The 'Magnitude' of Epstein Files and More on Display in a Tribeca Gallery

Visitors to "The Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room" take in the wall-length timeline that chronicles the lives of the two men, and  various nefarious moments through the years. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Inside an art gallery on Reade Street, manned at the door by a security guard, visitors mill about in almost reverential silence as ethereal and calming music wafts through the space. A sheer curtain in the middle of the room envelops a small shrine of sorts, with artificial candles lining the floor. In the gallery’s lower level, there are cubicles with wooden desks and pre-printed cards encouraging visitors to call the Department of Justice. They read: “Demand the release of all the Epstein Files.” 

The infamous Epstein Files are the focus of “The Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” a temporary exhibit that runs until May 21 at MRIYA Gallery, 101 Reade St. A nonprofit organization called The Institute for Primary Facts has meticulously reprinted every one of the 3.5 million files, page by page, binding them in more than 3,400 phone book-sized volumes. Stacked up, the volumes would weigh more than eight tons.

On the first floor, along with the shelves of books and the shrine of candles, called “A Tribute for the Survivors & Victims,” the exhibit features a wall-sized timeline chronicling Trump and Epstein through the years, including when they met, every time they interacted, and highlights of many heinous moments.

Nearly every square inch of the gallery is lined top to bottom with the books. While visitors are not allowed to see what’s inside their pages, members of the press are—but only during off hours. This week, before the gallery opened at noon, the Trib was given just enough time to peruse a couple of volumes. What we found was staggering.

In one volume alone, chosen at random, there were emails to and from Jeffrey Epstein with typos aplenty, to and from VIPs including ambassadors, sultans and sheikhs. And there was no shortage of A-list names.

One email, from Woody Allen’s personal assistant Kathryn Sigismund to [redacted], dated March 26, 2012, read: “Hi, unfortunately Woody isn’t free on Thursday and he’ll be in Rome opening his new movie on the 14th, but he said if Jeffrey is ‘rummaging around Europe’ on April 12th-14th, he’s welcome to join him in Rome for the movie’s premiere or the mayor’s dinner.” (Four years earlier, Epstein had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution.)

Curiously, there was an email from Katie Couric to one-time publicist to the stars Peggy Siegel, dated Tuesday, March 1 (no year and no content).

But another email, from Peggy Siegel to Jeffrey Epstein and dated Dec. 27, 2011, was chock full of details: “I am in my car with the driver and passenger…and I have private things to discuss.” Also: “My surgery went beautifully. You definitely got your money’s worth. I look great!”

Remember, this was only one volume of more than 3,400, chosen completely at random.

In an interview with the Trib, co-organizer David Garrett said that choosing a Tribeca location for this exhibit was no accident. “We’re on Reade Street, and we’re in the reading room, and we’re blocks away from where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his cell. I thought that was pretty interesting.” He admitted that organizers looked at several galleries before settling on Tribeca. “We got turned down from a bunch of places. But this was actually our first choice all around.”

Garrett said the project was also rejected by several printers before the organization found one courageous enough to take on the massive project, which involved scanning, categorizing and printing millions of files. “The first one said ‘Wait, we work with law firms. I’m really worried that the law firms won’t work with us if we print your files,’” Garrett recalled. “Then we went to a second printer, and they were like, ‘Uh, we have some people on the staff that might not agree with this.’ We finally got the documents printed, but it was a long process.”

Before the gallery opened at noon this past Wednesday, a line had already formed. One woman carried a sign for George Conway, a Democratic lawyer running for Congress. (You may remember him as the ex-husband of onetime Trump consultant Kellyanne Conway.) Soon, Conway himself showed up at the gallery.

“I’m here because we need to make people more aware of what these files contain,” Conway told the Trib, “and how Donald Trump was an enabler at the very least of Epstein, and that he is himself an adjudicated rapist. And he is of the same ilk. And the fact that we have somehow normalized that is something that we have to come to grips with and this is one way to do it.”

While the organizers did not publicize the gallery address, most of the visitors the Trib spoke to said they heard about the exhibit on social media. When Upper West Sider Susan Burns saw the pop-up, her first thought was, “Oh my God, I have to go. I mean, look at this,” she said, pointing to the giant timeline. “I mean, it’s just so horrible, the man [Epstein] died, okay, whatever, but this man who is our president, every time you turn around, something horrible is happening. So I think people should know about this.”

East Village resident Nancy Hudson wanted to see the exhibit because it brought physical life to the files the world has heard so much about but “you don’t understand the size and the magnitude of some of these things.”

Some visitors said they were disappointed that they weren’t allowed access to the volumes. “Look,” said Garrett, “the Department of Justice did a terrible job. They didn’t follow the law. They didn’t redact the names of the victims or survivors. They did redact the names of many co-conspirators and perpetrators and witnesses. And that was against the mandate of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”

Garrett says when his organization downloaded the files, they expected them to be more thoroughly redacted. They weren’t. In fact, he says survivors have visited the gallery and gone through books with the organizers. “And they’ve shown us their name, their address, their Social Security Number, a picture of their driver’s license. We’re not going to expose that information, we’re not going to cause the survivors and victims any more harm. And if that means we’re more careful than the DOJ, then that’s what it is.”

For Garrett and others involved with The Institute for Primary Facts, there’s no more powerful metaphor for corruption—and the powerful people who get away with it—than the Epstein Files.

“A lot of people, when they think about corruption, they think financial corruption, right? Stealing from the government. But it’s also corruption when the President of the United States, who is deeply involved with the perpetrator, uses his justice government to cover up these crimes and protect pedophiles.”

Back on the gallery’s lower level, handwritten notes cover several bulletin boards. The gallery provides note cards and pencils and invites visitors to share their feelings after experiencing the reading room. The room is silent, offering an opportunity to reflect.

“How do you live in this country?” “Let the trials begin.” “Believe survivors,” some of the notes read.  “Me too. Don’t let them get away from this,” reads another. It included the drawing of a broken heart.

Admission is free to the public but must be reserved in advance. Go to trumpsonian.us for more information and to reserve an appointment. Visitors must be at least 16 years old.