Webb.

Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged July 9, 2019 with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. He was imprisoned and then died in prison before trial. In 2008, he had plead guilty to solicitation of a minor for prostitution and went to jail for thirteen months before continuing his crimes for years. Underage girls and their families reported Epstein’s crimes to Florida law enforcement previously, but the federal government ordered them to stop investigating, according to reports from Chicago-based criminal defense attorney Leonard Goodman and others. Files recently made public show that Epstein was connected to rich, powerful people all over the world.

Before the White House started this disastrous war with Iran, every major media outlet reported on this sex criminal’s connections, with tentacles extending to all parts of society: academia, government, business, sports, entertainment, the medical industry, technology.

The current U.S.-Israeli war and its justifications, may be a huge display of cognitive dissonance, a distraction from a vast child sex crime coverup. U.S. military members, who have been or may be deployed into combat, comment and theorize among themselves that the government wages this war to distract from a cover-up, notes Air Force Command Chief Master Sargeant Dennis Fritz, who was a Pentagon insider during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

The U.S. government and its war propagandists work hard to distract from Epstein’s crimes and connections, calling those who oppose the Iran war stupid, naïve, or anti-Semitic, as author James Bovard illuminates in his recent Libertarian Institute essay. However, scores of comments on the recent Washington Post piece that Bovard critiques show that fewer people are falling for familiar cult thinking. Our time is ripe for clearer and stronger thinking. This is good news.

The word, “trafficking,” with which Epstein was charged, connotes volume—and yet, only one woman sits in jail now. Investigative journalist Nick Bryant works to change that with calls for an independent Congressional Commission along with voting out of office lawmakers who fail to commit to prosecuting powerful elites who committed sex crimes against children.

When watching his webinar, Bryant’s demeanor reminds me of that of a trustworthy middle school math teacher; somewhat nerdy, acknowledging daunting tasks while taking them step by step, looking critically and clearly, methodically explaining. He shows what he has found and cautions viewers to keep questioning.

Bryant names men in the recently released files, including Mark Tramo, associate adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tramo founded an institute and accepted $100,000 from Epstein while maintaining friendly correspondence with him after Epstein was a known sex criminal, reports Nick Levie, a third year political science and public affairs student, in an opinion piece for Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student-run newspaper. Natalie Mochernak, second year UCLA communication student, reported in her March 6, 2026 story that Tramo canceled his spring class and was “retiring.” For her story, she contacted UCLA’s Media Relations spokesperson, who declined to comment.

Many of the writers courageously covering these difficult stories are college students.

Robert Trivers, professor at Rutgers University, took $40,000 from the child sex criminal and remained friends with him after Epstein had plead guilty to “procuring a child for prostitution,” reports Bryant and Brian Fonesco, a young reporter with nj.com. Further, Martin Nowak, professor of math and biology at Harvard University shared many intimate correspondences with Epstein and visited his properties, according to a February 25 story, written by student reporters for The Harvard Crimson. Nowak only taught one class while employed at Harvard and is now on “paid leave.” In an email now made public, Epstein asks Nowak, “Did you torture her?” according to Nick Bryant’s reporting in his Epstein Justice webinar.

Nowak did not respond when Bryant emailed him for a comment. In addition, Lawrence H. Summers, former Harvard president, who also worked as U.S. Treasury Secretary from 1999-2001, had an intimate friendship with Epstein and corresponded with him often, as revealed by now-public documents.

In her November 2025 Chronicle of Higher Education article, “Jeffrey Epstein’s Inbox Reveals his Deep Ties to Prominent Researchers,” Reporting Intern Ellie Davis notes many ties the convicted sex trafficker had to academic figures and major institutions. Davis studies political science and public health at Williams College.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, former CEO of the company DP World and one of the Middle East’s most prominent business figures, corresponded with Epstein thousands of times and sent him torture videos, according to Bryant’s reports on the files.

“These guys reveal themselves to be sadistic pedophiles, misogynists, and rapists,” Bryant says.

In addition, Bryant discusses emails between Epstein and Hollywood producer Barry Josephson, in which Josephson asks often, “Is it ok if we meet for pizza?” Numerous odd food references appear in the child sex criminal’s emails. For example, Harry Fisch, New York City urologist, employed by Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medicine, appears in hundreds of contacts, asking at least five times when they would get “pizza and grape soda,” according to Bryant’s reporting. Cornell thoracic surgeon Jeffrey Port also appears in emails many times, as reported by Atticus Johnson, who writes for the student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun.

Fisch did not respond when Bryant contacted him for a comment.

Mount Sinai Hospital surgeon Dr. Jess Ting appears in the files numerous times as do many other doctors, whom Epstein claimed treated “his girls.”

William Burns, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and Joe Biden’s CIA director, met Epstein multiple times, after the trafficker’s 2008 jail time. Additionally, Epstein had dinner with Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerburg after his jail time, according to the now-public files and Bryant’s reporting. Musk has denied wrong-doing or knowing what the convicted sex criminal was doing, as have most men named in these files, and yet Bryant notes an email in which Musk responds to an invitation to Epstein’s island by asking, “What day or night will be the wildest on the island?”

A stunning array of men appear in emails and photos with Epstein including tech billionaire Bill Gates, MIT professor Noam Chomsky, former President Bill Clinton, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, current President Donald Trump, and a myriad of health industry personalities, including Deepak Chopra. Additionally, government released emails expose Epstein’s links to Israeli government spies, according to reporting on Drop Site News.

Revelations on this dark world are horrid and traumatizing—and will probably worsen. I wish language like “procuring a minor for prostitution” or “child sex trafficking” did not surround us now. Veteran and new reporters offer hope, however, as they reconcile cognitive dissonance to see, speak, and write clearly as they shine light on these crimes and the people who enable them.