Arizona’s in the Epstein files
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The painfully long wait for Democratic U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva to take her seat in Congress vaulted Arizona into the center of the Epstein-file fight.
House Republican leaders blamed the seven-week delay to swear her in on the government shutdown.
Others noted that she was the final vote needed to force the release of the Epstein files.
While Grijalva was finally sworn in last week, more than 20,000 pages from Epstein’s estate came out.
Those records revive the “Arizona angle” once again, revealing new details about how the convicted sex trafficker cultivated relationships with influential figures within Arizona’s public universities.
These records are not the “Epstein files” Grijalva signed on to release. The House Oversight Committee released subpoenaed emails from Epstein’s estate, not the U.S. Department of Justice files at the center of the congressional fight.
Meaning, we’re still waiting on all of the Justice Department’s unclassified documents within its investigation into Epstein, including its investigation into his death in federal prison.
So there’s certainly more to come.
Sensing the inevitability of the files eventually becoming public, President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course over the weekend, telling House Republicans to vote to release the files. Trump also attempted to distract from the substantial public record of his own ties to Epstein by ordering an investigation into Democratic officials’ connections to Epstein.
The House is set to vote on the petition to release the broader files today.
Republican U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane now both say they’ll vote to release the files after months of opposing Democrats’ efforts to do so.
Trump’s blessing should make the decision easier for the remaining Republicans in Arizona’s congressional delegation, all of whom have successfully avoided saying where they stand, while refusing to join efforts to make the files public.
We’re looking at you, Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani — Arizona’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent.
How Ciscomani plays these votes could be a significant factor in whether voters give him a third term or give him the boot.
Not to mention, the Epstein files will play heavily in Arizona’s gubernatorial race, where Biggs and retiring Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert are battling it out with Republican Karrin Taylor Robson for the chance to take on Gov. Katie Hobbs next year.
The bill to force the release of the files then needs to pass the Senate, and Trump has to sign it into law.
We’ll see.
Hopefully, the next batch is far more organized than last week’s release, which arrived via a Google Drive full of files scattered across random folders with no clear structure.
Shout out to the Copper Courier’s Camaron Stevenson, who created a searchable database of all the files. That’s how we pulled the Arizona pieces from a very messy pile.
So, as we await the release of the full stack of files, let’s take a look at the Arizonans who were in the preview version from the Epstein estate.
Lawrence Krauss
In 2008, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss founded Arizona State University’s Origins Project with a mission to study the genesis of the universe.
He had help from Epstein, who was deeply embedded in the world of affluent academics — he surrounded himself with prominent scientists and donated heavily to research centers at Harvard and MIT. In 2006, Krauss joined 20 other internationally-renowned scientists on Epstein’s private island.
Krauss took Epstein’s funding to start the Origins Project, per BuzzFeed News, even after Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges as part of a notably lenient plea deal in 2008.
While many institutions quietly kept accepting Epstein’s money even after his conviction, Krauss defended him publicly.
When the Daily Beast reached out to Krauss for comment several years after it was publicly known that Epstein paid underage girls for sexual acts, Krauss responded that the girls were “not as young as the ones that were claimed.”
“I don’t feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it,” Krauss told the Daily Beast in 2011.
It may not surprise you to hear that Krauss was later credibly accused of sexual harassment and had to resign from ASU.
The newly released emails show Krauss sent his correspondence with the Daily Beast reporter to Epstein in an uncomfortable plea for Epstein’s approval.
Krauss, April 7, 2011:
Beyond anything else, you are my friend. I hope we can both always remember that, no matter what.
Are you coming this weekend at all?Epstein, Apr 7, 2011:
no i am in paris thanks.
ASU’s Origins Project received at least $250,000 from Epstein’s foundation, and BuzzFeed found another $2 million worth of personal gifts from Epstein’s wealthy associates, billionaire Leon Black and his wife, Debra Black.
Black funneled millions to Epstein’s foundations, and was eventually ousted from his investment firm over the relationship. Joichi Ito, the former director of MIT’s Media Lab, also resigned after news broke that he hid donations from Epstein-managed groups and Epstein-coordinated donations from Black.
It looks like one of Black’s donations was accidentally routed to ASU instead.
