Journalist who exposed Epstein was subject to unjust scrutiny

Julie K. Brown is the woman whose journalism led to the legal action against Jeffrey Epstein. In any normal society, she would be considered a national hero.

According to the recently released Epstein Files, however, it seems like the government may have treated her like an enemy of the state:

Does somebody at the DOJ want to tell me why my American Airlines booking information and flights in July 2019 are part of the Epstein files (attached to a grand jury subpoena)? As the flight itinerary includes my maiden name (and I did book this flight) why was the DOJ… pic.twitter.com/m1mgP6pdgk

— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) December 28, 2025

Hostile regime

Brown wrote about her investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the non-fiction book Perversion of Justice. The summary of that book reads:

For many years, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s penchant for teenage girls was an open secret in the high society of Palm Beach, Florida and Upper East Side, Manhattan. Charged in 2008 with soliciting prostitution from minors, Epstein was treated with unheard of leniency, dictating the terms of his non-prosecution. The media virtually ignored the failures of the criminal justice system, and Epstein’s friends and business partners brushed the allegations aside. But when in 2017 the U.S Attorney who approved Epstein’s plea deal, Alexander Acosta, was chosen by President Trump as Labor Secretary, reporter Julie K. Brown was compelled to ask questions.

Despite her editor’s scepticism that she could add a new dimension to a known story, Brown determined that her goal would be to track down the victims themselves. Pouring over thousands of redacted court documents, travelling across the country and chasing down information in difficulty and sometimes dangerous circumstances, Brown tracked down dozens of Epstein’s victims, now young women struggling to reclaim their lives after the trauma and shame they had endured.

Brown’s resulting three-part series in the Miami Herald was one of the most explosive news stories of the decade, revealing how Epstein ran a global sex trafficking pyramid scheme with impunity for years, targeting vulnerable teens, often from fractured homes and then turning them into recruiters. The outrage led to Epstein’s arrest, the disappearance and eventual arrest of his closest accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and the resignation of Acosta.

If there was any doubt that Julie Brown's Miami Herald article spurred Epstein's federal charges… you can see now the US Attorneys emailing it around: (https://t.co/AFOJpidSjC) pic.twitter.com/7z5OAuFcrK

— Nick Penzenstadler (@npenzenstadler) December 23, 2025

Powerful men

The blurb for Brown’s book finishes with the following:

Tracking Epstein’s evolution from a college dropout to one of the most successful financiers in the country—whose associates included Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton—Perversion of Justice builds on Brown’s original award-winning series, showing the power of truth, the value of local reportage and the tenacity of one woman in the face of the deep-seated corruption of powerful men.

Of course, that last paragraph gives some idea as to why the US Department of Justice (DoJ) might monitor Brown. Donald Trump was the president in 2019, and Brown was potentially going to reveal more about his relationship with Epstein. Much like with the recent Epstein File redactions, then, Trump has behaved in a fashion which makes people think he must have done something… why go to such lengths to control the release of information otherwise?

As we reported, Trump’s DoJ has been releasing the Epstein Files because it’s legally required to do so due to the recently passed Epstein Files Transparency act.

Only 10% of total files released.

90% of the released files were redacted.

So ~1% of the files were truly released.

I'd love to see MAGA defend this BS.

Why is the DoJ covering up for pedophiles?! https://t.co/CXkyl6r8ee

— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) December 19, 2025

While the act allowed for redactions to protect victims, it did not permit them to save individuals and potential co-conspirators from embarrassment or accusations of criminality. And yet:

This photo of Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell that was found on Steve Bannon's cell phone should be made public. pic.twitter.com/Rjcw2sCDRD

— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) December 27, 2025

People have reacted to the latest revelation as follows:

The fact that Trump’s DOJ was covering up the Epstein files and tracking the journalists reporting on them, should tell you everything you need to know about who they are protecting. https://t.co/vf0ZpuEyzA

— Melanie D'Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) December 29, 2025

Someone at FBI/DOJ was monitoring reporter Julie Brown, who had broken the Epstein story, right around the time of Epstein's arrest on July 8, 2019: these flights were on July 6 and 8. The public deserves to know when her records were searched for. Before the arrest, or after? https://t.co/Iyrl8mFTVO

— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) December 28, 2025

The redacted states of America

There are still many more Epstein files to release. Although the DoJ will surely redact most of them, that won’t save Trump’s reputation; if anything, it will do it more harm.

In the long run, there is nothing stopping a future administration from un-redacting the files which have been released in line with the law. When that happens, the people who covered for criminals and spied on journalists will have to answer for themselves.

Featured image via the Canary and Epstein files