Ito, Feb 28, 2019:
Hey Jeffrey. How are things? Just to let you know. We were able to keep the Leon Black money, but the $25K from your foundation is getting bounced by MIT back to ASU. Sorry…Epstein, Feb 28, 2019:
No problem - Trying to get more black for you
ASU shuttered the Origins Project in 2018, after BuzzFeed also reported on multiple allegations of Krauss’s inappropriate behavior, such as groping a woman at a conference in Australia, and telling an ASU employee he would buy her birth control so she wouldn’t go on maternity leave. Krauss denied all the allegations.
But his unfiltered reaction shows up in the newly released Epstein emails, where he reached out to a close friend for guidance after a BuzzFeed reporter asked him for comment.
Krauss, Dec. 12, 2017:
Is this a reasonable response? Should I even respond? Could use advice.
Mutual decisions about meeting and everything else at the time. I assumed that was clear.Epstein, Dec. 12, 2017:
did You have sex with her? Condom? Did she take it? I wouldn’t respond. My advice is consistent. Off the recordKrauss, Dec. 12, 2017:
No. We didn’t have sex. Decided it wasn’t a good idea. Follow up.
Krauss, Feb 26, 2018:
They claimed they had 1500 hits for their announcement about me and buzzfeed, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but they thought so, and they are getting pressure from various of their supporters and senior people.. this whole week thing may be true, but I wonder if I will ever really recover.. I wish they would indict Trump or something right now..Epstein, Feb. 27, 2018:
concentrate on your point by point refutation . . article on women agreeing on seeing flying saucers does not make the claim real. break the charges into ludicrous. ogling. jokes. etc. nancy language in her tweets. stirred up emotion.
In August 2018, Krauss asked Epstein to fly him to Germany after the organization that had planned to cover his travel backed out.
“I was previously invited to give a major lecture in Heidelberg Oct 14 but they had to cancel it after the university determination re australia was publicized by the bitch…” Krauss wrote to Epstein. “I am going to check other tickets now, but wanted to know if you might be flying to europe around then and could take a hitchhiker. :)”1
Noam Chomsky
In 2016, Epstein messaged Krauss: “noam is going to Tucson on the 7th. will you be around?”
Noam Chomsky, “the father of modern linguistics” and a University of Arizona faculty member, also appears throughout the new estate files, and the messages offer a clearer view of his relationship with Epstein.
Krauss noted that Chomsky would be in Phoenix soon, and he suggested that Epstein join them.
“And confidentially we are in discussions about maybe having him move to ASU ... please that is really confidential,” Kraus added.
Instead, Chomsky ended up taking a gig with the University of Arizona in 2017.
The UA’s website calls Chomsky a “laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics,” which is often an honorary title. We asked UA yesterday if he’s still involved in any capacity and haven’t heard back yet, but considering he’s 96 and suffered a stroke in 2023, Chomsky’s probably not teaching classes this year.
In 2017, the Star reported Chomsky’s salary for the quarter-time gig would be $62,500 a year, “all of which is funded by philanthropic donations.”
Coincidentally, the UA received $50,000 from one of Epstein’s foundations in 2017, per the Republic.
The new trove of Epstein emails shows Epstein told Chomsky he could stay at his properties in New York and New Mexico in 2015.
Chomsky told the Wall Street Journal in 2023 that he met with Epstein “occasionally” to talk about politics and academics. An Epstein-linked account wired Chomsky $270,000 in 2018, but Chomsky told the Journal it was a rearrangement of his own money that Epstein handled for him.
Chomsky and his wife sent Epstein a birthday note in 2016 — one of several letters the New York Times reviewed in August.
There’s another glowing letter within the files released last week, but since it’s part of an isolated file, it’s not clear when it was written or for what purpose. Since Chomsky signed the letter “Laureate Professor, U. of Arizona,” it was likely written after he was hired in 2017.
“The impact of Jeffrey’s limitless curiosity, extensive knowledge, penetrating insights, and thoughtful appraisals is only heightened by his easy informality, without a trace of pretentiousness. He quickly became a highly valued friend and regular source of intellectual exchange and stimulation,” Chomsky wrote.
Fake electors demand accountability: One of the defendants in the fake electors case says Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes should be disqualified from the prosecution, per Capitol scribe Howie Fischer. The defendant, Christina Bobb, claims an indirect donation made by States United to a legal defense fund for Mayes in 2022 was actually a payment to get Mayes to prosecute the fake electors. Mayes’ team says the claim doesn’t hold water. And a court hasn’t decided on the issue because the indictments were thrown out before the court could consider it.
Fake signatures get you banned: Former Republican state Rep. Austin Smith pled guilty to forging signatures on petitions to get on the ballot for his re-election campaign last year, Mayes’ office said in a news release. Smith admitted to signing the name of a dead woman on a petition and then filing the petition with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. We wrote all about the episode here. Smith will pay a $5,500 fine, spend time on probation and won’t be able to seek public office for five years. And he’ll have to deal with Democratic lawmakers gleefully crowing over his admission of guilt.
Housing Last: New federal policies are worrying advocates of homeless people in the Valley, the New Times’ TJ L’Heureux reports. The Department of Housing and Urban Development cut funding for permanent housing for unsheltered people in favor of addiction services and transitional housing. Advocates in Phoenix say the shift is based in ideology, not evidence. It’s coming from officials who believe homelessness is caused by mental illness and drug abuse, rather than falling behind on bills or losing a job, and don’t want to provide unhoused people with long-term support.
“Why would you kill permanent supportive housing when it’s only about five percent of your budget and it’s the only viable solution we’ve had for the last 15 years to solve homelessness? It’s the only thing that works,” Ben Jeffrey, a Navy veteran and homeless outreach specialist who was once unhoused, said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Costly decision: The University of Arizona is losing out on millions of dollars in tuition after closing micro-campuses in China, the Arizona Daily Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. The UA closed the campuses when Republicans on a U.S. House Select Committee flagged the campuses as “high-risk” of being exploited by the Chinese Communist Party. UA officials asked the students to stay enrolled through online courses or by moving to Tucson, but more than 800 students withdrew from the UA instead.
Local news is always at “high-risk” of being exploited by billionaires and fraudsters. Stay enrolled in trustworthy news by clicking this button.
See how Ozempic is right for Arizona: State lawmakers are considering whether to extend Medicaid coverage to obesity drugs like Ozempic, per KJZZ’s Camryn Sanchez. Republican Sen. David Gowan says covering those drugs could save the state money in the long run by cutting down on treatment costs for obesity-related treatments. Plus, he says, the federal government already did it, so Arizona might as well follow suit.
In other, other news
Newly sworn-in U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva spent her first weekend in office with protesters who object to the Trump administration building a border wall in the San Rafael Valley (Alisa Reznick / KJZZ) … Church leaders in Arizona are debating whether AI should be used to impersonate dead people (like Dream City Church did with Charlie Kirk) or just to help with budgeting (Axios) … A housing expert thinks those vacant office buildings in downtown Phoenix could be converted into $850 a month apartments (Mark Brodie / KJZZ) … A Maricopa County Superior Court judge says the state’s tax credits for filmmakers don’t violate the gift clause in the state Constitution (Howie Fischer / Capitol Media Services) … And the Trump administration’s tariffs and anti-Canada policies are taking their toll on Canadian tourist travel to Arizona (Michael Salerno / Republic).
Do you like arguing with people on the internet?2
Ever wanted a chance to tell Republican Sen. John Kavanagh how wrong he is?3
Well then, you’ll love the Agenda comments section!
A few of our recent editions have really brought out the commentators — and we thought this is a good excuse to highlight the debate.
For example, last week, intern Alysa wrote a killer story about the rise of Democratic socialists that got the readers’ fingers clacking. And yesterday’s edition on state funding for local police to enforce border laws also got the chatterboxes chattering.
Sometimes, the comments are incredibly thoughtful!
Other times, they go kinda like this.
But we always have a good time reading them.
We’re big believers that it’s better to argue it out and maybe learn/teach something than to stew in your own anger over the other side.
So join the community conversation!
To get things started, we’ll pose a question. How about:
Who in Arizona politics is most likely to end up in the Epstein files?
That ought to get the fingers clicking.
It’s not exactly clear who Krauss is calling a bitch here, but we’d like to believe that it’s Agenda co-founder Rachel Leingang, who wrote a series of stories around that time for the Republic about Krauss and ASU.
Trick question. Of course you do — it’s our national pastime.
Another trick question — for 70%-80% of our readers, the answer will be a resounding yes.
Most likely in the Epstein files is Warren Peterson! Exactly the sort of misogynist, entitled, asshat that would be messing with little girls with Jeff. I gotta agree with Bob, also: Rodney Glassman is exactly the kind of guy whose lips are welded to the most powerful and rich tuchus he encourters. Zero moral compass on that one!
I like Algo’s, your mom dresses you funny best😂😂